GIS Integration For Ground Water Quality and Health Effects-A Case Study N. Venkat Kumar Research Scholar Vellore Institute of Technology Vellore- 12. Pho.:-91 09443151956 venkatkumar.nit@gmail.com Dr. Samson Mathew Asst. Professor Department of Civil Engineering National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli-620015, INDIA. Dr. G. Swaminathan Asst .Professor Department of Civil Engineering National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli-620015, INDIA. Dr.P.Porchelvan Professor Vellore Institute of Technology Vellore- 12. ABSTRACT: The study is an integrated GIS approach on groundwater quality and its health effects. The groundwater quality is a problem in different parts of our country. In Tamil Nadu the groundwater is the only alternative source when surface water become scares in pre monsoon. Concentration greater than their permissible limits in drinking water have been linked to health problems, especially in infants. . Tannery is one of the major industries in Tamil Nadu leading to water quality problems. In order to elucidate the status of groundwater quality, geochemical seasonal variation of groundwater have been investigated. The diseases such as Acute Gastro Enteritis (AGE), Gastro Enteritis with dehydration, AGE with mild dehydration, AGE with moderate dehydration, AGE with severe dehydration and other disease like enteric fever, malaria were classified and they were arranged according to ward wise in the study area. The tremendous power of analysis, map querying and presentation of data were applied in this study. Based on map query, water quality zones were demarcated as ‘Affected Area’ and ‘Not affected Area’ based on quality of water and diseases. The objective of this work is to analyze the water quality and the health effects in the study area using GIS. 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. GroundWater Water is an important limiting factor for the ecosystem, agriculture, human settlements and human health. Nearly 700 thousand children die of diarrheal diseases every year directly as a result of drinking unsafe water or living in unhygienic environment. Nearly, 44 million people are affected by water quality problems either due to growing population, or the prevalence of fluoride, arsenic, nitrate or iron deposits, or due to ingress of salt water or due to discharge of effluent. In 13 states, drinking water sources are contaminated with excessive fluoride affecting thousands of children with dental and skeletal fluorosis. Excess nitrate in drinking water sources, which causes ‘Blue Baby Syndrome’ in children, has been observed in a number of states. Hence it becomes very much necessary to study about water quality and its conservation. In such areas it becomes very important to study the groundwater quantity and quality. 1.2 Groundwater quality: All the water beneath the land surface is referred to as underground or subsurface water or groundwater. Both natural and human factors influence the quality of a water source. The quality of the groundwater is affected in two ways. Excess fluoride, arsenic and iron fall under this category. (b) Groundwater pollution caused by human intervention (anthropogenic), like over exploitation of shallow groundwater in the coastal area and discharge of untreated domestic sewerage and industrial effluents. The surface water is having high turbidity and suspended matter, it contains less Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) and by taste and chemical content is more acceptable. (Refer Table 1 & 2) On the contrary the groundwater has mostly high Total Dissolved Solids. The groundwater quality is directly related to public health management. The groundwater quality plays a major role in planning, water supply, public health management, environmental management and water quality management. 1.3 Groundwater contamination: The groundwater contamination due to seasonal variations, hydro geological processes, discharge rate affecting the quality, industrial pollution, domestic and agricultural activities, eutrophication in surface water bodies, sea water intrusion, sand quarrying in river beds etc. The environmental impacts of these groundwater contamination seriously affect the socio-economic conditions of the country. 1.4 Health effects due to Groundwater Contamination: The health of human populations reflects the complex interplay between population characteristics and the environment. The water acts as the passive carrier of the infectious or chemical agent. Chemical poisonings and methemoglobinemia may also be caused by contaminated water supply systems. In addition chronic ingestion of low levels of some chemical contaminants in drinking water has been associated with adverse health effects. A number of inorganic are essential to human nutrition at low doses; yet demonstrate adverse health effects at higher doses. These include Arsenic, Selenium, Chromium, Copper, Molybdenum, Nickel, Zinc and Sodium. Numerous reports have also shown an inverse relationship between water hardness and hypertensive heart disease. In excessive amounts, arsenic causes acute Gastro Intestinal (GI) track damage and cardiac diseases. Nitrate in drinking water causes two adverse health effects induction of methemoglobinemia, especially in infants, and the potential formation of Carcinogenic nitro amines. Methemoglobinemia occurs because nitrate is reduced to nitrite in saliva and in GI tract .A caution is necessary for analyzing the groundwater quality it is intended as an introductionary overview of health effects information. It is studied carefully, the public health officials consulted prior to making any decisions regarding specific water contamination problems with proper references and adequate knowledge on public health environment. 