Water is an everyday essential

1. Introduction
Arsenic in groundwater is a major global issue with millions of people affected daily. Water is an
everyday essential and yet millions of people are drinking contaminated supplies unknowingly and
as a consequence they are effectively destroying prospects of a healthy life. This major public
disaster has been described as the largest mass poisoning of a population in history in Bangladesh
(Smith et al 2000).
The majority of the report is concentrated on the effects and remediation of Arsenic in Bangladesh;
however reports and studies from other countries are also mentioned too. It explain where arsenic is
derived from and how it has got into out groundwater system. Chowdhury et al (2000) claims that
BGS reported that roughly 21 million people in Bangladesh were drinking contaminated arsenic
water with levels higher than 50 g/l. This is extremely high in comparison to WHO guideline of 10
g/l. As a consequence, the people exposed and consuming the arsenic contaminated water are
suffering from many different health effects. Some of which are different forms of cancer,
hyperkeratosis, skin lesions and many others. The countries that are most likely to suffer would be
the LEDC's since they don't have much education or funding to reduce the amount of arsenic in their
drinking water.

The reason this is such an important issue and it should be tackled directly is because not only are
millions of people across the globe are being poisoned but also technology and remediation are
advanced and proved to be successful in some regions. Therefore, if it has been successful in one
area, then why not try it out in another area.
Arsenic in groundwater
2.1. The sources of arsenic
Arsenic can enter our water supplies via two methods, human influences or it being naturally
occurring. Many people assume that if there was As in drinking groundwater then the source would
be derived from human activity however this is not always true. The natural geological setting plays
an important role in this too. According to Bhattacharya et al (1997), Korte & Fernando state that the
source of arsenic in groundwater is most often by landfills, wastes from mining, leaching via the
surrounding geological setting such as the rocks and inputs from geothermal sources.
2.1.1 Human influences
The human influence most likely to contribute to As in groundwater is primarily due to the mining
industries. The extraction of metals and minerals from the earth's crust has been on the rise every
year due to the increase in population and therefore an increase in demand. Extraction of gold has
been ever so popular recently; especially with the prices per ounce being ever so high and valuable.
Figure 1 shows a positive correlation of an increase of the price of gold each year. In 2000, an ounce
of gold would roughly be $300 and at the end of year 2009 it was valued at $1200. This is a
difference of $900 within a short period of 10 years. As a result, more is mined and more arsenic is
leached into the soil and the ground from the metal production. An example of a country that heavily
mines gold is Ghana. Between 1992 and 1995, British Geological Survey and the Water Resources
Research Institute, found arsenic concentrations in water from streams, shallow wells and boreholes
were ranged between 2 and 175 g/l. This shows us how much influence gold mining actually has
on the concentrations released.
Another way that human interaction can contribute to arsenic in groundwater is via agriculture using
the method of pesticides. A couple of decades ago arsenic was extensively used to prepare
pesticides and insecticides. In 1955, the total production of arsenic was 37,000 tons world-wide and
that of which 11,000 tons of that was produced mainly in the USA with 18,000 tons used for
domestic consumption (Mandal & Suzuki 2002).
A few other examples of man-made arsenic that can be leached into our groundwater supply are
from glass manufacturing, industrial waste and particles from the burning of fossil fuels (Mandal &
Suzuki 2002).
2.1.2 Naturally occurring
Thousands of years before human activities could have any effect on the balance of arsenic within
the earth; arsenic was already present all over the world and was located in the soil, water,
atmosphere and the rocks. Even natural hazards such as an eruption of a volcano supplies arsenic
to the atmosphere which releases around 17,000 tons per year (Harvey & Beckie 2005). From the
eruption, the volcanic deposits often contains dissolved arsenic that can go beyond 1 mg/L.
Examples found in Argentina, Chile, Greece (Alearts & Khouri 2004)
Arsenic can also be launched into water system through the dissolution of minerals and as a result
of erosion, the concentrations of arsenic are higher in some places than others (WHO).
A good example of natural occurring arsenic is in the Duero Cenozoic Basin, Spain. Here there is a
high concentration of naturally occurring arsenic within the sediments comprising the basin. A study
was carried out and of the 514 samples collected within the basin, the average value of arsenic
present was 40.8 g/L and this was all from the natural surroundings (Gomez et al 2006). This
value is roughly four times the recommended safe guideline set by the WHO and the people using
the water are at harm.
Bangladesh has an extremely high value of arsenic within its ground system. According to
Brammer & Ravenscroft (2009), McArthur et al states that the arsenic derives from the igneous and
metamorphic rocks in the Himalayas and other mountains chains that are relatively young. Since
majority of Bangladesh is located on the Ganges delta, the dissolved arsenic in the groundwater
flows through their land and beneath their feet. In Kocar et al (2008) report, he states how Ahmed et
al says the sediment from the Himalayas exposes tens of millions of people to dangerous drinking
water within Asia. This means that countries surrounding the Himalayas or have any contact with
rivers or streams derived from there could also have a potential of high arsenic level in the ground.

