Arsenic Contamination in Ground Water

Assessment of the Exposure to Arsenic and Fluoride from Drinking Water in the City of Guadalupe, Zacatecas, Mexico.

by Osiel González Dávila

The paper "Assessment of the Exposure to Arsenic and Fluoride from Drinking Water in the City of Guadalupe, Zacatecas, Mexico" was presented at the World Congress on Water, Climate and Energy organised by the International Water Association (IWA-WCE 2012) in Dublin on May 15, 2012.

González Dávila, O. (2012) Assessment of the Exposure to Arsenic and Fluoride from Drinking Water in the City of Guadalupe, Zacatecas, Mexico. World Congress on Water, Climate and Energy. International Water Association.

In several areas of Northern Mexico, groundwater arsenic and fluoride levels above the limits established by the... more In several areas of Northern Mexico, groundwater arsenic and fluoride levels above the limits established by the Mexican guideline have been detected. An exploratory study found that in two of the extraction wells from the system that provides water to the city of Guadalupe, Zacatecas, the levels of arsenic were 10 and 16 times above the Mexican guideline. Further, the fluoride levels were two times above the guideline. There was an urgent need to characterize the risk areas for arsenic and fluoride exposure. In this study arsenic and fluoride exposures from drinking water were estimated and different risk areas in the city of Guadalupe were identified and mapped. It was found that 100% of the collected samples show levels of arsenic above the Mexican guideline of 0.025 mg/l arsenic and almost 50% of the samples have levels of fluoride above the 1.5 mg/l fluoride guideline. Women and children 0-12 years old were identified as particularly vulnerable groups. A comprehensive public policy is required to tackle this environmental problem.
Keywords: Arsenic, Fluoride, Mexico, Water Contamination

Viability of Small-Scale Arsenic-Contaminated Water Purification Technologies for Sustainable Development in Pakistan

by Joshua Pearce

Fatima Hashmi and Joshua M. Pearce, “Viability of Small-Scale Arsenic-Contaminated Water Purification Technologies for Sustainable Development in Pakistan”, Sustainable Development, 19(4), pp. 223-234, 2011.

Drinking arsenic-contaminated water leads to a series of health problems that has limited development for the largely... more Drinking arsenic-contaminated water leads to a series of health problems that has limited development for the largely poor rural people of Pakistan who are unable to afford bottled water, centralized treatment plants, or expensive water filter systems. This paper reviews the available appropriate technologies for the removal of arsenic in drinking water to assist in just sustainable development in Pakistan. Several technologies were found to be both technically- and economically- viable and support the large-scale deployment of these small-scale, appropriate technologies. The economic viability determined in this study was based on both first costs and operating costs. The cost of implementing such technologies for an individual Pakistani family is made acceptable with the use of local materials, which the family may already own. For example, systems using sand and iron nails in the filters, and which are placed in plastic buckets that are already in common use in the villages, drive down the overall costs of the technology and put it in the reach of even the most destitute. This study found that complications from the variability of local supplies result in the need to identify the locally most appropriate solution from both a technical and economic standpoint. This review article should be helpful for any practitioner in determining the locally optimal solution for the removal of arsenic from drinking water in Pakistan.

Technical Note: Effects of Arsenate (AS5+) on Growth and Production of Glutathione (GSH) and Phytochelatins (PCS) in Chlorella Vulgaris

by Ying Jiang

Ying Jiang, Diane Purchase, Huw Jones & Hemda Garelick,
International Journal of Phytoremediation, Volume 13, Issue 8, 2011
pages 834-844

The effect of arsenate (As5+) on growth and chlorophyll a production in Chlorella vulgaris, its removal by C. vulgaris... more The effect of arsenate (As5+) on growth and chlorophyll a production in Chlorella vulgaris, its removal by C. vulgaris and the role of glutathione (GSH) and phytochelatins (PCs) were investigated.C. vulgaris was tolerant to As5+ at up to 200 mg/L and was capable of consistently removing around 70% of the As5+ present in growth media over a wide range of exposure concentrations. Spectral analysis revealed that PCs and their arsenic-combined complexes were absent, indicating that the high bioaccumulation and tolerance to arsenic observed was not due to intracellular chelation. In contrast, GSH was found in all samples ranging from 0.8 mg/L in the control to 6.5mg/L in media containing 200 mg/L As5+ suggesting that GSH plays a more prominent role in the detoxification of As5+ in C. vulgaris than PC. At concentrations below 100 mg/L cell surface binding and other mechanisms may play the primary role in As5+ detoxification, whereas above this concentration As5+ begins to accumulate inside the algal cells and activates a number of intracellular cell defense mechanisms, such as increased production of GSH.The overall findings complement field studies which suggest C. vulgaris as an increasingly promising low cost As phytoremediation method for developing countries.

