Status of groundwater arsenic contamination in the state of West Bengal, India: A 20-year study report
| Autor: | Arup Pal, Sad Ahamed, Tarit Roychowdhury, Mrinal Kumar Sengupta, Goutam Basu, Bhajan Kumar Biswas, Bishwajit Nayak, Bhaskar Das, Uttam Kumar Chowdhury, Amir Hossain, Dipankar Chakraborti, Mohammad Mahmudur Rahman, Dipankar Das, Amlanjyoti Goswami |
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| Přispěvatelé: | Chakraborti, Dipankar, Das, Bhaskar, Rahman, Mohammad Mahmudur, Chowdhury, Uttam, Biswas, Saswata, Goswami, Aparajita, Nayak, Bishwajit, Pal, Arup, Sengupta, Mrinal, Ahamed, Sad, Hossain, Amir, Basu, Gautam, Roychowdhury, Tarit, Das, Dipankar |
| Rok vydání: | 2009 |
| Předmět: |
geography
Veterinary medicine education.field_of_study geography.geographical_feature_category Floodplain Iron arsenic contamination in West Bengal arsenic in tube wells combating the arsenic crisis population at risk sub-surface geology Population India chemistry.chemical_element Arsenic chemistry Water Supply Groundwater pollution Humans West bengal Water quality Water pollution education Water Pollutants Chemical Groundwater Food Science Biotechnology |
| Zdroj: | Molecular Nutrition & Food Research. 53:542-551 |
| ISSN: | 1613-4133 1613-4125 |
| Popis: | Since 1988 we have analyzed 140 150 water samples from tube wells in all 19 districts of West Bengal for arsenic; 48.1% had arsenic above 10 microg/L (WHO guideline value), 23.8% above 50 microg/L (Indian Standard) and 3.3% above 300 microg/L (concentration predicting overt arsenical skin lesions). Based on arsenic concentrations we have classified West Bengal into three zones: highly affected (9 districts mainly in eastern side of Bhagirathi River), mildly affected (5 districts in northern part) and unaffected (5 districts in western part). The estimated number of tube wells in 8 of the highly affected districts is 1.3 million, and estimated population drinking arsenic contaminated water above 10 and 50 microg/L were 9.5 and 4.2 million, respectively. In West Bengal alone, 26 million people are potentially at risk from drinking arsenic-contaminated water (above 10 microg/L). Studying information for water from different depths from 107 253 tube wells, we noted that arsenic concentration decreased with increasing depth. Measured arsenic concentration in two tube wells in Kolkata for 325 and 51 days during 2002-2005, showed 15% oscillatory movement without any long-term trend. Regional variability is dependent on sub-surface geology. In the arsenic-affected flood plain of the river Ganga, the crisis is not having too little water to satisfy our needs, it is the crisis of managing the water. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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