Determination of Arsenic and Health Risk Assessment in the Ground Water of Sindh, Pakistan Zulfiqar Bhatti, Khadija Qureshi, Inamullah Bhatti, Imran Nazir Unar, Mohammad Yar Khuhawar To cite this version: Zulfiqar Bhatti, Khadija Qureshi, Inamullah Bhatti, Imran Nazir Unar, Mohammad Yar Khuhawar. Determination of Arsenic and Health Risk Assessment in the Ground Water of Sindh, Pakistan. Mehran University Research Journal of Engineering and Technology, Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro, Pakistan, 2017, 36 (4), pp.1037-1048. hal-01705647 HAL Id: hal-01705647 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01705647 Submitted on 9 Feb 2018 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution| 4.0 International License Determination of Arsenic and Health Risk Assessment in the Ground Water of Sindh, Pakistan ZULFIQAR ALI BHATTI*, KHADIJA QURESHI*, INAMULLAH BHATTI*, IMRAN NAZIR UNAR*, AND MOHAMMAD YAR KHUHAWAR** RECEIVED ON 14.02.2017 ACCEPTED ON 29.05.2017 ABSTRACT As (Arsenic) is one of the lethal element present at the various locations of the world, putting human beings in danger by polluting the water. Arsenic Kit and atomic absorption spectrometer were used to determine As in ground water of Sindh province, Pakistan. Twenty-Four (24) districts both on the left and right bank of RI (River Indus) were analyzed. It was observed from the results that highest As concentration 200 ppb (parts per billion) i.e. above the WHO (World Health Organization) limit (10 ppb) was observed in Sakrand, district Shaheed Benazirabad followed by Hala, Matairi, TMK (Tando Mohammad Khan) and Nasarpur regions. It was further found that ground water of regions on the left bank of RIwas more contaminated than the right bank. Contour map was created using OriginPro and coordinate systems to highlight the elevated arsenic in the studied area. HRA (Health Risk Assessment) of these areas was carried out to calculate EDI (Estimated Daily Intake), TQH (Target Hazard Quotient) and CR (Cancer Risk). 45% of the total ground water samples analyzed were above the permissible limit for As in water and mostly these are located on the left bank of RI. The local wells in Sindh have never been tested for metal concentration former to use. These results provide baselines for researchers, NGO’s (Non-Governmental Organizations) and government to apply arsenic treatment technologies in those areas. Key Words: Arsenic, Groundwater, River Indus, Sindh, Atomic Absorption Spectrometer, Health Risk Assessment. 1. INTRODUCTION s is a hazardous element which is present in an enzyme system in the body, black foot disease, and ground water in the form of As(III) and As(V). obesity [1-3]. As contact can also cause other health AIts presence in the earth’s crust is 0.00021%. consequences such as gastrointestinal irritation, diabetes, Illness characteristic of long-term arsenic exposure comes less number of white and red blood cells, hypertension, in the form of skin cancer, bladder cancer, inactivation of blood vessels rupture and abnormal heart beats [4]. Baig Corresponding Author (E-Mail: [email protected]) * Department of Chemical Engineering, Mehran University of Engineering & Technology, Jamshoro. ** Institute of Advanced Research Studies in Chemical Sciences, University of Sindh, Jamshoro. Mehran University Research Journal of Engineering & Technology, Volume 36, No. 4, October, 2017 [p-ISSN: 0254-7821, e-ISSN: 2413-7219] 1037 Determination of Arsenic and Health Risk Assessment in the Ground Water of Sindh, Pakistan et. al. [3] performed a study of Gambat town, Sindh and Pakistan. All sample bottles (well-stoppered polyethylene found people suffering from chest infections, pain in the plastic) were rinsed with clean water, then filled completely whole body, cramps in legs due to As contamination in with sample water and tagged properly with a location. water. Analysis of water samples was performed by using the Arsenic test Kit (Merck, Germany) and AAS (Atomic Naturally occurring arsenic is known to trickle from Absorption Spectrometer). The arsenic kit is a mobile contaminated soils. Thus, contact of the general analytical tool that is used in the field to check the arsenic population with arsenic is mainly through the ingestion in water. AAS was used to analyze 106 ground water of groundwater, which comes across As-bearing soils and samples, whereas kit method was applied to test 214 minerals. Pakistan is suffering from the toxic effects of ground water samples. arsenic as other countries such as Bangladesh, India, Thailand, Taiwan, China, Japan, USA, Canada, Hungary Analytical grade chemicals were used throughout the and Ghana [5]. research work. Distilled