2.2 What controls its geochemical conditions?
The chemical symbol for arsenic is As. It is a metal and has an atomic number of 33. One factor
that controls its geochemical condition is its oxidation states. Arsenic has four oxidation states: +5,
+3, 0 and -3. It is rarely found in the oxidation states of 0 and -3. The two most common states are
+5 and +3. The state +3 is highly soluble and mobile so therefore it would be most commonly found
in groundwater since it's able to dissolve more readily.
Another factor controlling the geochemical conditions is the pH. Changes in the ground's pH can
either promote adsorption or desorption of arsenic (USGS).
In a study, sediments kept under aerobic conditions showed small reduction of Fe (III) with time
however sediments under anaerobic conditions showed Fe (III) reduction related with arsenic
mobility (Islam et al 2004).
2.3 The effects of Arsenic exposure
2.3.1 How many people are affected from Arsenic
groundwater and where?
The World Health Organisation (2001) have set a safe guideline of 10 g/l of arsenic in drinking
supplies, and according to them at least 137 million people have been exposed to drinking
contaminated water globally with a higher arsenic content, and 57 million with water more than 50
g/l. This level of arsenic is extremely dangerous for the human health.
Figure 2 shows the estimated distribution of arsenic across the world. It shows how majority of it is
associated within Eastern Australia, Canada, Western USA, South America and Asia with high
concentrations mainly located in Bangladesh and South America. Even though Arsenic is naturally
present in the earth's crust, some regions have an excess volume of Arsenic due to those reasons
explained earlier in the report.
Figure 2: Shows the distribution of the estimated occurrence of Arsenic in groundwater. (Source:
International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre)
According to Smith et al (2000), a report from the World Bank has approximately estimated that the
number of people that may be drinking arsenic-contaminated water in Bangladesh is roughly 20
million out of the total population of 162 million people. That is a lot of people concentrated within a
small country hence this is why majority of the research carried out and world-wide publicity is from
Bangladesh. Chowdhury et al (2000) claims that BGS studied 2,000 water samples from wells in
Bangladesh, and reported that roughly 21 million people were drinking contaminated arsenic water
with levels higher than 50 g/l. This is way above the WHO limit of 10g/l and as a result
Bangladesh is suffering as a nation.
One major issue with the WHO safe limit of 10 g/l is that not every country has the advanced
technology to test their groundwater or wells. Most of the developing countries have a limit of 50
g/l, even though this is considered to be at extremely dangerous levels to the MEDCs. Since there
are difficulties for lower measurements of arsenic in the drinking water, the figures and number that
get published from the LEDC's would not be valid, reliable or representative. Therefore, the number
of people that are affected would be much higher than said.
2.4. The different types of health problems associated
2.4.1 Human Effects
There are many different types of health problems caused by drinking arsenic in water and those
of which are mainly long term health effects. Some of which are a high chance in skin, bladder,
kidney and lung cancer, hyperkeratosis, skin lesions and a few others. However, the symptoms seen
immediately involve diarrhoea, vomiting, poisonings and many more.
Figure 3: Shows the hands of a victim suffering from hyperkeratosis from drinking arsenic
contaminated water (Source: http://www.ualberta.ca/~xcle/img/hands.jpg)
Arsenic is an effective carcinogen and can cause serious harm the nervous systems and can cause
serious skin problems such as hyperkeratosis. It may also cause problems to pregnant women and
to their unborn baby such as problems in the reproductive system (Roy 2008). In LEDC's, the
number of patients per doctor is extremely high e.g. 1 doctor to 400 patients. This would cause a
burden to the national health care system and also funding would be limited. Furthermore, many
people in the rural areas don't have access to any medical care so the spread of arsenic-related
diseases would only increase and it would be difficult to even estimate the number of people who
are truly affected arsenic contaminated water.