2.1 Geographical Information System (GIS): Geographic Information systems (GIS) have become important tools in efficiently solving many problems in which spatial data are important. Natural resources and environmental concerns, including groundwater have benefited greatly from the use of GIS. It is becoming powerful computer tools for varied applications ranging from sophisticated analysis and modeling of spatial data to simple inventory and management. GIS incorporates data that describes population characteristics, socio-economic conditions and the landscape and analysis the spatial relationship of these factors. The most significant difference between GIS and other information systems and databases is the spatial nature of the data in a GIS. The analysis functions in a GIS allows manipulation of multiple themes of spatial data to perform overlays, buffering and arithmetic operations on the data. (Refer Fig.)With its spatial analysis capabilities, GIS technology can play an important role in human services research there by ensuring better service delivery for clients. 3.0 A Case Study: The study area is fully covered by Arcot town. The study area Arcot is located in Vellore district of Tamil Nadu, India, which covers an area of 10.08 km2. It lies in the survey of India Topographic map no. 57 P/5. The study area lies within latitude: 12o 53’ 30” to 12o 54’ 15” and longitude: 79o 18’ 30” to 79o 19’ 30”. Silk weaving, Woolen druggets, Carpets and Cane works (rattan) are important industries in the town. This town is noted for its hides and skins nearer. Arcot is a reputed commercial center. It is divided into 30 wards according to Arcot municipality. The population of the study area as per 2001 census is 50,267 (provisional censes data 2001). The study area is located down streamside of the river Palar and western side of Ranipet Industrial Area and eastern side of Visharam. The temperature raises slowly recording maximum in summer month up to May after which it drops slowly. The soil type is sand and sandy loam of 8 per cent; red loam soil 10 per cent; clay and clayed loam 54 per cent; and black cotton soil 28 per cent. The minimum water table during pre monsoon was 9.2 m and maximum water table was 19 m. The minimum water table during post monsoon was 7.9 m and maximum water table was 17 m. Only one primary health center that is Arcot Government Hospital, which is having 42 beds, is located in this study area, four primary health officials working with the health center. 3.1 Present investigation The groundwater quality and Health effects due to groundwater contamination have been studied. Conventional groundwater quality and health effects data handling is tedious and time consuming in input of data. The groundwater quality analysis using any of package has voluminous data input consisting of both spatial and non-spatial data. Geographic information system can handle the spatial and non-spatial data in an effective manner. The input parameters used in groundwater quality are spatially varying and GIS is effective in handling data. The role of GIS in representing the spatial variability and its role in simplification of inputs is explored in this study. 3.2 Water sample collection: Under this circumstance, preliminary survey forms a prerequent for selection of the study area. Groundwater samples were collected from 21 wells distributed in the study area. Water samples were collected from the area of nearly 0.25 Km2 intervals. These samples were collected during the pre-monsoon and post monsoon seasons of 2002. The physio-chemical parameters of groundwater samples were analyzed in the laboratory based on the procedures described as standard method (AWWA, 1998). The parameter pH was measured using pH meter and Electrical Conductivity (Ec) with a conductivity meter. The water quality parameter such as major ions concentrations TDS, NO3, Ca, Mg, Na, K, So4 of the samples were analyzed. The results of the analysis are given in Table 1 & 2.   3.2.2 Total hardness: Hardness is the resistance of the water for the formation of lather with soap. It is caused mainly by the multivalent metallic cat ion like Ca2+, Mg2+, Fe2+, Sr2+, Al2+, and Mn2+. The test was based on the fact that Ca and Mg ions form a weak complex with the blue dye, Erichrome black-T and a more stable complex with EDTA. When the dye was added to hard water a wine red complex was formed, and then EDTA was added, the wine red complex was disrupted with the release of the dye. The end point was wine red to blue in color. With the volumetric analysis using standard method AWWA (1998) calcium and magnesium was calculated. 