Abstract
Arsenic-rich (As) groundwater is a serious concern in Punjab affecting thirteen districts along the Sutlej and Ravi River alluvial deposits including the present study site of Rupnagar district. Water samples from the Quaternary deposits along eastern part of Rupnagar have been examined for detailed geochemistry during pre- and post-monsoon seasons. Two traverses were made along the northern and southern side of a thermal power and cement plant with total of twenty surface stream, hand pump (~50–60 ft.) and bore well (~180–200 ft.) samples. Overall circum-neutral pH with relatively greater cationic and anionic contents with higher As along the southern traverse (mostly hand pumps and bore wells) compared to northern traverse (mostly stream waters) characterize the areal geochemistry and, interestingly, the groundwater flow direction is Southwest in the region. Post-monsoon samples contain more As than pre-monsoon for any particular location and As concentrations are relatively higher near to the waste dumps that slowly lowers outward. The present findings suggest that the huge coal ash wastes might be a dominant contributor of such high As, especially along the southern traverse, while not overruling geogenic As-rich alluvial deposits as evidenced along northern traverse. Greater As contents during post-monsoon season are attributed to favorable leaching by monsoonal infiltration. Arsenic correlation with PO43− is indicative of a likely ionic exchange between PO43− and HAsO42− owing to their comparable ionic radius resulting higher As(aq), whereas significant correlations of As with HCO3− and Si4+ suggests the role of bicarbonate and silicate on mobilization of As in the groundwater due to the carbonation of arsenic sulfide minerals (e.g.As2S3 or As4S4/AsS) and silicate weathering, respectively.
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Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge Department of Geology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India for providing all the necessary technical and infrastructural facilities to carry out the research. Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India is acknowledged for DST-INSPIRE Fellowship to Ms. Kaur. University Grants Commission, India has partly supported financial assistance to SP through UGC Start-up grant for instrumental analysis and consumables. The authors are also thankful to Mr. Kuldeep Bist (lab assistant), Aishwarya Juneja, Piyush and Yash Bhanu for their help in the laboratory analysis and field work.
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Kaur, N., Paikaray, S. (2021). Arsenic-Rich Surface and Groundwater around Eastern Parts of Rupnagar District, Punjab, India. In: Shit, P.K., Adhikary, P.P., Sengupta, D. (eds) Spatial Modeling and Assessment of Environmental Contaminants. Environmental Challenges and Solutions. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63422-3_21
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