Groundwater Arsenic Contamination and Its Health Impacts in Tando Muhammad Khan District, Sindh, Pakistan
Keywords:
Groundwater, Arsenic, Skin diseases, Cancer, Indus deltaic plain
Abstract
Present study is aimed at correlation of clinical manifestations on skin with drinking high arsenic groundwater in Tando Muhammad Khan district. A section of population is reported to be afflicted by arsenic ranging between mild to severe arsenicosis. Arsenic poisoning through skin manifestations are observed mainly in rural parts of study area. Some other clinical manifestations such as weakness, muscles cramps and gastroin testinal problems like hepatitis and stomach disorder were also observed. Total 37 sites in the whole district have been reported for the occurrence of gastroenteritis and skin related diseases out of which Taluka Tando Muhammad Khan has been found worst affected by arsenicosis. The confounder of health effects was high arsenic contents in drinking water. Some cases of hyper pigmentation and diffused melanosis were observed in Baqar Nizamani Goth of Taluka Tando Muhammad Khan. Moreover, the dominant class suffering with stomach disorder and skin irritation problem is children while next class belongs to youngsters (20- 25 years old). Clinical manifestation of exposed subjects revealed keratosis development in palm and soles of both adult and children. Similarly, few cases were also suspected for black foot disease. It is concluded that residents of study area are severely affected by arsenicosis due to drinking high arsenic groundwater (10-600 ppb). Hence, a detailed study is needed to establish the clinical correlation of skin manifestations with drinking high arsenic water leading to cause cancer.References
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Akhtar, M.J., Rizvi, Y., Muhammad, A., Tagar, M.A., 2012. Geological Map of Sindh, Pakistan, 1:600,000 scale. Geological Survey of Pakistan.
Ansari, M.H., Vink, A., 2007. Vegetation history and paleoclimate of the past 30 kyr in Pakistan as inferred from the palynology of continental margin sediments off the Indus delta. Review of Paleobotany and Palynology 145, 201-216.
Arain, M.B., Kazi, T.G., Baig, J.E., Jamali, M.K., Afridi, H.I., Shah, E.Q., 2009. Determination of arsenic levels in lake Water, sediment, End foodstuff from selected area of Sindh, Pakistan: estimation of daily dietary intake. Food and Chemical Toxicology 47 (1), 242-248.
Azizullah, A., Khattak, M.N.K., Richter, P., Häder, D.P., 2011. Water pollution in Pakistan and its impact on public health - A review. Environment International 37, 479-497.
Bhattacharya, P., Chatterjee, D., Jacks, G., 1997. Occurrence of arsenic contaminated groundwater in alluvial aquifers from Delta Plains, Eastern India: options for safe drinking water supply. Water Resources Development 13, 79-82.
Chauhan, O.S., Almeida, F., 1993. Influences of Holocene Sea level, regional tectonics, and fluvial, gravity and slope currents induced sedimentation on the regional geomorphology of the continental slope off northwestern India. Marine Geology 112 (1-2), 313-328.
Cheng, G.D., Wang, G.X., Wang, X.D., Shen, Y.P., 1998. Changes of ecological environments in the source areas of the Three Rivers (in Chinese). Advanced Earth Science 13(Suppl), 24-31.
Chen, C.C., Gillig D., McCarl, B.A., 2001. Effects of climatic change on a water dependent regional economy: A study of the Texas Edwards Aquifer. Climatic Change 49 (4), 397-409.
Chowdhury, U.K., Rahman, M.M., Mandal, B.K., Paul, K., Lodh, D., Biswas, B.K., Basu, G.K., Saha, K.C., Mukherjee, S.C., Roy, S., Das, R., Kaies, I., Barua, A.K., Palit, S.K., Zaman, Q.Q., Chakraborti, D., 2001. Groundwater arsenic-contamination and human sufferings in West Bengal, India and Bangladesh. Environmental Sciences8, 393-415.