Inorganic Arsenic and Basal Cell Carcinoma in Areas of Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia: A Case-Control Study.

by Giovanni Leonardi

Leonardi G, Vahter M, Clemens F, Goessler W, Gurzau E, Hemminki K, Hough R, Koppova K, Kumar R, Rudnai P, Surdu S, Fletcher T. Inorganic Arsenic and Basal Cell Carcinoma in Areas of Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia: A Case-Control Study. Environ Health Perspect:120:721–726 (2012). http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1103534 [Online 31 January 2012]

Arsenate Incorporation in Gypsum Probed by Neutron, X-ray Scattering and Density Functional Theory Modeling

by Alejandro Fernandez-Martinez

Sources and controls of Arsenic contamination in groundwater of Rajnandgaon and Kanker District, Chattisgarh Central India

by Dericks Shukla

Factors influencing the metabolite pattern of urinary arsenic following exposure via drinking water

by Giovanni Leonardi

Lindberg, A.L.; Goessler, W.; Leonardi, G.; Rahman, M.; Person, L.A.; Ekstrom, E.C.; Kumar, R.; Vahter, M.
Toxicology Letters, 2006; 164:S199-S200

IC-ICP-MS and IC-ICP-HEX-MS determination of arsenic speciation in surface and groundwaters: preservation and analytical issues

by Miltiadis Nimfopoulos

Authors: D.A. Polya, P. Lythgoe, F. Abou-Shakra, A. Gault, J. R. Brydie, J.G. Webster, K.L. Brown, M.K. Nimfopoulos, K.M. Michailidis
Mineralogical Magazine 67(2), 247-261/Mineralogical Society UK, 2003

Understanding the biogeochemical behaviour of arsenic in the weathering and shallow subsurface environment depends... more Understanding the biogeochemical behaviour of arsenic in the weathering and shallow subsurface environment depends critically upon determining the nature and distribution of the chemical species present in natural waters. To this end, coupled ion chromatography-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (IC-ICP-MS) is widely used, though species fractionation during ultrasonic nebulization, and matrix-dependent ionization in the plasma are analytical issues that need to be addressed. Hexapole collision cell technology is shown to be effective in suppressing chloride-based polyatomic interferences. Irrespective of the analytical technique used, As(III)/As(V) ratios of natural waters may change substantially during storage due to (1) differential adsorption of arsenic species on hydrated ferric oxides (HFOs); and (2) microbial activity. A wide range of apparently contradictory speciation changes observed by various workers can be rationalized in terms of the differences of microbial consortia present in different water samples. Arsenic speciation in certain water types can be stabilized for days or even weeks by combined filtration, acidification and refrigeration whilst the addition of EDTA and the use of 0.1 µm filters is indicated for iron-rich waters and waters with high activities of redox-active bacteria, respectively. Although the use of hydrochloric acid has been reported elsewhere as resulting in the apparent oxidation of As(III), we show that for certain water types it acts as an extremely effective preservative of arsenic speciation.

Estimating Previous Exposure to Arsenic for Populations Living in Parts of Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.

by Giovanni Leonardi

Reference:

Hough, R.L., Leonardi, G.S. & Fletcher, T. Estimating Previous Exposure to Arsenic for Populations Living in Parts of Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. In: Natural Arsenic in Groundwater (Eds. J. Bundschuh, P. Bhattacharya, D. Chandrasekharam). Taylor and Francis, London, 2005.

ISBN 041536700X

Field Test Kits for Arsenic: Evaluation in Terms of Sensitivity, Reliability, Applicability, and Cost

by pascal salaun

Voltammetric determination of arsenic in high iron and manganese groundwaters

by pascal salaun

Arsenic speciation in natural waters by cathodic stripping voltammetry

by pascal salaun

Arsenic and Cancer in Central Europe

by Giovanni Leonardi

Natural arsenic in drinking water and adverse health effects in Romania

by Giovanni Leonardi

The Impact of Exposure Metric Choice for Cancers Related to Arsenic in Drinking Water in Central Europe

by Giovanni Leonardi

Tony Fletcher,1 Giovanni Leonardi,1 Rupert Hough,2 Walter Goessler,3
Eugen Gurzau,4 Kvetoslava Koppova,5 Peter Rudnai,6 and Marie Vahter7

1 London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom;
2 The Macaulay Institute, Aberdeen, United Kingdom;
3 Karl-Fränzens-Universität, Graz, Austria;
4 Environmental Health Centre, Cluj-Napoca, Romania;
5 State Health Institute, Banska Bystrica, Slovakia;
6 National Institute of Environmental Health, Budapest,Hungary; and
7 Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.

