Arsenic contamination in shallow groundwater and agricultural soil of Chakdaha block, West Bengal, India

Abstract

The study area comes in one of the eight districts of West Bengal where groundwater contains arsenic above the prescribed limit by WHO (10 µg/l). Each day groundwater is being withdrawn by the village people for the fulfillment of their basic needs and for agricultural purposes. With the groundwater along with high concentration of arsenic (As), many other heavy metals are also getting introduced in the environment. In the areas with a long history of use of such groundwater, the agricultural lands have been affected severely. The extent of contamination has increased to a level where the crops grown in those lands are becoming a major source for arsenic and other heavy metals poisoning and subsequently transfer to different trophic levels. Based on this concern a somewhat detailed study was carried out to obtain an idea about the magnitude of soil and water contamination in the area. The mean concentrations (mg/kg) of As (9.67), Fe (9275.58), Mn (190.04), Cu (26.53), and Zn (36.04) in the control land soils were found within the normal range. Whereas the mean As (54.40), Fe (15745.50), Mn (307.90), Cu (69.33), and Zn (44.56) were found to be in higher, mainly arsenic which is at an alarming point. In case of water samples, the pond water was having the mean concentration (µg/l) of As (32.63), Fe (57.21), Mn (30.25), Cu (0.82). Whereas in case of shallow groundwater there was more increase in the case of As (76.43), Fe (5493.22), Mn (253.63), and Cu (1.82). It was also observed that Zn although present in soil samples, it was below detection limits in case of water samples. The As concentration in soil and water showed a positive correlation. Also the correlation analyses between soil arsenic and other heavy metals shows a positive co-relation with all of them.

Geogenic Arsenic and Microbial Contamination in Drinking Water Sources: Exposure Risks to the Coastal Population in Bangladesh

“…Inauen et al (2013) found that 21% of all mortality occurred in the As contaminated sub-districts in Bangladesh. Thus, high As contamination could be responsible for high risks of morbidity and mortality in exposed populations (Yu et al, 2003;Kapaj et al, 2006;Flanagan et al, 2012;Shrivastava et al, 2014;Hossain, 2015).…”

“…The exposure pathways of contaminants may vary from region to region, depending on factors such as human activity, geological composition of the aquifer and more. Also, various climatic and geomorphic conditions such as rainfall, runoff, infiltration rate, groundwater level and fluctuation, groundwater flow pattern, distribution pattern of toxic elements, and many more, can influence exposure pathways (Bhattacharya et al, 2002(Bhattacharya et al, , 2011Shrivastava et al, 2014).…”

“…Groundwater is the principal source of potable drinking water for a significant percentage of the world' population, groundwater is considered safer to drink in comparison to surface water (Singh et al, 2012). Groundwater is also an important natural resource for domestic and industrial water supply as well as agricultural purposes (Shrivastava et al, 2014). In Bangladesh, about 130 million people (97% of total population) obtain water from 10 million tube wells (TW) (Mukherjee and Bhattacharya, 2001;van Geen et al, 2003;Yu et al, 2003;Hossain et al, 2014).…”

“…Therefore, providing a solution for safe and drinkable groundwater in Bangladesh is an environmental health issue of the highest priority (Bhattacharya et al, 1997). In several Asian countries, including Bangladesh and West Bengal (an adjacent Indian state), toxic elemental (e.g., As) concentration in groundwater and its impact on human health has been widely researched (Bhattacharya et al, 2002;Yu et al, 2003;van Geen et al, 2008;Das et al, 2009;Shrivastava et al, 2014;Ghosh et al, 2017), and it is considered the largest and most important societal and environmental problem in this region of the world at the current time (Kapaj et al, 2006).…”

Biogeochemical Controls on the Release and Accumulation of Mn and As in Shallow Aquifers, West Bengal, India

“…Throughout the Bengal Basin, elevated levels of manganese (Mn) and arsenic (As) have adversely impacted groundwater quality, prompting serious concerns to human health (Bhattacharya et al, 1997;Nickson et al, 1998;BGS and DPHE, 2001;Buschmann et al, 2008;Datta et al, 2009Datta et al, , 2011Frisbie et al, 2009;Farooq et al, 2011;Sankar et al, 2014;Datta, 2015;Shrivastava et al, 2015;Kshetrimayum and Hegeu, 2016). Further, groundwater is the primary source of drinking water in many of these regions due to surface waters being contaminated by anthropogenic waste (McArthur et al, 2012a).…”