• Fe is dominant in groundwater and exceeded the standard limit in∼90% of samples • Except for Cd in urban zone, HQ values for other metals were within safe limit ( 1 × 10⁻⁶ to 1 × 10⁻⁴. Peri-urban zone showed higher contamination and overall groundwater chemistry in the urban–peri-urban region is dominated by Fe, while metals including Cd, Ni, and Pb showed localized enrichment with few sites requiring immediate attention. Integrated urban–peri-urban groundwater quality study using different approaches not only captures spatial heterogeneity, cumulative contamination severity, and differential health risks but can also help in decision making process for effective groundwater management in a growing urban landscape.
Talukdar et al. (Fri,) studied this question.