3.2.3 Nitrate: Dissolve 25 gm of white phenol in 150 ml of con. H2SO4 and then again ad 85 ml of concentrated sulphuric acid. Heated it for about 2 hours on a water bath, cool and keep the solution in a dark bottle. The sample 25 mg was taken in a porcelain dish (50ml capacity) and it was evaporated in hot water bath. Then 3 ml phenol di sulphonic acid was added to this and was dissolved. The intensity of yellow color was read in calorimeter out 420 ?m. Thus nitrate concentration was found out. 4. DISCUSSION OF TEST RESULTS Payment, P., (1997) studied on epidemiological study of gastrointestinal health effects due to the total hardness in drinking water. Due to high dissolved solids gastrointestinal irrigation will occur (ICMR, 1975). In this study during pre monsoon the maximum concentration of 2954 mg/L. was recorded for the sample No.: 6 and minimum concentration of 462 mg/L. for sample no.11. The average concentration of TDS was 1921 mg/L. There were 16 samples were above the permissible limit prescribed by Indian Council for Medical Research, (ICMR, 1975). It was also found that the maximum concentration of TDS for post monsoon was 7230 mg/L. and it was noted for sample no.: 6, the average concentration of TDS was 2,861 mg/L. In this study during post monsoon, all the samples were above the permissible limits prescribed by ICMR, 1975, CPEEO, BIS – 1991 The use of GIS by human service professionals is comparatively less. Existing evidence on the usage of GIS technology in human services, highlight its usage for research related purposes as opposed to administrative or direct practices dealing with the provision of services. (Queralt and Witte, 1998) In recent past several countries have implemented GIS in public health applications. GIS can provide a mechanism to bring changes to communities and provide ability to do precise spatial analysis. It helps to ensure the accuracy of the spatial information and that public information maps are clear and concise. (Gould, 1993) One of the most advantageous applicability in using GIS for water quality management and human health environment is onscreen query. The spatial query involves two aspects, the onscreen query and the simple & SQL query. The on screen query involves obtaining of details pertaining to any object, which is seen on the screen. Whereas the simple query relates to identification and location of objects, which are not seen immediately, but only after a request has been made. However SQL requires some knowledge about the actual application and it involves one or more tables are objects. In this study the following steps were made to create spatial query.
The secondary data of epidemiological surveillance cases from 30 wards in Arcot town was used for selection of diseases with highest incident ranking cases. The data for the epidemiological disease was collected from ‘Patient Record form’. There are 16 epidemiological surveillance diseases in ‘Patient Record form’ and out of those 8 surveillance disease occurred in Arcot town (monthly provincial report). The disease selection category has confirmed that disease used to occur and widely spread in the part and it continues to spread unabated. Acute gastro enteritis with moderate dehydration is predominant within the wards that was high pre monsoon. The prediction shows that the diffusion of Acute Gastro Enteritis with dehydration spreads from ward no.: 18, 19 and 20. The other diseases like entric fever, viral fever, typhoid fever were seen in ward no.: 30, 9 and partly ward no.:8. The above said wards groundwater quality of TDS and nitrate was above prescribed permissible limits. Mot of these wards with low density population and moderate population growth, while agricultural areas, poor sanitation, drainage, solid waste dumping site, are located in the ward no.: 30, ward no.: 9 and ward no.: 4 respectively. During analysis of TDS that is greater than 3000 mg/L and disease Acute Gastro Enteritis (AGE) with dehydrations, the wards 30, 8 and ward no.1, 17, 4 were affected. Some of wards like 12, 19, 17, 1, 4, 9, and 30 were affected by both groundwater quality and more reports of AGE was from above wards and patients record. The females were mostly affected by 72.3 per cent due to AGE with moderate dehydration and males 21.8 per cent and infants were affected less than 1 per cent. 4.4. Geographic Information System (GIS) Geographic Information systems (GIS) have become important tool in efficiently solving many problems in which spatial data are important. GIS incorporates data that describes population characteristics, socio-economic conditions and analyzing the spatial relationship of these factors. The analysis functions in a GIS, allows manipulation of multiple themes of spatial data to perform overlays, buffering and arithmetic operations on the data. GIS is thus a versatile tool for human service professionals providing a competitive edge particularly in the areas of planning and evolution and community development. GIS serves as a useful tool in delineating the groundwater quality. The tool can provide valuable information for decision-making and be further used to develop user defined set of