International Journal of Engineering and Management Research, Vol.-3, Issue-4, August 2013 ISSN No.: 2250-0758 Pages: 81-83 www.ijemr.net

Arsenic Polluted Ground Water in Eastern U P,

Akbare Azam Assistant Professor Department of Chemistry, Government Women P G College U.P, INDIA

ABSTRACT state (like arsenates, arsenic pentoxide and arsenic acid). River Basin reported worldwide in recentstudies Interconversion of Arsenate form (+5) into arsenite form which causes many adverse effects not only for drinkingbut (+3) conditionally in oxidized andreduced condition, also for irrigation purpose. Accumulation of arsenic in soil which is the most toxic form of arsenic. Theconversion through contaminated ground water during irrigation, of more toxic inorganic form to less toxic organoarsenic which is uptake by many edible parts of plants and compound such as disodiummethylarsenate (DSMA)and subsequently transferred in other food chain. This paper shows the and Bihar situate din the middle monosodium methylarsenate (MSMA) formation and upper Gangetic belt. viaorganism known as Biomethylation3.Hypothesis: Distribution of Arsenic in Ganga River Basin: TheRiver Keywords--- DSM, MSMA, Environment is very complicated hydrology and geologicalpoint of view in the Ganges Delta region. The Ganga river basinand its tributaries spread on a very I. INTRODUCTION large coverage area in Indiaand Bangladesh. It spread and bed covering four countries(China, Nepal, India and Access to pure water either for drinking or Bangladesh) and eleven states of India(West Bengal, agricultural purposeis a first goal and a key target for Himanchal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, MadhyaPradesh, every nation. But due to somenatural and anthropogenic Chattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, reason it’s still challenge for manycountries. The Punjab,Haryana, Rajasthan and Territory of Delhi. pollution of soil and water with Arsenic(As) isone of the Combinedly the Ganges Meghna Brahmaputra (GMB) most important environmental problems globally.Natural basin is a bed coveringacross Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, as well as anthropogenic activities are the main reasonfor Nepal, and China. From theorigin Gangotri glacier a coverlet of arsenic contamination in ground water and Ganga river water discharge Passover into three soil.These contaminated ground water and soil are the segments. It extended as upper, middle and lower major sourceof arsenic in food chain and other food Gangetic belt. trophic level1. Presenceof Arsenic considered as one of Uttar Pradesh comes under upper and the hazardous elements in theenvironment and exposure MiddleGanga plain. Himalayan Mountain and Tibet of it causes serious health issuesarise like cardiovascular, plateau, consideras the biggest source of arsenic neurological, hematological, renal, and respiratory contamination in the Gangeticregion and this problems. Groundwater Arsenic contamination in contamination are evidently becoming lifethreatening in Eastern Gangetic River Basin reported worldwide in almost every year4. Geographically Uttar recentstudies which causes many adverse effects not Pradeshsituated in the northern region of India and only for drinkingbut also for irrigation purpose. border of Nepal. Theriver Ganga and are two Accumulation of arsenic in soilthrough contaminated major river flows fromnortheast to southeast. First time ground water during irrigation, which isuptake by many in UP arsenic introduced as acontaminant in edible parts of plants and subsequentlytransferred in Balliadistrict .Status of Arsenic Contamination in other food chain. Uttar Pradesh and Bihar situatedin the Eastern U.P.: In U.P. JalNigam and UNICEF middle and upper Gangetic belt. According to combinedly reported and identified in 18districts. Chakrabortiet al.2 surveyed report on the in the Ganga– Arsenic above the 50 ppb limit for drinking andArsenic Meghna–Brahmaputra (GMB) region, a large population according to WHO limit was found in 31 districts.Times nearly 500million people are facing arsenic problem of India also reported “Ground water having in area approx. 500,000km2.The conversion of arseniccontamination of Uttar Pradesh exceeds to the arsenic oxidation state and their presence inground water value of BIS(Bureau of Indian Standards) permissible or soil depends upon various environmental conditions. limit of 0.01 mg/liter across 31 districts of the state. It can be recognized in three forms: Inorganic,organic, Arsenic contamination in district: District Ballia is and arsine gas. Arsenic presents as in trivalent located in the eastern part of UP with shared in 17 (+3)oxidation state (like arsenic trioxide, sodium blocks. arsenite, and arsenic trichloride) and in pentavalent (+5) 81

