title: Perchlorate contamination of groundwater from fireworks manufacturing area in South India.
abstract: Perchlorate contamination was investigated in groundwater and surface water from Sivakasi and Madurai in the Tamil Nadu State of South India. Sensitive determination of perchlorate (LOQ = 0.005 μg/L) was achieved by large-volume (500 μL) injection ion chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. Concentrations of perchlorate were <0.005-7,690 μg/L in groundwater (n = 60), <0.005-30.2 μg/L in surface water (n = 11), and 0.063-0.393 μg/L in tap water (n = 3). Levels in groundwater were significantly higher in the fireworks factory area than in the other locations, indicating that the fireworks and safety match industries are principal sources of perchlorate pollution. This is the first study that reports the contamination status of perchlorate in this area and reveals firework manufacture to be the pollution source. Since perchlorate levels in 17 out of 57 groundwater samples from Sivakasi, and none from Madurai, exceeded the drinking water guideline level proposed by USEPA (15 μg/L), further investigation on human health is warranted.
authors.affiliation: Center for Marine Environmental Studies (CMES), Ehime University, Bunkyo-cho 2-5, Matsuyama, 790-8577, Japan. t.isobe@ehime-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Tomohiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Isobe
authors.forename: Shohei P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Ogawa
authors.forename: Rina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sugimoto
authors.forename: Karri
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ramu
authors.forename: Agus
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sudaryanto
authors.forename: Govindan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Malarvannan
authors.forename: Gnanasekaran
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Devanathan
authors.forename: Babu Rajendran
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Ramaswamy
authors.forename: Natesan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Munuswamy
authors.forename: Deavaraj Sankar
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Ganesh
authors.forename: Jeyaraj
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sivakumar
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sethuraman
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Parthasarathy
authors.forename: Annamalai
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Subramanian
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Field
authors.forename: Shinsuke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tanabe
mesh_terms: D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D053834:Explosive Agents / Q000032:analysis; D060587:Groundwater / Q000737:chemistry*; D007194:India; D010472:Perchlorates / Q000032:analysis*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D053834:Explosive Agents; D010472:Perchlorates; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; C494474:perchlorate