rules and thus create a decision support system. It goes beyond computer cartography and helps integrating spatial and non-spatial data in unique relational manner. (Refer Fig a ,b ) 4.3 The surveillance disease distribution and its tendency: The secondary data of epidemiological surveillance cases from 30 wards in Arcot town was used for selection of diseases with highest incident ranking cases. The data for the epidemiological disease was collected from ‘Patient Record form’. There are 16 epidemiological surveillance diseases in ‘Patient Record form’ and out of those 8 surveillance disease occurred in Arcot town (monthly provincial report). The disease selection category has confirmed that disease used to occur and widely spread in the part and it continues to spread unabated. Acute gastro enteritis with moderate dehydration is predominant within the wards that was high pre monsoon. The prediction shows that the diffusion of Acute Gastro Enteritis with dehydration spreads from ward no.: 18, 19 and 20. The other diseases like entric fever, viral fever, typhoid fever were seen in ward no.: 30, 9 and partly ward no.:8. The above said wards groundwater quality of TDS and nitrate was above prescribed permissible limits. Mot of these wards with low density population and moderate population growth, while agricultural areas, poor sanitation, drainage, solid waste dumping site, are located in the ward no.: 30, ward no.: 9 and ward no.: 4 respectively. During analysis of TDS that is greater than 3000 mg/L and disease Acute Gastro Enteritis (AGE) with dehydrations, the wards 30, 8 and ward no.1, 17, 4 were affected. Some of wards like 12, 19, 17, 1, 4, 9, and 30 were affected by both groundwater quality and more reports of AGE was from above wards and patients record. The females were mostly affected by 72.3 per cent due to AGE with moderate dehydration and males 21.8 per cent and infants were affected less than 1 per cent. 4.4. Geographic Information System (GIS) Geographic Information systems (GIS) have become important tool in efficiently solving many problems in which spatial data are important. GIS incorporates data that describes population characteristics, socio-economic conditions and analyzing the spatial relationship of these factors. The analysis functions in a GIS, allows manipulation of multiple themes of spatial data to perform overlays, buffering and arithmetic operations on the data. GIS is thus a versatile tool for human service professionals providing a competitive edge particularly in the areas of planning and evolution and community development. GIS serves as a useful tool in delineating the groundwater quality. The tool can provide valuable information for decision-making and be further used to develop user defined set of rules and thus create a decision support system. It goes beyond computer cartography and helps integrating spatial and non-spatial data in unique relational manner. (Refer Fig a ,b )  5. CONCLUSIONS The saying “ A picture is worth a thousand words” is true for GIS applications in the field of human services as visual maps on client communities and their needs as an alternative to tables of numbers, charts or anecdotes not only make information easier to grasp but also provide more dimensions to study human service data. Customized maps created using GIS software can help human service professional to gain a better understanding of the client communities they serve, as illustrated by the needs assessment project. Apart from querying information on spatial and non spatial data, print output of the maps at user defined scales and extent, making of an integrated analysis on spatial and non spatial data, performing query on multiple themes simultaneously are some of the features of the health GIS model. It is difficult to understand the issues related to epidemic diffusion simply by groundwater quality analysis as it lacks spatial information. Therefore, combination of both groundwater quality parameters and GIS methods is very useful to researchers to model the health related issues as GIS provides efficient capacity to visualize the spatial data.. The main result shows that the Acute Gastro Enteritis was found to be widely spread disease because of groundwater quality, especially in poor drainage areas, lack of good drinking water facility and solid waste yard. (Refer Fig.) In the study area’s water quality TDS values ranges from 462 mg/L to 2954 mg/L in pre monsoon. In the post monsoon minimum 1780 mg/L and Nitrate minimum concentration of 6 mg/L and maximum of 297 mg/L were observed. During pre monsoon period about 76.2 per cent of the samples exceed the TDS concentration of 1500 mg/L and 85 per cent of the samples exceed the concentration of Nitrate 100 mg/L. During post monsoon all the samples exceed the TDS concentration of 1500 mg/L and 85 per cent of Nitrate concentration exceeds the limit 100mg/L (ICMR).  Chart-1 showing the values of TDS concentration for various samples Series -1(pre monsoon) Series -2 post monsoon  Chart -2 showing the values of nitrate concentrations for various samples Series -1(pre monsoon) Series -2 post monsoon 6. REFERENCES.
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