caa a22 4500 477094244 CHVBK 20180405111523.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170330e19960301xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/BF01757214 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/BF01757214 Arsenic in groundwater in six districts of West Bengal, India [Elektronische Daten] [Dipankar Das, Gautam Samanta, Badal Mandal, Tarit Roy Chowdhury, Chitta Chanda, Partha Chowdhury, Gautam Basu, Dipankar Chakraborti] Arsenic in groundwater above the WHO maximum permissible limit of 0.05 mg l−1 has been found in six districts of West Bengal covering an area of 34 000 km2 with a population of 30 million. At present, 37 administrative blocks by the side of the River Ganga and adjoining areas are affected. Areas affected by arsenic contamination in groundwater are all located in the upper delta plain, and are mostly in the abandoned meander belt. More than 800 000 people from 312 villages/wards are drinking arsenic contaminated water and amongst them at least 175 000 people show arsenical skin lesions. Thousands of tube-well water in these six districts have been analysed for arsenic species. Hair, nails, scales, urine, liver tissue analyses show elevated concentrations of arsenic in people drinking arsenic-contaminated water for a longer period. The source of the arsenic is geological. Bore-hole sediment analyses show high arsenic concentrations in only few soil layers which is found to be associated with iron-pyrites. Various social problems arise due to arsenical skin lesions in these districts. Malnutrition, poor socio-economic conditions, illiteracy, food habits and intake of arsenic-contaminated water for many years have aggravated the arsenic toxicity. In all these districts, major water demands are met from groundwater and the geochemical reaction, caused by high withdrawal of water may be the cause of arsenic leaching from the source. If alternative water resources are not utilised, a good percentage of the 30 million people of these six districts may suffer from arsenic toxicity in the near future. Chapman & Hall, 1996 Arsenic nationallicence arsenic poisoning nationallicence groundwater nationallicence West Bengal nationallicence Das Dipankar School of Environmental Studies, Jadavpur University, 700032, Calcutta, India aut Samanta Gautam School of Environmental Studies, Jadavpur University, 700032, Calcutta, India aut Mandal Badal School of Environmental Studies, Jadavpur University, 700032, Calcutta, India aut Roy Chowdhury Tarit School of Environmental Studies, Jadavpur University, 700032, Calcutta, India aut Chanda Chitta School of Environmental Studies, Jadavpur University, 700032, Calcutta, India aut Chowdhury Partha School of Environmental Studies, Jadavpur University, 700032, Calcutta, India aut Basu Gautam School of Environmental Studies, Jadavpur University, 700032, Calcutta, India aut Chakraborti Dipankar School of Environmental Studies, Jadavpur University, 700032, Calcutta, India aut Environmental Geochemistry and Health Kluwer Academic Publishers 18/1(1996-03-01), 5-15 0269-4042 18:1<5 1996 18 10653 https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01757214 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01757214 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Das Dipankar School of Environmental Studies, Jadavpur University, 700032, Calcutta, India aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Samanta Gautam School of Environmental Studies, Jadavpur University, 700032, Calcutta, India aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Mandal Badal School of Environmental Studies, Jadavpur University, 700032, Calcutta, India aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Roy Chowdhury Tarit School of Environmental Studies, Jadavpur University, 700032, Calcutta, India aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Chanda Chitta School of Environmental Studies, Jadavpur University, 700032, Calcutta, India aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Chowdhury Partha School of Environmental Studies, Jadavpur University, 700032, Calcutta, India aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Basu Gautam School of Environmental Studies, Jadavpur University, 700032, Calcutta, India aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Chakraborti Dipankar School of Environmental Studies, Jadavpur University, 700032, Calcutta, India aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Environmental Geochemistry and Health Kluwer Academic Publishers 18/1(1996-03-01), 5-15 0269-4042 18:1<5 1996 18 10653 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer