Hydrochemistry of Arsenic in Groundwater Pollution in Eastern U. P

Abstract

A Serious concern worldwide is presence of Arsenic (As) in water and it affects human health both by drinking water and food. Groundwater contaminated by As is a worldwide problem and it is spread mostly in Bengal delta plain covering Bangladesh, Jharkhand, west Bengal , Assam and other North eastern states of India and other neighbouring countries . It may be considerably larger than previously thought of that sunken wells affect mostly people by Arsenic contaminated water. In this paper we are going to discuss hydrochemistry of Arsenic and process of contamination in groundwater of Ganga Brahmaputra river basin of India. Arsenic mostly exists in two types of oxidation states which are arsenate (As⁵⁺) and arsenite (As³⁺). These two oxidation states are interconvert able by oxidation of As³⁺  into As⁵⁺ and reduction of As⁵⁺   into As³⁺ Arsenic also exists in another form i.e. organic form and it is formed by biomethylation of arsenic.

Keywords : Arsenic contamination, arseneous acid, Ganges–Brahmaputra river basin, groundwater.