Foster S.S.D. and Chilton P.J., 2003. Groundwater: the processes and global significance of aquifer degradation, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 358 (1440), 1957-1972.
Garcia-Sanchez, A., Alvarez-Ayuso, E., 2003. Arsenic in soils and waters and its relation to geology and mining activities (Salamanca Province, Spain). Journal of Geochemical Exploration 80 (1), 69-79.
Gupta, S.K., Chen., K.Y., 1978. Arsenic Removal by Adsorption. Journal of Water Pollution Control Federation 50, 493-506.
Haq, B.U., 1999. Past, present and future of the Indus delta. In: Meadows, A., Meadows, P.S. (Eds.), The Indus River, Biodiversity, Resources, Humankind. Linnaean Society of London, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, pp. 231-248.
Harvey, C.F., Ashfaque, K. N., Yu, W., Badruzzaman, A.B.M., Ali, M.E, Oates, P.M., Michael, H.E., Neumann, R.B, Beckie, R, Islam, S., Ahmed, M.F., 2006. Groundwater dynamics End Arsenic contamination in Bangladesh. Chemical Geology 228, 112-136.
Hindmarsh, J.T., 2002. Caveats in hair analysis in chronic Arsenic poisoning. Clinical Biochemistry 35 (1), 1-11.
Husain, V., 2009. Sindh Education Reform Program (SERP), Drinking Water Quality component. A study for World Bank. 58p.
Islam, M.N., Von Bernuth, R.D., 2005. The impact of low dissolved oxygen in recharge water on arsenic pollution in groundwater of Bangladesh. In: Bundschuh, Bhattacharya and Chandrasekharam (Eds.) Natural arsenic in groundwater: occurrence, remediation and management. Francis & Taylor Group, London.
Kazi, T.G., Arain, M.B., Baig, J.A., Jamali, M.K., Afridi, H.I., Jalbani, N., Sarfraz, R.A., Niaz, A., 2009. The correlation of arsenic levels in drinking water with the biological samples of skin disorders. The Science of the Total Environment 407 (3), 1019-1026.
Kazmi, A.H., Jan, M.Q., 1997. Geology and Tectonics of Pakistan. Graphic publishers, Karachi, 554p. Khan, A., 2014. Groundwater Studies for Arsenic Pollution in Indus Deltaic Aquifers of District Tando Mohammad Khan, Sindh, Pakistan: Health-Environment Hazards and Mitigation Options. (Ph.D. Thesis), 210 pages.
Khan, A., Husain, V., 2019. Arsenic Contamination in Shallow Aquifers of Holocene: A Case Study from Three Union Councils of Tando Muhammad Khan District, Sindh, Pakistan.International Journal of Ground Sediment & Water 8, 383-404.
Khan, A., Anjum, S., Husain, V., 2019. Soil Minerals Serving as Source of Arsenic in Alluvial Aquifers of Holocene: A case study from Indus Delta, Sindh, Pakistan. Journal of Geoscience Engineering, Environment and Technology 4 (4), 9-17.
Khan, A., Husain, V., Bakhtiari, A.E., Khan, M.H., 2017a. Groundwater arsenic contamination in shallow alluvial aquifers of Bhulri Shah Karim taluka, Tando Muhammad Khan district, Sindh, Pakistan. International Journal of Ground Sediment & Water 5, 217-244.
Khan, A., Husain, V., Bakhtiari1, A.E., Khan, H., Arsalan, M., 2017b. Groundwater Arsenic Contamination in Semi-Urban Areas of Tando Muhammad Khan District: A Case Study from Deltaic Flood Plain of Sindh, Pakistan. Sustainability in Environment 2 (2), 171-191.
Khan, A., Husain, V., Hamid, G., Anjum, S., 2014. Arsenic contamination status in the Holocene alluvial aquifers of Indus Deltaic Flood Plain: a case study of Tando Ghulam Hyder Taluka, Sindh, Pakistan. International Journal of Economic and Environmental Geology5 (2), 1-10.
