Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Groundwater arsenic contamination in Manipur, one of the seven North-Eastern Hill states of India: a future danger

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Environmental Geology

Abstract

Manipur State, with a population of 2.29 million, is one of the seven North-Eastern Hill states in India, and is severely affected by groundwater arsenic contamination. Manipur has nine districts out of which four are in Manipur Valley where 59% of the people live on 10% of the land. These four districts are all arsenic contaminated. We analysed water samples from 628 tubewells for arsenic out of an expected total 2,014 tubewells in the Manipur Valley. Analyzed samples, 63.3%, contained >10 μg/l of arsenic, 23.2% between 10 and 50 μg/l, and 40% >50 μg/l. The percentages of contaminated wells above 10 and 50 μg/l are higher than in other arsenic affected states and countries of the Ganga–Meghna–Brahmaputra (GMB) Plain. Unlike on the GMB plains, in Manipur there is no systematic relation between arsenic concentration and the depth of tubewells. The source of arsenic in GMB Plain is sediments derived from the Himalaya and surrounding mountains. North-Eastern Hill states were formed at late phase of Himalaya orogeny, and so it will be found in the future that groundwater arsenic contamination in the valleys of other North-Eastern Hill states. Arsenic contaminated aquifers in Manipur Valley are mainly located within the Newer Alluvium. In Manipur, the high rainfall and abundant surface water resources can be exploited to avoid repeating the mass arsenic poisoning that has occurred on the GMB plains.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ahamed S (2006) Groundwater arsenic contamination and its health effects in the states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, India (Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis). Jadavpur University, Kolkata

  • Ahamed S, Sengupta MK, Mukherjee A, Hossain MA, Das B, Nayak B, Pal A, Mukherjee SC, Pati S, Dutta RN, Chatterjee G, Mukherjee A, Srivastava R, Chakraborti D (2006) Groundwater arsenic contamination in middle Ganga plain, Uttar Pradesh-India: a future danger? Sci Total Environ 370:310–322

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ahamed S, Das B, Hossain MA, Nayak B, Pal A, E. Jayantakumar Singh, Sengupta MK, Mukherjee SC, Pati S, Dutta RN, Kshitish Chandra Saha, Quazi Quamruzzaman, Chakraborti D (2008) Groundwater arsenic contamination and its health effects in Ganga–Meghna–Brahmaputra Plain and its surroundings. Trace Elem Med (in press)

  • Brunnschweiler RO (1974) Indoburman ranges. Geol Soc Lond Spl Pub 4:279–299

    Google Scholar 

  • Chakraborti D, Mukherjee SC, Pati S, Sengupta MK, Rahman MM, Chowdhury UK, Lodh D, Chanda CR, Chakraborti AK, Basu GK (2003) Arsenic groundwater contamination in middle Ganga plain, Bihar, India: a future danger environ. Health Perspect 111:1194–1201

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chakraborti D, Sengupta MK, Rahman MM, Ahamed S, Chowdhury UK, Hossain MA, Mukherjee SC, Pati S, Saha KC, Dutta RN, Zaman QQ (2004) Groundwater arsenic contamination and its health effects in the Ganga–Meghna–Brahmaputra plain. J Environ Monit 6:74–83

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chatterjee A, Das D, Mandal BK, Chowdhury TR, Samanta G, Chakraborti D (1995) Arsenic in ground water in six districts of West Bengal, India: the biggest arsenic calamity in the world, Part I. Arsenic species in drinking water and urine of the affected people. Analyst 120:643–650

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Datta DV, Kaul MK (1976) Arsenic and non-cirrhotic portal hypertension. Lancet 1:433

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dhar RK, Biswas BK, Samanta G, Mandal BK, Chakraborti D, Jafar SRA, Islam A, Ara G, Kabir S, Khan AW, Ahmed SA, Hadi SA (1997) Groundwater arsenic calamity in Bangladesh. Curr Sci 73:48–59

    Google Scholar 

  • Farmer JG, Johnson LR (1990) Assessment of occupational exposure to inorganic arsenic based on urinary concentrations and speciation of arsenic. Br J Ind Med 47:342–348