In general it is hard to tell how many people are affected because firstly, not everyone has access to
medical care, secondly, the symptoms takes roughly 5-10 years or even longer for it to be noticed
and thirdly, it may be hard to distinguish the symptoms of arsenic related to other factors that may
have caused it.
Smith et al (2000) states that in a WHO report, they have predicted that almost 1 in every 10 adults
will pass away in majority of southern Bangladesh. This would be due to cancer caused by arsenic
poisoning in the next 10 years or so. Also only a small number of cases of skin cancer have been
revealed since it takes more than 20 years for any effects to be noticed. However, it doesn't mean
we should take this matter lightly since millions of people can be affected by this and not even have
the slightest clue about it.
To what we know so far, Vietnam has not yet reported any symptoms of chronic arsenic exposure
even though millions of residences are consuming arsenic contaminated water. However, this could
be due to the fact that it takes several of years for the symptoms to reveal. In the four districts
studied, roughly 48% of the investigated samples were above Vietnamese value of 50 g/l, and an
average of 72% was above the WHO guideline of 10 g/l (Berg et al 2001).
WHO states that the result from drinking arsenic water can cause serious problems in the blood
vessels and in China this is known as "black foot disease". Although this particular disease has only
been noted in China and not anywhere else, it has been claimed that malnutrition could play a big
role in this. Therefore other factors combined with drinking arsenic water could increase the chances
of diseases and severe health effects.
2.4.2. Effects on agriculture
Arsenic in groundwater can have an effect on agriculture too and this also contributes to the
effects seen to the human health. Polluted water will affect the irrigation, particularly the rice and this
is a major important daily diet consumed in south Asia. The reason it would affect rice mainly is
because the crop is most vulnerable to the intake of the arsenic and as a result the nation as a
whole are unknowingly digesting toxic food and increasing their chances of getting diseases.
The intake of As by plants has many different factors. For example, majority of vegetables are
planted in aerated soils and the arsenic present is usually As (V) and in a solid state. As a result, the
As in the groundwater is absorbed by iron hydroxides and becomes unavailable for plants to use.
However in anaerobic soils such as rice fields, the arsenic present would be As (III) and that is in a
dissolvable state. As a consequence, the plant would be able to absorb the arsenic solution that
would be available in the ground (Brammer & Ravenscroft 2009).
3. Discussion
3.1. Solutions to reduce the Arsenic exposure
3.1.1. Emergency programs
In order to have an immediate effect in reducing arsenic contaminated water, the short term
strategy could be a good solution. There are many ways we can approach this and have proved to
be successful. Some examples could to be hand out medicine, identify the contaminated wells
before anyone uses or drinks out of it, supply emergency water etc. A fast simple approach would be
to provide chemicals that can be used daily to remove arsenic from the household drinking water.
This would be done by providing the residences with a packet of chemicals which would be inserted
into the water and left overnight to stand (Smith et al 2000). The advantages of this strategy are that
it is relatively cheap and easy to distribute across the worst affected areas. However the main
disadvantage to this method is that there is no guarantee that people would actually use these
packets on a daily basis. They may forget or simply aren't bothered to wait for the water to be safe
overnight.
3.1.2. Sustainable approach
Long term strategies are supposed to be sustainable for the future. One suggestion could be to
receive funding and financial support from governmental and non-governmental organisations. For
example one NGO response to this is by UNICEF. The aim of the project was that in the next five
years to install 21,000 new water points that are free from any arsenic contamination and these
would be installed in the worst affected villages/communities. The positive outcome to this was that
the filter brought the neighbourhood together and they could have access to safe clean water
throughout the year. This project from UNICEF has turned to be successful but this isn't always the
case. Sometime the large scale funded solutions can lead to misuse of funds due to political
pressures (Alaerts & Khouri 2004). Another remediation to reduce the arsenic exposure could be by
installing sand-filters. They are known to safely store arsenic residue for up to 20 years (Sarkar et al
2008).


Find out more from UK Essays here: http://www.ukessays.com/essays/environmental-studies/water-
is-an-everyday-essential.php#ixzz3Fmd0AQTT