Analysis of uranium and its correlation with some physico-chemical properties of drinking water samples from Amritsar, Punjab

Abstract

Fission track technique has been used for uranium estimation in drinking water samples collected from some areas of Amritsar District, Punjab, India. The uranium concentration in water samples is found to vary from 3.19 to 45.59 µg l⁻¹. Some of the physico-chemical properties such as pH, conductance and hardness and the content of calcium, magnesium, total dissolved solids (TDS), sodium, potassium, chloride, nitrate and heavy metals viz. zinc, cadmium, lead and copper have been determined in water samples. An attempt has been made to correlate uranium concentration with these water quality parameters. A positive correlation of conductance, nitrate, chloride, sodium, potassium, magnesium, TDS, calcium and hardness with uranium concentration has been observed. However, no correlation has been observed between the concentration of uranium and the heavy metals analysed.