An Assesment of Arsenic Contamination of Tube-well Water in 17 No Ward of Chattogram City, Bangladesh

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume V, Issue VII, July 2021 | ISSN 2454–6186

An Assesment of Arsenic Contamination of Tube-well Water in 17 No Ward of Chattogram City, Bangladesh

F.T. Jahara^1*, M. Maniruzzaman² , M. S. Shah^2
1Lecturer,Department of Civil Engineering, Southern University Bangladesh
²Student,Department of Civil Engineering, Southern University Bangladesh

Abstract: Arsenic contamination of groundwater has now resulted in world-wide human health problems affecting millions of people across a large number of countries such as India, Pakistan, Thailand, China, Nepal and also in Bangladesh. In 1998-1999, DPHE & BGS, United Kingdom conducted a study which identified 61 districts out of total 64 in Bangladesh as arsenic affected. In 2008, CUET and the IEBC have been made a joint survey in 41 wards of Chattogram city and they have been found arsenic in shallow tube well water in 13 city wards which exceed WHO guidelines values of 0.01mg/l for drinking water. The present study was carried out to identify the Arsenic (As) contaminated tube-wellsin 17 no West BakaliaWard under Chattogram City Corporation. This work was done using HACH EZ Arsenic Test Kit in the field and then compared with Bangladesh Drinking Water Standard (0.05 mg/l) and WHO guidelines value (0.01 mg/l). It is revealed from the study that mostly 69.23% tube-wells are deep and 30.76% are shallow. Maximum depth of tube-wells is 650 feet and minimum depth is 70 feet. Among 169 samples, Arsenic is detected in 2.36% water samples and remaining 97.64% are Arsenic free. The maximum value of arsenic is found in the range of 0.25~0.05mg/l at Police Bit, Rahatturpul area.

Keywords: Arsenic; Chattogram, Tube-well; Field test kit; Bangladesh Drinking water standard; WHO guideline.

I. INTRODUCTION

Arsenic is a ubiquitous element in the nature and widely distributed in air, water, soils, rocks, plants and animals in variable concentrations. Arsenic is toxic substance to human health and toxicity depends on the amount of arsenic intake, which is classified into acute, sub-acute and chronic toxicity respectively. Skin lesions, i.e. diffuse melanosis followed by spotted melanosis, hyperpigmentation, and keratosis, are common and are the first recognized health effects [1].Most of the ingested arsenic is excreted from the body through urine, stool, skin, hair, nail and breath. In excessive intake, some amount of arsenic is accumulated in tissues and inhibits cellular enzyme activities. Inhalation, ingestion and skin contact are the primary routes of human exposure to the arsenic. Chronic arsenic ingestion from drinking water is known to cause skin cancer, and there is substantial evidence that it increases risk for cancers of the bladder, lung, kidney, liver, colon, and prostate[2].
Arsenic pollution of ground water resources threatens the health of millions of people, particularly in the densely populated river deltas of the Southeast Asia. Major alluvial and deltaic plains and inland basins of Southeast Asia composed of young sediments (Quternary; thousands to tens of thousands of years old) are particularly prone to developing groundwater arsenic problems[3].Bangladesh has been facing

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