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5 Case Study
5.1 Study Area
The Malwa region of Punjab, India, has attracted widespread attention due to acute
uranium poisoning of groundwater and rocketing reports of health risks. The state
of Punjab lies in the north-western part of India. Stratigraphically, the Shiwalik,
Piedmont and alluvial plains form three units in the state. The soil profile consists
of different layers of clay, sticky clay and fine- to coarse-grained micaceous sandstone (Kochhar et al. 2006). Groundwater samples were collected from two districts
of Punjab, namely, Mansa and Muktsar, in preprocessed polypropylene bottles.
5.2 Instrumentation
A LED fluorimeter was employed to determine trace levels of uranium in aqueous
samples. Fluran, a buffered inorganic complexing agent of sodium pyrophosphate
and orthophosphoric acid, was added to the samples to form uranium complexes. It
stimulated the luminescence efficiency of uranyl ions by forming a single fluorescent uranyl species U(VI) and maintained the optimum pH for luminescence and
masking efficiency. The fluorescence from organic matter was completely eliminated by using suitable optical filters and appropriate gating of the photomultiplier
tube. The excitation source was a bank of pulsed LEDs emitting at 400 nm. A 6 mL
water sample and 10% buffer solution were put into a cuvette for uranium analysis.
Standard addition mode was followed to determine and allow for matrix effects. The
details of the instrumentation and sampling procedure can be found in Kaur and
Mehra (2018).
5.3 Uranium Content in Groundwater
Uranium concentrations in groundwater samples from the two districts of Mansa
and Muktsar are reported in Table 3 (Bangotra 2017). The statistical parameters of
the data, namely, minimum, maximum, mean and median, are 38, 436, 138.9 and
92 μg L
−1
, respectively. The World Health Organization (WHO 2011) and US
Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA 2003) have adopted maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 30 μg L
−1
, whereas the International Commission on
Radiological Protection (ICRP 1993) and United Nations Scientific Committee on
Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR 2011) assigned a guideline value of 1.9
and 9 μg L
−1
for uranium in drinking water, respectively. However, the Atomic
Regulatory Board of India, Department of Atomic Energy, India (AERB 2004), has
recommended the maximum admissible concentration (MAC) for uranium in water
R. Mehra and S. Kaur
5 Case Study
5.1 Study Area
The Malwa region of Punjab, India, has attracted widespread attention due to acute
uranium poisoning of groundwater and rocketing reports of health risks. The state
of Punjab lies in the north-western part of India. Stratigraphically, the Shiwalik,
Piedmont and alluvial plains form three units in the state. The soil profile consists
of different layers of clay, sticky clay and fine- to coarse-grained micaceous sandstone (Kochhar et al. 2006). Groundwater samples were collected from two districts
of Punjab, namely, Mansa and Muktsar, in preprocessed polypropylene bottles.
5.2 Instrumentation
A LED fluorimeter was employed to determine trace levels of uranium in aqueous
samples. Fluran, a buffered inorganic complexing agent of sodium pyrophosphate
and orthophosphoric acid, was added to the samples to form uranium complexes. It
stimulated the luminescence efficiency of uranyl ions by forming a single fluorescent uranyl species U(VI) and maintained the optimum pH for luminescence and
masking efficiency. The fluorescence from organic matter was completely eliminated by using suitable optical filters and appropriate gating of the photomultiplier
tube. The excitation source was a bank of pulsed LEDs emitting at 400 nm. A 6 mL
water sample and 10% buffer solution were put into a cuvette for uranium analysis.
Standard addition mode was followed to determine and allow for matrix effects. The
details of the instrumentation and sampling procedure can be found in Kaur and
Mehra (2018).
5.3 Uranium Content in Groundwater
Uranium concentrations in groundwater samples from the two districts of Mansa
and Muktsar are reported in Table 3 (Bangotra 2017). The statistical parameters of
the data, namely, minimum, maximum, mean and median, are 38, 436, 138.9 and
92 μg L
−1
, respectively. The World Health Organization (WHO 2011) and US
Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA 2003) have adopted maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 30 μg L
−1
, whereas the International Commission on
Radiological Protection (ICRP 1993) and United Nations Scientific Committee on
Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR 2011) assigned a guideline value of 1.9
and 9 μg L
−1
for uranium in drinking water, respectively. However, the Atomic
Regulatory Board of India, Department of Atomic Energy, India (AERB 2004), has
recommended the maximum admissible concentration (MAC) for uranium in water
R. Mehra and S. Kaur