Epidemiology • Volume 22, Number 1, January Supplement 2011

Background/Aims: Past control of water supplies to reduce arsenic intake is good for public health; however, it... more Background/Aims: Past control of water supplies to reduce arsenic intake is good for public health; however, it complicates the task of accurate reconstruction of past exposures in the service of investigating exposure response relationships between arsenic and cancer. Classifying people based on the current drinking water concentrations would be an unsatisfactory option by ignoring individual differences in patterns of concentrations over time.

Methods: For the ASHRAM study—-a case-control study investigating arsenic in drinking water and cancer, in counties with arsenic exposure in Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia—-the exposure history of each person was constructed taking into account how much water was consumed (as water, in drinks, and in food), sources of drinking water in their various residences over their lifetime and the concentrations of arsenic in the water supply, in many cases measured in the ASHRAM study, or from routine data based on measurements performed by the authorities in each country. Following 4 indices of exposure were calculated: the current concentration of residential drinking water, the time weighted average concentration of residential drinking water, the highest daily dose of As derived from residential drinking water, and the lifetime cumulative dose.

Results: For 1392 participants, the assignment of concentrations to water supplies was very successful with 81% of the population lifetime residential person time being matched to an arsenic concentration. The exposure indices were all log-normally distributed and the median lifetime concentrations were in Hungary 13.3 µg/L, Romania 0.7 µg/L, and
Slovakia 0.8 µg/L. Overall, 25% of the population has average
concentrations over 10 µg/L and 8% with exposure over 50 µg/L.

Conclusion: Classifying exposure by current rather than lifetime measures of arsenic exposure leads to an underestimate of the strength of relationship between arsenic and cancer.

Arsenic speciation in natural waters by cathodic stripping voltammetry

by Kristopher Gibbon-Walsh

Voltammetric determination of arsenic in high iron and manganese groundwaters

by Constant van den Berg

this is the corrected pdf. email me for the final copy once it has come out.
vandenberg@liv.ac.uk

Determination of the speciation of arsenic in groundwaters, using cathodic stripping voltammetry (CSV), is severely... more Determination of the speciation of arsenic in groundwaters, using cathodic stripping voltammetry (CSV), is severely hampered by high levels of iron and manganese. Experiments showed that the interference is eliminated by addition of EDTA, making it possible to determine the arsenic speciation on-site by CSV. This work presents the CSV method to determine As(III) in high-iron or -manganese groundwaters in the field with only minor sample treatment. The method was field-tested in West-Bengal (India) on a series of groundwater samples. Total arsenic was subsequently determined after acidification to pH 1 by anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV). Comparative measurements by ICP-MS as reference method for total As, and by HPLC for its speciation, were used to corroborate the field data in stored samples. Most of the arsenic (78 ± 0.02%) was found to occur as inorganic As(III) in the freshly collected waters, in accordance with previous studies. The data shows that the modified on-site CSV method for As(III) is a good measure of water contamination with As. The EDTA was also found to be effective in stabilising the arsenic speciation for longterm sample storage at room temperature. Without sample preservation, in water exposed to air and sunlight, the As(III) was found to become oxidised to As(V), and Fe(II) oxidised to Fe(III), removing the As(V) by adsorption on precipitating Fe(III)-hydroxides within a few hours.

Water Arsenic and Fluoride Contamination in Zacatecas Mexico: An Exploratory Study

by Osiel González Dávila

González Dávila, O. (2011). Water Arsenic and Fluoride Contamination in Zacatecas Mexico: An Exploratory Study. 8th International Conference "Developments in Economic Theory." University of the Basque Country.

This paper has been presented in the 8th International Conference "Developments in Economic Theory" at the Department of Applied Economics V, University of the Basque Country (Spain), the 1st of July. It was also presented in the 2nd CES "Critical Economics" Summer School Environmental Values an Public Policies in Lousa (Portugal), the 12th of July 2011.

