Risk characterization for arsenic-impacted water sources, including ground-truthing

Abstract

One of the most severe issues for water supply in Bangladesh is high arsenic concentrations. Widespread implementation of tubewells was determined to be highly problematic due to arsenic contamination in the groundwater. For substantial areas in Bangladesh, groundwater cannot be utilized for water supply without treatment to reduce arsenic levels. Thus, calculations for the incremental excess lifetime cancer risk are used to demonstrate that indeed, seeing elevated arsenicosis must be expected. By observing the correlations between arsenic and iron and the prevalence of arsenicosis patients, the relationships among the concentrations of arsenic and iron, and the percentage of contaminated wells are significant for determining the prevalence of arsenicosis. The results declare that high arsenic concentrations and high percentages of contaminated wells, as well as the lower iron concentrations, lead to a higher prevalence of arsenicosis patients. It demonstrates the validity of the risk calculation procedure and single arsenic concentrations cannot provide good prediction of arsenicosis risk. When the concentration of arsenic and iron are both high, the ratio of arsenic/iron will decrease, and the arsenicosis rates will lessen, as well. The findings indicate that co-precipitation of iron and arsenic can remove some of the arsenic before the groundwater is consumed.