Current Situation of Aqueous Arsenic Contamination in Pakistan, Focused on Sindh and Punjab Province, Pakistan: A Review

Abstract

The arsenic contamination has seriously affected public health in Pakistan, especially in highly contaminated Sindh and Punjab provinces. Results of recent studies show that over 3% of the population in Punjab was exposed to arsenic contamination of over 50 ug/L in drinking water, and 20% of the population is exposed to over 10 ug/L, with the limited standard of WHO, same as the EPA also sets the maximum contaminant level goal (MCLG) for drinking water. The situation in Sindh province was worse than in Punjab province, as the results show that 16% and 36% of population exposed to arsenic contaminated water over 50 ug/L and 10 ug/L respectively. According to a study conducted and based on samples from 1,184 wells across the country that actually proved that the process of boiling or filtration was not helpful to remove As from groundwater. Recent medical studies have confirmed 40 cases of arsenicosis occurred in worst situation. The purpose of this paper is to make a review about the current situation of arsenic contamination and its effect in the Pakistan.

Socioeconomic and recharge effect on spatial changes in the groundwater chemistry of Punjab, Pakistan: a multivariate statistical approach

“…Samples (46,457 samples) analyzed in current study are more than in previous studies, and it was found that 2.53% samples have As > 50 μg/L, while 8.07% have As > 10 μg/L. Higher As is already reported in cities around rivers: Lahore [73], Kasur, Bahawalpur, Sahiwal, R-Y-Khan, Muzaffargarh [71], while current study (Fig. 2, Tables 1, 2, and 3 in supporting information) found mode of Lahore, Muzafar Garh, and Kasur was 50 μg/L, 50 μg/L, and 10 μg/L, respectively.…”

“…Indus gigantic basin (IGB) has As < 10 μg/L [2], and current studies found As 0-735 μg/L in Punjab. A survey reported 3% of Punjab population is exposed to As > 50 μg/L [66], while 20% population is exposed to As > 10 μg/L [71,72]. Shallow water study in 2001 revealed 9% samples contain As > 10 μg/L [66], whereas 0.7% of samples contain > 50 μg/L [28].…”

“…Arsenic in groundwater can be present due to both natural and anthropogenic factors. Arsenic may release from earth crust due to geological settling [10,71], argillaceous and organic matter with fine-medium sands of Holocene alluvium [74][75][76]. Arsenic is desorbed from metal surface to the groundwater due to alkaline environment, as southeast have mostly alkaline groundwater [73].…”

Optimization, characterization and adsorption properties of natural calcite for toxic As(III) removal from aqueous solutions

“…Many countries in the world are badly affected by As pollution, with consumption of As-rich drinking water and food (Aredes et al, 2012;Ramos et al, 2009). In Pakistan, particularly in the highly contaminated cities of Punjab and Sindh provinces, the As level has been observed to exceed the permissible limit (>50 µg.L -1 ) which is an alarming and risky situation for the communities living in these regions (Sanjrani et al, 2017). In the aquatic system, As mainly occurs in two soluble stable oxidation forms, trivalent arsenite As(III) and pentavalent arsenate As(V) (Aredes et al, 2012;Liu et al, 2015).…”