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Arsenic Contamination of Groundwater and Its Mitigation Strategies

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Water Pollution and Management Practices

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Abstract

Arsenic contamination of environment is a serious issue that has grown in proportion over the years. Arsenic becomes enriched in groundwater due to several redox and biological processes that has been exacerbated due to human intervention. In India, arsenic contamination is widespread and has been reported from West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, and other states. Arsenic is a highly toxic element and can cause several ailments in humans including cancers. Hence, there is a need to provide safe water to people for drinking purposes and for other daily uses. In this regard, several physicochemical and biological methods are available, which need to be implemented for the purpose. A few of the important low cost and easy methods include precipitation, adsorption, and membrane processes-based filters. Apart from this, biological (bioremediation and phytoremediation) methods have been proposed. The present book chapter gives an overview of arsenic problem and its mitigation strategies.

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Acknowledgement

SA is thankful to the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research for the award of Senior Research Fellowship [No. 31/08(332)/2017-EMR1]. RC is thankful to the Department of Science and Technology (DST) New Delhi, India for the award of DST-INSPIRE Junior/Senior Research Fellowship (No. DST/INSPIRE Fellowship/2013/321). RDT is thankful to CSIR, New Delhi for the Emeritus Scientist Scheme [No. 21(0978)/13/EMR-II].

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  1. Authors Surabhi Awasthi and Reshu Chauhan have equally contributed to this chapter.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CSIR – National Botanical Research Institute, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Surabhi Awasthi, Reshu Chauhan, Sanjay Dwivedi & Rudra Deo Tripathi

  2. Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India

    Sudhakar Srivastava

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  1. Surabhi Awasthi
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  2. Reshu Chauhan
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre of Advanced Study in Botany, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Anita Singh

  2. Centre of Advanced Study in Botany, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Madhoolika Agrawal

  3. Centre of Advanced Study in Botany, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Shashi Bhushan Agrawal

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Awasthi, S., Chauhan, R., Dwivedi, S., Srivastava, S., Tripathi, R.D. (2021). Arsenic Contamination of Groundwater and Its Mitigation Strategies. In: Singh, A., Agrawal, M., Agrawal, S.B. (eds) Water Pollution and Management Practices. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8358-2_5

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