Kohnhorst, E., 2005. Arsenic in groundwater in selected countries in South and Southeast Asia: A review. The Journal of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 28,73-82.
Kureshy, K.U., 1977. A Geography of Pakistan, 4th ed Lijklema, L. Interaction of orthophosphate with iron (III) and aluminum hydroxides. Environmental Science and Technology 14, 537-540.
Liao, C.M., Ling, M.P., 2003. Assessment of human health risk for arsenic bioaccumulation in tilapia (Oreochromis Mossambicus) and large-scale mullet (Liza Macrolepis) from Blackfoot disease area in Taiwan. Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 45 (2), 264-272.
Lin, Z., Puls, R.W., 2003. Potential indicators for the assessment of Natural Attenuation in the Subsurface. Advances in Environmental Research 7 (4), 824-825.
Lu, F.J., 1990. Blackfoot disease: Arsenic or Humic Acid. Lancet 336, 115-116.
Memon, A.A., 2005. Devastation of Indus Delta. Proceedings of World Water & Environmental Resources Congress. American Society of Civil Engineers.
McArthur, J.M., Ravenscroft, P., Safiulla, S., Thirlwall, M.F., 2001. Arsenic in groundwater testing pollution mechanisms for sedimentary aquifers in Bangladesh. Water Resources Research37, 109-117.
Morris, D.L., Darling, W.G., Gooddy, D.C., Litvak, R.G., Neumann, I., Nemaltseva, E.J., Poddubnaia, I.,2005. Assessing the extent of induced leakage to an urban aquifer using environmental tracers: an example from Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan, Central Asis. Hydrogeology Journal14, 225-243.
Nagvi, S.M., Vaishnavi, C, Singh, H., 1994. Toxicity and metabolism of arsenic in vertebrates. In: Nriagu JO, editor. Arsenic in the environment, part II: human health and ecosystem effects. New York: John Wiley and Sons Inc; 1994. p. 55-91.
Naik, P.K., Tambe, J.A., Dehury, B.N., Tiwari, A.N., 2008. Impact of urbanization on the groundwater regime in a fast-growing city in central India. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 146, 339-373.
Naseem, S., 2012. Groundwater quality assessment for determining geogenic pollution, contamination and health effects in Thatta-Hyderabad Region, Sindh. PhD Thesis (unpublished.).
Nickson, R.T., McArthur, J.M., Shresha, B., Kyaw-Myint, T.O. and Lowry, D., 2004. Arsenic and other drinking water quality issues, Muzaffaragh District, Pakistan. Applied Geochemistry 20 (1), 55-68.
PCRWR, 2005. National Water Quality Monitoring Program. Water Quality Report 2003-2004. Islamabad, Pakistan: Pakistan Council for Research in Water Resources (PCRWR; 2005. Available at: http://www.pcrwr.gov.pk/wq_phase3_report/TOC. htm. Safiuddin, M., Karim, M.M., 2001. groundwater Arsenic contamination in Bangladesh: Causes, effects End remediation. Proceedings of the 1st IEB International Conference End 7th AnnualPaper Meet, The Institution of Engineers, Chittagong Center, Bangladesh.
Shar, A.H., Kazi, Y., Zardari, M., Soomro, I.H., 2008. Enumeration of total and fecal coliform bacteria in drinking water of Khairpur Sindh. Pakistan Journal of Medical Research 47, 18-21.
Shen, Y.S., 1973. Study of arsenic removal from drinking water. Journal AWWA 65 (8), 543.
Smedley, P.L., Kinniburgh, D.G., 2002. A review of the source, behavior and distribution of arsenic in natural waters. Applied Geochemistry 17, 517-568.
Wang, L.H., Duan, G.L., 2009. Effect of external and internal rice seedlings. Journal of Environmental Sciences 21 (3), 346-351.
