Status of groundwater arsenic contamination in all 17 blocks of Nadia
district in the state of West Bengal, India : a 23-year study report

Rahman, MM; Mondal, D; Das, B; Sengupta, MK; Ahamed, S; Hossain, A; Samal, A; Saha, KC; Mukherjee, SC; Chakraborti, D

Abstract

A comprehensive study was conducted in Nadia, one of the nine arsenic (As) affected districts in West
Bengal, India to determine the extent and severity of groundwater As contamination and its health effects
in particular, dermatological effects and neurological complications. We collected 28,947 hand tube-well
water samples from all 17 blocks of Nadia district and analyzed for As by the flow injection-hydride generation
atomic absorption spectrometer (FI-HG-AAS). We found 51.4% and 17.3% of the tube-wells had As
above 10 and 50 lg/L, respectively and observed that groundwater of all 17 blocks contained As above
50 lg/L with maximum observed level of 3200 lg/L. We estimated that about 2.1 million and 0.6 million
people could be drinking As contaminated water above 10 and 50 lg/L, respectively, while 0.048 million
could be at risk of drinking As-contaminated water above 300 lg/L, the concentration predicted to cause
overt arsenical skin lesions. We screened 15,153 villagers from 50 villages and registered 1077 with
arsenical skin lesions resulting in a prevalence rate of 7.1%. Analyzing 2671 biological samples (hair, nail
and urine), from people with and without arsenical skin symptoms we found 95% of the samples had As
above the normal level, indicating many people in Nadia district are sub-clinically affected. Arsenical
neuropathy was observed in 33% of 255 arsenicosis patients with 28.2% prevalence for predominant sensory
neuropathy and 4.7% for sensorimotor. As groundwater is still the main source of drinking water,
targeting low-As aquifers and switching tube-well from unsafe to nearby safe sources are two visible
options to obtain safe drinking water.

Citation

district in the state of West Bengal, India : a 23-year study report. Journal of Hydrology, 518(Part C), 363-372. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2013.10.037

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Nov 4, 2013
• Publication Date: Oct 10, 2014
• Deposit Date: Jan 22, 2015
• Journal: Journal of Hydrology
• Print ISSN: 0022-1694
• Electronic ISSN: 1879-2707
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 518
• Issue: Part C
• Pages: 363-372
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2013.10.037
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2013.10.037
• Related Public URLs: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-hydrology/