water was used during the experiments to prepare all the solutions. Distilled water The high level of As species in ground water is due to the was prepared in a water quality laboratory by Distilled dissolution of As compounds coming from the Himalayas water machine (Model No. BMS-4CE, Spain). All the glass through RI and settled down throughout the years and wares were kept overnight in 5M HNO3 and then rinsed then introduced into ground water by geothermal, with deionized water before use. Stock solutions of hydrological and biochemical factors [6]. In Pakistan, a concentration 1000 ppb As(III) were prepared by mixing number of people consume ground water for their drinking, arsenic standard solution of 100 mg/L As(III) (Inorganic domestic purposes as clean river water is not accessible Venture Company, USA) with distilled water. The stock to them. As toxicity is mostly found in ground water and solutions were used to prepare fresh experimental transported to human beings by ingestion, vegetables, solutions as per need in clean plastic bottles and were crops, fruits and fishes. The authors in a research showed kept away from light to avoid any change in chemical properties [7-9]. For the confirmation of reproducibility, that the Mancharlake near town Sehwan, Sindh was the tests were replicated and the mean values were taken. contaminated with arsenic and the daily intake of As by people is 241-390 µg As/4L [5]. 2.2 Methods The present study was designed to investigate As in 2.2.1 Arsenic Kit method drinking water of Sindh province on both left and right banks of RI. Water samples were analyzed by Arsenic kit (Merck, Germany) by using a calorimetric method with test strips. 2. MATERIALS AND METHOD The arsenic kit reaction bottle was filled to the mark with 60 ml sample water and the analysis was carried out as 2.1 Materials recommended by the kit manufacturer. Ground water samples were collected from various areas 2.2.2 Atomic Absorption Spectrometer of Sindh Province, Pakistan and analyzed in a water quality laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Mehran Arsenic was analyzed in water samples by AAS (A University of Engineering & Technology, Jamshoro, Analyst 700, Perkin Elmer, USA), at a wavelength of Mehran University Research Journal of Engineering & Technology, Volume 36, No. 4, October, 2017 [p-ISSN: 0254-7821, e-ISSN: 2413-7219] 1038 Determination of Arsenic and Health Risk Assessment in the Ground Water of Sindh, Pakistan 193.7 nm, by the MHS-15 (Mercury Hydride System) CR = EDI x CSF (3) technique. The energy source was the single-element In Equation (3) CSF (μg/kg-day) is Cancer Slope Factor hollow cathode lamp of arsenic working at 7.5 mA. The and its value for As is 1.5E+03 (μg/kg-day) [12-13]. AAS was attached to a computer and WinLab32 software used to receive and process analytical data. 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The solution of 1% potassium hydroxide (KOH) was 3.1 Arsenic kit Method prepared. Then 3% sodium borohydride (NaBH4) was prepared in 1% KOH solution on Stirrer (Wisd, MSH-20, The As kit is a portable and easy tool method used to Korea). The chemicals were weighed using weighing analyze As of 24 districts of Sindh Province. Out of 214 balance (Adventurer, AR 3130, OHAUS, USA). 1.5% HCl ground water samples, 182 were from localities on the (Hydrochloric Acid) was prepared by appropriate left bank and 32 samples from the right bank of RI. All dilution of HCl (37%). The arsenic standards were the sample areas were assigned codes as shown in prepared to calibrate the AAS. Then the ASS was used Table 1. to analyze water samples and the results were obtained by Winlab 32. The results of localities on the left bank are reported in Table 1. About 40% of the samples were exceeding the 2.2.3 Technique to Assess Human Health WHO safe limit for As in water, i.e. 10 ppb. The higher Risk As levels were observed in ground water samples of The HRA of the left bank of RI areas is studied by Hala i.e. 10-180 ppb. The other areas with higher As calculating EDI, THQ and CR. EDI is calculated by using concentrations were Sakrand, Matairi, Nasarpur, Pano the following equation; Aqil and TMK. Dw The reasons for higher concentrations in the left bank EDI = Cm × (1) Bw of RI are the geological presence due to the deposition over the years from the Himalayas, thick population, μ Where Cm denotes metal concentration ( g/L) in water, intense farming, and the areas from where RI passed Dw is the daily average intake of water (Lit/day, taken as during the Holocene period such as Tando Allahyar 2 Lit/day), and Bw is the body average weight (kg, taken and TMK from where the As ranges from 10-500 as 72 kg) [10].