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Arsenic movement and traces in the groundwater from the Hetao area, Inner Mongolia

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An Erratum to this article was published on 01 January 2013

Abstract

In the Hetao area of Inner Mongolia, Quaternary alluvial aquifers used for the water supply are contaminated by naturally occurring arsenic, which heavily affects the health of 200,000 local residents. This study on the isotopes of strontium and relevant elements contained in the groundwater as well as the arsenic in the groundwater and residents’ hair indicates that the arsenic originally derives from the upper reaches of this area where arsenic levels are high in groundwater, rock, and soil. Over, respectively, 44 km (work-line AA′) and 36 km (work-line BB′) away from there, the levels of arsenic in the water, corresponding to the trend of the residents’ arseniasis, decrease along the direction of the flow from 0.251 to 0.05 mg/L and 0.232 to 0.036 mg/L. The result of this research suggests that long-term strategies to deal with this arseniasis should involve finding hydrous terrains uncontaminated by water from the upper reaches and developing routes to prevent water from taking arsenic.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation of China to Zhang Hui (Granted No. 49863001). My master student, Ms. X. Zhou, offered some assistance in sample processing and analysis. The Nanjing University Modern Analysis Center, the Beijing Uranium Geology Research Institute Analysis Center, Shanghai Jiaotong University Analysis Center offered valuable facility helps in analysis. The author would like to express heartfelt appreciation for the valuable financial aid, significative assistance and helps mentioned above. The three anonymous peer reviewers are sincerely thanked for their valuable comments and constructive suggestions to this paper both in science merits and practice value.

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  1. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University, 800 Dongchuan Rd., Shanghai, 200240, People’s Republic of China

    Hui Zhang

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Zhang, H. Arsenic movement and traces in the groundwater from the Hetao area, Inner Mongolia. Environ Earth Sci 69, 1579–1588 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-012-1992-5

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