Wilson, L.G., 1981. The fate of pollutants in the vadose zone, monitoring methods End case studies. In: Proceedings of the Thirteenth Biennial Conference on Ground Water, Irvine California Water Resources Center, University of California, Davis.
Yoshida, T., Yamauchi, H., Sun., G.F., 2004. Chronic health effects in people exposed to arsenic via the drinking water: dose–response relationships in review. Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology 198, 243-252.
Yu, W.H., Harvey, C.M., Harvey, C.F. 2003. Arsenic in groundwater in Bangladesh: A geostatistical and epidemiological framework for evaluating health effects and potential remedies. Water Resources Research 39, 1-17.
Acharyya, S.K., Lahiri, S., Raymahashay, B.C., Bhowmik, A., 2000. Arsenic toxicity of groundwater in parts of the Bengal basin in India and Bangladesh: the role of Quaternary Stratigraphy and Holocene Sea level fluctuation. Environmental Geology 39, 1127-37.
Akhtar, M.J., Rizvi, Y., Muhammad, A., Tagar, M.A., 2012. Geological Map of Sindh, Pakistan, 1:600,000 scale. Geological Survey of Pakistan.
Ansari, M.H., Vink, A., 2007. Vegetation history and paleoclimate of the past 30 kyr in Pakistan as inferred from the palynology of continental margin sediments off the Indus delta. Review of Paleobotany and Palynology 145, 201-216.
Arain, M.B., Kazi, T.G., Baig, J.E., Jamali, M.K., Afridi, H.I., Shah, E.Q., 2009. Determination of arsenic levels in lake Water, sediment, End foodstuff from selected area of Sindh, Pakistan: estimation of daily dietary intake. Food and Chemical Toxicology 47 (1), 242-248.
Azizullah, A., Khattak, M.N.K., Richter, P., Häder, D.P., 2011. Water pollution in Pakistan and its impact on public health - A review. Environment International 37, 479-497.
Bhattacharya, P., Chatterjee, D., Jacks, G., 1997. Occurrence of arsenic contaminated groundwater in alluvial aquifers from Delta Plains, Eastern India: options for safe drinking water supply. Water Resources Development 13, 79-82.
Chauhan, O.S., Almeida, F., 1993. Influences of Holocene Sea level, regional tectonics, and fluvial, gravity and slope currents induced sedimentation on the regional geomorphology of the continental slope off northwestern India. Marine Geology 112 (1-2), 313-328.
Cheng, G.D., Wang, G.X., Wang, X.D., Shen, Y.P., 1998. Changes of ecological environments in the source areas of the Three Rivers (in Chinese). Advanced Earth Science 13(Suppl), 24-31.
Chen, C.C., Gillig D., McCarl, B.A., 2001. Effects of climatic change on a water dependent regional economy: A study of the Texas Edwards Aquifer. Climatic Change 49 (4), 397-409.
Chowdhury, U.K., Rahman, M.M., Mandal, B.K., Paul, K., Lodh, D., Biswas, B.K., Basu, G.K., Saha, K.C., Mukherjee, S.C., Roy, S., Das, R., Kaies, I., Barua, A.K., Palit, S.K., Zaman, Q.Q., Chakraborti, D., 2001. Groundwater arsenic-contamination and human sufferings in West Bengal, India and Bangladesh. Environmental Sciences8, 393-415.
Foster S.S.D. and Chilton P.J., 2003. Groundwater: the processes and global significance of aquifer degradation, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 358 (1440), 1957-1972.
Garcia-Sanchez, A., Alvarez-Ayuso, E., 2003. Arsenic in soils and waters and its relation to geology and mining activities (Salamanca Province, Spain). Journal of Geochemical Exploration 80 (1), 69-79.
Gupta, S.K., Chen., K.Y., 1978. Arsenic Removal by Adsorption. Journal of Water Pollution Control Federation 50, 493-506.
