Assess arsenic distribution in groundwater applying GIS in capital of Punjab, Pakistan

Abstract

Abstract. Arsenic contamination of groundwater resources threatens the health of millions of people worldwide, particularly in the densely populated river deltas of Southeast Asia. Arsenic causes health concerns due to its significant toxicity and worldwide presence in portable water. The major sources of arsenic pollution may be natural process such as dissolution of arsenic containing minerals and anthropogenic activities. Lahore is groundwater dependent city, arsenic contamination is a major issue of portable water and has recently been most environmental health management issue especially in the plain region, where population density is very high. GIS was used in this study for visualizing distribution of arsenic groundwater concentration through geostatistics analysis technique, and exposure risk zones for two years (2010 and 2012). Town's data was compared and concentration variation evaluated. ANOVA test was also applied to compare concentration between cities and years. Arsenic concentrations widely range 7.3–67.8 and 5.2–69.3 μg L−1 in 2010 and 2012, respectively. Over 71% area is represented arsenic concentration range from 20 to 30 μg L−1 in both analyzed years. However, in 2012 arsenic concentration over 40 μg L−1 has covered 7.6% area of Data Gunjbuksh and 8.1% of Ravi Town, while over 90% area of Allama Iqbal, Aziz Bhatti and Samanabad Town contain arsenic concentration between 20–30 μg L−1. ANOVA test depicts concentration probability less than 0.05, while differences were detected among towns. In light of current results, it needs urgent step to ensure groundwater protection and preservation for future.

Spatial distribution and risk identification of arsenic contamination in water and soil through GIS-based interpolation techniques in Jianghan Plain, Central China

“…The lowest water quality observed in shallow aquifers was attributed to SW, urban water and sanitation systems, high urban density, poor solid waste disposal, and agricultural activities, while the high arsenic levels in deep aquifers was related to the high pumping rates for different sectors, such as the urban and industrial sectors (Farooqi et al, 2003). Various studies on different water supply sources have concluded that deep aquifers can be protected against arsenic percolation by shallow pumping (Hossain and Piantanakulchai, 2013;Akhtar et al, 2015). Our findings show that GW overexploitation results in higher arsenic concentrations owing to contaminated recharge, while the high arsenic concentrations in deep GW may be from high pumping rates over the years.…”

Evaluation of the factors affecting arsenic distribution using geospatial analysis techniques in Dongting Plain, China

“…Economic development pressures have accelerated human activities to rise in production (industrial as well as agricultural) and urbanization is a major source of surface water pollution in the Dongting plan. BI observed that in China, domestic sewage has polluted lakes (Akhtar et al, 2015;Bi et al, 2018), while another researcher identified agricultural activities caused by watersheds (Gao and Mucci, 2003). Similarly, due to untreated industrial effluents and wastes, various pollutants values in river waters did not meet standards.…”

Water Demand Estimation in Service Areas with Limited Numbers of Customer Meters—Case Study in Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) Lahore, Pakistan

“…More seriously, the over-abstraction of groundwater has led to increased contamination of the aquifer, with a higher-than-acceptable concentration of arsenic and a looming threat of saline water intrusion from Raiwind area towards the fresh groundwater in Lahore [47]. The Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) conducted a study to assess arsenic in Lahore City in 2009 and found that most groundwater samples had a concentration higher than 50 µg/L [48]. In addition, the cost of electricity to produce water has increased by 110.9% (Figure 9).…”