Assessment of Uranium concentration in groundwater and its1human health impactin a part of Northern Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract. Ground water is the major source of drinking water in India. Over exploitation of this water resource has exacerbated the situation of providing good quality water, due to the presence of major ions, minor ions, trace elements and radioactive elements. A study has carried out in Vellore, a city in the Northern part of the Tamilnadu, to understand the levels of Uranium concentrations and other geochemical parameters in drinking water. Samples were collected and the analysed for various water quality parameters in the laboratory and as well as insitu. Uranium concentration was estimated using the Quantalase Laser Fluorimeter and nearly 10 % of the samples show that the concentration of Uranium is exceeding the permissible limit .The low observed adverse effect level and No observed adverse effect level values were also assessed for to understand the risk due to the presence of the uranium in drinking water and it was observed that there is a slight risk on the public health due to the consumption of ground water in this region.