Study of Extent and Magnitude of Arsenic in Groundwater in Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract

Arsenic occurs in three common allotrops namely metallic grey, yellow and black. Arsenic founds in shallow aquifer of Ganga and Brahmaputra River Basin. Arsenic contamination in groundwater in the Ganga- Brahmaputra basin in India is reported as arsenic contaminated zone. There are seven highly contaminated states namely-West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh (UP), Assam, Manipur and Chhattisgarh in India. Three districts namely Ballia, Gazhipur and Varanasi in UP are contaminated with very high amount of arsenic. In Ballia district 5 out of 17 blocks are highly contaminated and people are suffering by skin disease related to arsenic. The results depicted that extent amount of arsenic is found in eastern part of Ballia District. The objective of this paper is to study the extent and magnitude of arsenic in groundwater for almost all shallow, medium and deep aquifer of Murli Chhapra Block. Results showed 78% samples are contaminated with arsenic. The contamination rate is in decreasing order by going down(shallow>medium>deep aquifers). In the study area more than 80 percent people have their own hand pump ranged between 12mto 25m in shallow aquifer.

Keywords

• non-parametric model
• sediments
• sulfur-related compounds
• wetlands