Haq, B.U., 1999. Past, present and future of the Indus delta. In: Meadows, A., Meadows, P.S. (Eds.), The Indus River, Biodiversity, Resources, Humankind. Linnaean Society of London, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, pp. 231-248.
Harvey, C.F., Ashfaque, K. N., Yu, W., Badruzzaman, A.B.M., Ali, M.E, Oates, P.M., Michael, H.E., Neumann, R.B, Beckie, R, Islam, S., Ahmed, M.F., 2006. Groundwater dynamics End Arsenic contamination in Bangladesh. Chemical Geology 228, 112-136.
Hindmarsh, J.T., 2002. Caveats in hair analysis in chronic Arsenic poisoning. Clinical Biochemistry 35 (1), 1-11.
Husain, V., 2009. Sindh Education Reform Program (SERP), Drinking Water Quality component. A study for World Bank. 58p.
Islam, M.N., Von Bernuth, R.D., 2005. The impact of low dissolved oxygen in recharge water on arsenic pollution in groundwater of Bangladesh. In: Bundschuh, Bhattacharya and Chandrasekharam (Eds.) Natural arsenic in groundwater: occurrence, remediation and management. Francis & Taylor Group, London.
Kazi, T.G., Arain, M.B., Baig, J.A., Jamali, M.K., Afridi, H.I., Jalbani, N., Sarfraz, R.A., Niaz, A., 2009. The correlation of arsenic levels in drinking water with the biological samples of skin disorders. The Science of the Total Environment 407 (3), 1019-1026.
Kazmi, A.H., Jan, M.Q., 1997. Geology and Tectonics of Pakistan. Graphic publishers, Karachi, 554p. Khan, A., 2014. Groundwater Studies for Arsenic Pollution in Indus Deltaic Aquifers of District Tando Mohammad Khan, Sindh, Pakistan: Health-Environment Hazards and Mitigation Options. (Ph.D. Thesis), 210 pages.
Khan, A., Husain, V., 2019. Arsenic Contamination in Shallow Aquifers of Holocene: A Case Study from Three Union Councils of Tando Muhammad Khan District, Sindh, Pakistan.International Journal of Ground Sediment & Water 8, 383-404.
Khan, A., Anjum, S., Husain, V., 2019. Soil Minerals Serving as Source of Arsenic in Alluvial Aquifers of Holocene: A case study from Indus Delta, Sindh, Pakistan. Journal of Geoscience Engineering, Environment and Technology 4 (4), 9-17.
Khan, A., Husain, V., Bakhtiari, A.E., Khan, M.H., 2017a. Groundwater arsenic contamination in shallow alluvial aquifers of Bhulri Shah Karim taluka, Tando Muhammad Khan district, Sindh, Pakistan. International Journal of Ground Sediment & Water 5, 217-244.
Khan, A., Husain, V., Bakhtiari1, A.E., Khan, H., Arsalan, M., 2017b. Groundwater Arsenic Contamination in Semi-Urban Areas of Tando Muhammad Khan District: A Case Study from Deltaic Flood Plain of Sindh, Pakistan. Sustainability in Environment 2 (2), 171-191.
Khan, A., Husain, V., Hamid, G., Anjum, S., 2014. Arsenic contamination status in the Holocene alluvial aquifers of Indus Deltaic Flood Plain: a case study of Tando Ghulam Hyder Taluka, Sindh, Pakistan. International Journal of Economic and Environmental Geology5 (2), 1-10.
Kohnhorst, E., 2005. Arsenic in groundwater in selected countries in South and Southeast Asia: A review. The Journal of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 28,73-82.
Kureshy, K.U., 1977. A Geography of Pakistan, 4th ed Lijklema, L. Interaction of orthophosphate with iron (III) and aluminum hydroxides. Environmental Science and Technology 14, 537-540.
Liao, C.M., Ling, M.P., 2003. Assessment of human health risk for arsenic bioaccumulation in tilapia (Oreochromis Mossambicus) and large-scale mullet (Liza Macrolepis) from Blackfoot disease area in Taiwan. Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 45 (2), 264-272.
