Temporal variation of heavy metals in groundwater of North Central Province of Sri Lanka

Abstract The evaluation of the temporal and spatial variation of heavy metal concentrations, physicochemical parameters, and fluoride of ground water was carried out in two divisional secretariats Rambewa and Medawachchiya in the North Central Province of Sri Lanka where the prevalence of Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown etiology (CKDu) is high. During a 2 year period, groundwater samples from 9 tube wells and one hand-dug well were analyzed. As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Co concentrations of samples were below the maximum allowable limits (MAL). The concentration of As, Mn and Fe has considerable variations between dry and wet seasons, indicating redox cycling, partly confirming the hypothesis on the temporal variation of heavy metals. High levels of F, Na, Sr, Si, Mn and V, as well as high levels of water hardness, were discovered which suggest that CKDu might have a multi-factorial origin.