TheGanga is main river basin and also drained studied nutritional factors in the blackfoot endemic with river Ghagra on the north and ChhotiSargu in the region of China (Province of Taiwan). south9. Agriculture is the mainactivity (72%) because of Their results indicated that residents of this having high poverty (nearly 44%) and58% low literacy region consume a diet low in protein, and in particular rate. For irrigation purpose people depend onground the amino acid methionine. Vahter and Marafante (1987) water, tube well and number of tal and canals like found that a low amount of methionine or protein in the surhatal, sikandarpurtal. In Ballia contamination of diet decreased methylation of inorganic arsenic in the arsenic comparedas west Bengal where arsenic rabbit. In 12 addition, insufficient vitamin intake, in exceeding 50 μg/l. DistrictLaboratory of U.P. Jal Nigam particular vitamin B 12, might reduce the ability of the also Confirmed Arsenicconfirmatory tests by body to methylate arsenic (Buchet and Lauwerys 1985). spectrophotometer.High arsenic concentration has been For these reasons, women, whose nutritional levels are found in all 16 blocks outof 17 blocks of ground water frequently deficient in South Asian countries for reasons on , Nagra, ,Chilkahar, Pandah, linked with cultural norms and reproductive function, Navanagar, Beruarwari, Gharwar,Hanumanganj, may be at particular risk. It is also suggested that zinc , Sohaon, Dubhad, BansdeehRevati,Beriya, and selenium may provide protection against the toxic Belhari and Murlichapra blocks from 14 to 820 effects of accumulated levels of arsenic in the body ppbwhich is much higher than prescribed drinking value (National Research Council 1999). It is suggested that by WHO10.The Arsenic Task Force (ATF) has been the diet of blackfoot disease patients in China (Province reported that thepresence of poisonous arsenic affected of Taiwan) is deficient in zinc and selenium (Pan et al. approximately 1.20 lakhpeople in 55 villages of three 1996). blocks (Revti, Dubahar,Belhra) in Ballia. The National Research Council (1999) notes that there is still uncertainty over the relative importance II. ROLE OF SOCIOECONOMIC of the various nutritional factors, and calls for more STATUS IN ARSENIC POISONING research into the issue. The Asia Arsenic Network (AAN) researchers indicated however, that household This finding of a statistically significant income might serve as a good proxy for nutritional relationship between arsenicosis and household income intake in Samta Village (Tani, 1999a;b). Consequently, may be explained by a number of possible causal factors. they ascribed an important part of the negative According to the National Research Council: relationship between prevalence and household income “Variability in arsenic metabolism appears to be to this explanation. For an accurate estimation of important in understanding the human response. There is nutritional intake, it is also important to take into account evidence that methylating capacity differs among patterns of intra-household food distribution, which may individuals and population groups. Different capacities favour or disadvantage various family members by age would result in variations in tissue concentrations of or sex, and which cannot be seen through the general arsenic. Also, environmental factors, particularly diet, category of household income.6 However, household might be important in explaining susceptibility.” income might also be related to water practices in the (National Research Council, p193, 1999). In humans, the village. The importance of water storage techniques has liver methylates inorganic arsenic that is consumed in been highlighted by Alaerts (1999). He highlights the drinking water. The resulting arsenic metabolites are example of the water storage practices of people in the excreted in the urine. Differences in methylating Laxipur area of Bangladesh. In this area water is stored efficiency may be the reason for variations in arsenic in small vessels to allow the iron oxide to settle on the retained in the body, and thus susceptibility to arsenic bottom of the vessel and this enhances the concentration poisoning. of adsorbed arsenic in the sludge. Higher income In this context, it will also be important to households might have greater storage facilities for their establish gender differences in exposure and effect. tubewell water and might consequently be able to store Social roles are likely to affect amount and duration of the water for longer. exposure, and the issue of gender differences in If higher income households are using water susceptibility to environmental contaminants and that has been allowed to settle for a period before carcinogens is increasingly being addressed (IOM 1998). drinking, then this could help to explain the observed Hsueh et al. (1995) found that chronic carriers of arsenicosis-income relationship. Unfortunately, we are hepatitis B with liver dysfunction had a significantly currently not informed about longer-term water storage increased prevalence of skin cancer. This evidence practices in Samta Village. In Bangladesh it is likely that indicates that those with liver disorders have a access to tubewell drinking water will be at least diminished ability to methylate inorganic arsenic, as partially determined by social status. Therefore, the suggested by Buchet et al. (1984). Therefore, one observed relationship between arsenicosis prevalence hypothesis would be that there is a negative relationship and household income could be due to social barriers to between the prevalence of liver disorders and household access to arsenic-free water for poor households. income. However, this could not be verified using the data from the Samta demographic survey. Evidence REFERENCES suggests that the role of nutrition may also be important in determining methylation efficiency and toxicity to [1] Srivastava S. and Sharma Y.K., Arsenic occurrence arsenic retained in the body. Yang and Blackwell (1961) and accumulation in soil and water of eastern districts of

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