Status of arsenic and mercury in different sources of water in Haryana

To assess As and Hg status in water samples in Haryana, 163 samples from different sources were collected randomly from different locations from all the 19 districts covering industrial and nonindustrial areas. The data obtained was classified into two zones as per agro-climatic conditions of different districts. The As content in hand pump and tube well samples in different districts averaged 4.39±0.21 and 4.18±0.31 ppb in zone I and 4.66±0.51 and 4.27±0.19 ppb in zone II respectively, showing no significant difference between the two zones. There was no difference in the arsenic content of water samples collected from industrial and non industrial areas. Arsenic content in all the water samples (except 2 samples) was below maximum contamination level (MCL) of 10 ppb. The mean concentration of Hg in hand pump and tube well water samples was 2.19±0.57 and 2.33±1.04 ppb in zone I and 1.17±0.23 and 1.47±0.19 ppb in zone II, respectively, showing significantly (P<0.05) higher levels in zone I in both the sources of water. The level of Hg was higher than MCL in industrial areas. It can be concluded from the present survey that arsenic content was within the safe limits in almost all the water samples, but, mercury content in water samples collected from various sources in some of the industrial districts was higher than MCL.