Due to Mexico's climate and environmental features, groundwater plays a very important role on Mexican economic... more Due to Mexico's climate and environmental features, groundwater plays a very important role on Mexican economic activities and welfare. On average, groundwater extraction provides more than 60% of the national water supply. Groundwater arsenic and fluoride levels above the limits established by the Mexican Official Norm have been detected in several areas of Mexico. According to the National Commission of Water, the total population living in states where there is systematic information about high levels of arsenic and/or fluoride in the waterworks is 6.4 million. In Mexico, the socio-economics of groundwater arsenic and fluoride occurrence is little studied, although appears that awareness is lacking. To overcome this, a baseline survey in two potentially affected municipalities of Zacatecas, Mexico was undertaken. The aim was to understand levels of awareness, health impacts and potential arsenic and fluoride avoidance strategies and practices. 41% of the interviewees stated that at least one household member shows brown mottling of teeth (fluorosis symptom). 18% reported that at least one household member shows dark skin spots on hand palms (arsenicosis symptom). Statistically significant correlations between the presence of arsenicosis and fluorosis symptoms and the consumption of certain food items and tap water were found. PROBIT regressions confirmed the association between arsenicosis and fluorosis symptoms and food and water consumption patterns. Water samples from five extraction wells supplying water to those municipalities were collected and tested for arsenic and fluoride levels as part of this exploratory study. The levels of arsenic in two of the extraction wells were more than 10 times above the Mexican guideline and the fluoride levels were two times above the Mexican guideline. There is a huge information problem. The population is not aware of the high levels of arsenic and fluoride in the tap water and a great majority has no information of the arsenicosis or fluorosis symptoms and the strategies to avoid them. Data about toxic elements levels in the public water systems are not available to the public. A comprehensive public strategy to tackle the problem is required.

Wetland And Role in water conservation

by Parul Bhatnagar

Environmental Education, UGC-ASC Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh

A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with moisture either permanently or seasonally. Such areas may... more A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with moisture either permanently or seasonally. Such areas may also be covered partially or completely by shallow pools of water.

Wetlands include swamps , marshes, and bogs, among others. The water found in wetlands can be saltwater , freshwater , or brackish . The world's largest wetland is the Pantanal which straddles Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguayin South America.

Wetlands are considered the most biologically diverse of all ecosystems.

Development and Infrastructure in Marginalised Communities, Safe Drinking Water in Rural Bangladesh

by Crelis Rammelt

PhD University of New South Wales, 2009

The poor in most developing countries are persistently marginalised in their living conditions, including their access... more The poor in most developing countries are persistently marginalised in their living conditions, including their access to safe drinking water. The research objectives have been (1) to better understand why this state of affairs has endured despite decades of efforts and interventions, and (2) to propose more adequate alternatives. The central case study was concerned with drinking water in rural Bangladesh – a matter of grave urgency since the discovery of arsenic in the groundwater more than a decade ago. Millions of users are exposed to dangerous levels of contamination, and the implementation of solutions has been slow and inadequate. Little has been done so far to integrate the research on this complex humanitarian crisis.

Many have argued that conventional views on development are ill-equipped to address the ‘growing gap’ between rich and poor; the models often fail to interpret inequity beyond mere financial indicators. This thesis therefore puts forward a different analytical framework (based on the theoretical concepts of core-periphery and capital stock). This was designed to increase our understanding of marginalisation by taking into account unequal ownership of, entitlement to, and control over, ecological, technological, organisational and human assets.

Through an action research methodology, this analytical framework was informed by a participatory programme that established safe drinking water supplies in several poor and arsenic-affected villages. The learning experience was then fed back into the programme. This pragmatic approach was also systemic, i.e., it emphasised the community level, which was framed within the context of external influences, various other programmes and national policies.

This resulted in a clarification of the problem in terms of (1) lack of ownership of community land, resources, drinking water institutions and technical knowledge; (2) restricted access to (non-) governmental services and benefits from public or collective assets; and (3) exclusion from decision-making in new water sector developments. It was concluded that alternative strategies need to focus on vesting ownership, entitlement and control in marginalised communities. The steps to achieve this will have far-reaching ramifications for how organisations, policymakers and funding agencies perceive and plan development projects.

The analytical and methodological approach of this thesis is relevant to other cases of marginalisation in different socio-economic contexts.