Arsenic in shallow groundwater of Bangladesh: investigations from three different physiographic settings

Experiment for Arsenic Accumulation into Rice Cultivated with Arsenic Enriched Irrigation Water in Bangladesh

“…This young soil is badly affected with arsenic. Therefore, the Occurrences of arsenic (As) in the Bengal Basin of Bangladesh show close relationships with depositional environments and sediment textures [9]. The enrichment of groundwater by As is restricted mainly to the Holocene alluvial and deltaic plains of the Bengal Basin, whereas groundwater abstracted from the older Plio-Pleistocene aquifers are characteristically low in As.…”

Arsenic in the environment—risks and management strategies

“…Thus, there is urgent need to coordinate these various efforts to improve the efficacy of research outcomes. Further research is needed to improve the field testing and monitoring of the drinking water sources, to develop new treatments for chronic As toxicity and to find new sources of safe drinking water (Jakariya et al 2007a, b;van Geen et al 2005;von Brömssen et al 2007). …”

“…However, reducing conditions caused by the aquifers lead to the mobilisation of As, thereby increasing the risk of groundwater contamination. The widely reported occurrences of natural As in groundwater in different parts of the world and their levels of concentrations vary significantly depending on the redox characteristics of groundwater and the lithological characteristics of the aquifers (Bhattacharya et al 2002a(Bhattacharya et al , b, 2006Bhattacharya and Welch 2000;Naidu et al 2006;Nriagu et al 2007;Hasan et al 2007Hasan et al , 2008 in press). It is thus important to determine the As levels in contaminated water sources to ensure the quality of groundwater as a drinking water source using the field test kits and to establish their reliability (Jakariya et al 2007a, b).…”

Variations in hydrostratigraphy and groundwater quality between major geomorphic units of the Western Ganges Delta plain, SW Bangladesh

“…Collectively, these processes permitted the preservation of many hundred meters of the permeable sediments. The quality of groundwater in the plain has been influenced by late Quaternary stratigraphy, geomorphology and sedimentation (Ahmed et al 2004;Mukherjee 2006;Acharyya and Shah 2007;Hasan et al 2007;Muley et al 2010). Examples can be drawn from the variation in degree of As enrichment in groundwater in different geomorphic units of the Ganges Delta (Ravenscroft 2001;Ahmed et al 2004); availability of good aquifers in Quaternary sediments of Bangladesh and As-enrichment in Holocene alluvial aquifers (Ahmed et al 2001;McArthur et al 2001).…”

“…The extensive floodplain of the Ganges Delta is characterized by agricultural and agro-based socio-economic activities where the geological set up and the tectonic events indicate that the geomorphic characteristics are the key factors which form the most fertile land (Jha and Bairagya 2011). Groundwater provides over 90% of drinking water, and about 70% of irrigation supplies in this region (Hasan et al 2007). However, excessive arsenic and salinity in groundwater adversely affects human health and threatens the yield of irrigated crops across the widespread floodplains of the Ganges (BGS/DPHE 2001; Smedley and Kinniburgh 2002;Das et al 2009;Brammer and Ravenscroft 2009;Ravenscroft et al 2009).…”