Lin, Z., Puls, R.W., 2003. Potential indicators for the assessment of Natural Attenuation in the Subsurface. Advances in Environmental Research 7 (4), 824-825.
Lu, F.J., 1990. Blackfoot disease: Arsenic or Humic Acid. Lancet 336, 115-116.
Memon, A.A., 2005. Devastation of Indus Delta. Proceedings of World Water & Environmental Resources Congress. American Society of Civil Engineers.
McArthur, J.M., Ravenscroft, P., Safiulla, S., Thirlwall, M.F., 2001. Arsenic in groundwater testing pollution mechanisms for sedimentary aquifers in Bangladesh. Water Resources Research37, 109-117.
Morris, D.L., Darling, W.G., Gooddy, D.C., Litvak, R.G., Neumann, I., Nemaltseva, E.J., Poddubnaia, I.,2005. Assessing the extent of induced leakage to an urban aquifer using environmental tracers: an example from Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan, Central Asis. Hydrogeology Journal14, 225-243.
Nagvi, S.M., Vaishnavi, C, Singh, H., 1994. Toxicity and metabolism of arsenic in vertebrates. In: Nriagu JO, editor. Arsenic in the environment, part II: human health and ecosystem effects. New York: John Wiley and Sons Inc; 1994. p. 55-91.
Naik, P.K., Tambe, J.A., Dehury, B.N., Tiwari, A.N., 2008. Impact of urbanization on the groundwater regime in a fast-growing city in central India. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 146, 339-373.
Naseem, S., 2012. Groundwater quality assessment for determining geogenic pollution, contamination and health effects in Thatta-Hyderabad Region, Sindh. PhD Thesis (unpublished.).
Nickson, R.T., McArthur, J.M., Shresha, B., Kyaw-Myint, T.O. and Lowry, D., 2004. Arsenic and other drinking water quality issues, Muzaffaragh District, Pakistan. Applied Geochemistry 20 (1), 55-68.
PCRWR, 2005. National Water Quality Monitoring Program. Water Quality Report 2003-2004. Islamabad, Pakistan: Pakistan Council for Research in Water Resources (PCRWR; 2005. Available at: http://www.pcrwr.gov.pk/wq_phase3_report/TOC. htm. Safiuddin, M., Karim, M.M., 2001. groundwater Arsenic contamination in Bangladesh: Causes, effects End remediation. Proceedings of the 1st IEB International Conference End 7th AnnualPaper Meet, The Institution of Engineers, Chittagong Center, Bangladesh.
Shar, A.H., Kazi, Y., Zardari, M., Soomro, I.H., 2008. Enumeration of total and fecal coliform bacteria in drinking water of Khairpur Sindh. Pakistan Journal of Medical Research 47, 18-21.
Shen, Y.S., 1973. Study of arsenic removal from drinking water. Journal AWWA 65 (8), 543.
Smedley, P.L., Kinniburgh, D.G., 2002. A review of the source, behavior and distribution of arsenic in natural waters. Applied Geochemistry 17, 517-568.
Wang, L.H., Duan, G.L., 2009. Effect of external and internal rice seedlings. Journal of Environmental Sciences 21 (3), 346-351.
Wilson, L.G., 1981. The fate of pollutants in the vadose zone, monitoring methods End case studies. In: Proceedings of the Thirteenth Biennial Conference on Ground Water, Irvine California Water Resources Center, University of California, Davis.
Yoshida, T., Yamauchi, H., Sun., G.F., 2004. Chronic health effects in people exposed to arsenic via the drinking water: dose–response relationships in review. Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology 198, 243-252.
Yu, W.H., Harvey, C.M., Harvey, C.F. 2003. Arsenic in groundwater in Bangladesh: A geostatistical and epidemiological framework for evaluating health effects and potential remedies. Water Resources Research 39, 1-17.
Published
2021-07-15
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