    Google Scholar 

  • Garai R, Chakraborty AK, Dey SB, Saha KC (1984) Chronic arsenic poisoning from tube-well water. J Indian Med Assoc 82:34–35

    Google Scholar 

  • International conference on arsenic in groundwater: cause, effect and remedy (1995) School of Environmental Studies, Jadavpur University, Calcutta

  • International conference arsenic pollution of groundwater in bangladesh: cause, effects and remedies (1998) Jointly organized by School of Environmental Studies, Jadavpur University, India and Dhaka Community Hospital, Dhaka

  • Manipur (2007) http://www.manipur.nic.in/planning/DraftMSDR/Draft_SDR_pdf/Chapter%207_irrigation.pdf. Accessed 5 April 2007

  • Mastec (2007) http://www.mastec.nic.in/waterresource.htm. Accessed 27 March 2007

  • Nandy DR (1980) Tectonic pattern of North-Eastern India and adjoining region Indian. J Earth Sci 7:103–107

    Google Scholar 

  • Nickson R, McArthur JM, Shrestha B, Kyaw-Myint TO, Lowry D (2005) Arsenic and other drinking water quality issues, Muzaffargarh District, Pakistan. Appl Geochem 20:55–68

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • PHED Report (2006) Investigation, planning and design (IPD), PHED, Manipur

  • Samanta G, Chowdhury TR, Mandal BK, Biswas BK, Chowdhury UK, Basu GK, Chanda CR, Lodh D, Chakraborti D (1999) Flow injection hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry for determination of arsenic in water and biological samples from arsenic affected districts of west Bengal, India and Bangladesh. Microchem J 62:174–191

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shrestha RR, Shrestha MP, Upadhyay NP, Pradhan R, Khadka R, Maskey A, Maharjan M, Tuladhar S, Dahal BM, Shrestha K (2003) Groundwater arsenic contamination, its health impact and mitigation program in Nepal. J Environ Sci Health A Tox Hazard Subst Environ Eng A38(1):185–200

    Google Scholar 

  • Singh AK (2004) Arsenic contamination in the groundwater of North Eastern India. In: Proceedings on national seminar on hydrology, Roorkee

  • SOES (2007) http://www.soesju.org. Accessed 20 June 2007

  • Soibam I (1998) On the geology of Manipur. In: Proceedings of 9th Manipur science congress, Imphal, pp 12–19

  • World Bank (2007) http://www.worldbank.org/INTSAREGTOP/WATRES/Resources/Background_Paper_2.pdf. Accessed 5 April 2007

Download references

Acknowledgments

Funds from Hamdard National Foundation to carry out arsenic related work in North Eastern Hill States for 5 years is greatly appreciated. The authors sincerely thank to K. Rajen (Geophysicist, IPD, PHED, Govt. of Manipur) for providing relevant database, S. Ibotombi and E. Ranjitkumar from Earth Sciences Department of Manipur University for their constructive suggestions.

Author information

Author notes

  1. M. Amir Hossain

    Present address: School of Environmental Studies, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, 700032, India

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental Studies, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, 700032, India

    Dipankar Chakraborti, E. Jayantakumar Singh, Bhaskar Das, Babar Ali Shah, Bishwajit Nayak & Sad Ahamed

  2. Department of Geological Sciences, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, 700032, India

    Babar Ali Shah

  3. Institute of Statistical Research and Training, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    M. Amir Hossain

  4. Department of Chemistry, Manipur University, Canchipur, Manipur, 95003, India

    N. Rajmuhon Singh

Authors
  1. Dipankar Chakraborti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. E. Jayantakumar Singh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Bhaskar Das
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Babar Ali Shah
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. M. Amir Hossain
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Bishwajit Nayak
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Sad Ahamed
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. N. Rajmuhon Singh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dipankar Chakraborti.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Chakraborti, D., Singh, E.J., Das, B. et al. Groundwater arsenic contamination in Manipur, one of the seven North-Eastern Hill states of India: a future danger. Environ Geol 56, 381–390 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-007-1176-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-007-1176-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation