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An Overview of Arsenic Contamination in Water Resources of Pakistan, Risk Assessment and Remediation Strategies

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Global Arsenic Hazard

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Abstract

Water resources of Pakistan are seriously depleting due to mismanagement. One of the major issues in the depletion of water resources in Pakistan which makes water not assessable to use is its contamination. The issue of arsenic contamination has emerged as a serious health concern in Pakistan. Pakistani population is exposed not only to toxic but poisonous levels of arsenic contamination. Only in Punjab province more than 20% population is exposed to arsenic levels of more than 10 ppb out of which 3% are exposed to more than 50 ppb levels of arsenic contamination. Various studies have shown the arsenic contamination in both shallow and deep aquifers. This chapter will give a comprehensive overview of arsenic contamination in water resources of Pakistan, their associated health risks, and possible remediation strategies to reduce exposure of arsenic contamination in Pakistani population.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Soil and Environmental Sciences, Ghazi University, D. G. Khan, 32200, Pakistan

    Saqib Bashir, Sanaullah Yasin & Safdar Bashir

  2. Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan

    Zubair Aslam

  3. Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100081, China

    Waseem Hassan

  4. Laboratory for Agricultural Environment, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing, China

    Waseem Hassan

  5. Department of Botany, Ghazi University, City Campus, Dera Ghazi Khan, 32200, Pakistan

    Saadullah Khan Leghari

  6. Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Faisalabad, 38040, Pakistan

    Nabeel Khan Niazi

Authors
  1. Saqib Bashir
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  2. Sanaullah Yasin
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  3. Safdar Bashir
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  4. Zubair Aslam
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  5. Waseem Hassan
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  6. Saadullah Khan Leghari
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  7. Nabeel Khan Niazi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Safdar Bashir .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan

    Nabeel Khan Niazi

  2. Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan

    Irshad Bibi

  3. Department of Botany, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India

    Tariq Aftab

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Bashir, S. et al. (2023). An Overview of Arsenic Contamination in Water Resources of Pakistan, Risk Assessment and Remediation Strategies. In: Niazi, N.K., Bibi, I., Aftab, T. (eds) Global Arsenic Hazard. Environmental Science and Engineering. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-16360-9_9

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