health risk assessment due to groundwater arsenic contamination: children are at high risk

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Health Risk Assessment Due toGroundwater Arsenic Contamination:Children Are at High RiskSushant Kumar Singh a & Ashok Kumar Ghosh aa Department of Environment & Water Management , A. N. College,Patna, Magadh University , Bihar , IndiaAccepted author version posted online: 09 May 2012.Publishedonline: 12 Jul 2012.

To cite this article: Sushant Kumar Singh & Ashok Kumar Ghosh (2012) Health Risk AssessmentDue to Groundwater Arsenic Contamination: Children Are at High Risk, Human and Ecological RiskAssessment: An International Journal, 18:4, 751-766, DOI: 10.1080/10807039.2012.688700

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Human and Ecological Risk Assessment, 18: 751–766, 2012Copyright C© Taylor & Francis Group, LLCISSN: 1080-7039 print / 1549-7860 onlineDOI: 10.1080/10807039.2012.688700

Health Risk Assessment Due to Groundwater ArsenicContamination: Children Are at High Risk

Sushant Kumar Singh and Ashok Kumar GhoshDepartment of Environment & Water Management, A. N. College, Patna, MagadhUniversity, Bihar, India

ABSTRACTHealth risk assessment due to groundwater As contamination was conducted in

two As-prone panchayats, Rampur Diara (RD) and Haldichapra (HC) of the Manerblock of the Patna district, Bihar (India). All 100% of the water samples surveyedwere found to be contaminated with As with a mean value of 52 µg/L (n = 10) inRD and 231 µg/L (n = 10) in HC, both exceeding the World Health Organization(WHO) guideline of 10 µg/L and the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) standardof 50 µg/L, respectively. The average calculated per capita consumption of Asthrough drinking water in RD ranged from 120 µg/day for 5–10-year-old childrento 320 µg/day for adults older than 41 years, while in HC the average calculatedAs through consumption ranged from 580 µg/day for 5–10-year-old children to1470 µg/day for adults older than 41 years. Hazard quotients were calculated to bebetween 12.1 to 41.6 for the RD population and 58.3 to 192.5 for the HC population,both exceeding the typical toxic risk index 1. In addition, cancer risk of 19 per 1000was found for RD children and 87 per 1000 for HC children. Visible symptoms ofArsenicosis were also observed in the area.

Key Words: arsenic, contamination, consumption, health risk, Rampur Diara,Haldichapra, Maner.

INTRODUCTION

Groundwater As contamination and chronic toxicity associated with it has beenwell documented in most of the Southeast Asian countries. More than 100 millionpeople are affected by widespread As poisoning through drinking As-contaminatedunderground water in Bangladesh and West Bengal, India (Sarkar 2010). Moreover,the continuous consumption of As through drinking water and food sources maylead to As poisoning known as arsenicosis. The development of visual arsenicosis

Received 8 February 2011; revised manuscript accepted 1 May 2011.Address correspondence to Sushant Kumar Singh, Department of Earth and EnvironmentalStudies, Montclair State University, 1 Normal Ave, Montclaire, NJ 07405 or H/O K. P. Singh,Retd. Dy. S.P., 2nd Floor, H.No.-6, Road No.-23, S. K. Nagar, Patna 800001, India. E-mail:[email protected]

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S. K. Singh and A. K. Ghosh

symptoms has been generally assumed to follow 8–10 years of consumption of As-contaminated water than exceeds unsafe levels. However, new cases discovered inCambodia have followed exposure times as short as 3 years due to extremely elevatedAs levels (3500 µg/L), socioeconomic status, and malnutrition (Phan et al . 2010).The domain of As toxicity is spreading day by day and making the toxicity profile ofAs more dynamic.

Recently, Islam et al . (2007) has reported respiratory complications such as breath-ing problems, chest sounds, asthma, bronchitis, cough, and so on, in arsenicosispatients of Bangladesh exposed to As-contaminated drinking water having a meanvalue of 216 µg/L for more than 7 years (Islam and Rahman 2007). In addition, sev-eral recent and previous studies have also established links between As-contaminateddrinking water and adverse effects on the pulmonary system (Mazumder et al . 2000;Mandal and Suzuki 2002), cardiovascular system (Wang et al . 2007 and Chen et al .2007), hematological system, hepatic system (Mazumdar et al . 1988), renal system(Mandal and Suzuki 2002; Wang et al . 2008), and neurological system (Basu et al .1996). Moreover, linkage of exposure to As has also been reported for spontaneousabortion, unprompted abortion, stillbirths, perinatal and neonatal mortality, reduc-tion in birth weight, and so on (Ascengrau et al . 1989; Rudnai and Gulyas 1998;Ahmad et al . 2001; Concha et al . 1998; Hopenhayn Rich et al . 2000, 2003 and Yanget al . 2003).

However, the new domain added with As toxicities are diabetes (Gonzalez et al .2007) at As concentrations between 20 to 400 µg/L and immunological systemeffects (Islam and Rahman 2007) at a mean value of 216 µg/L of As in drinkingwater. But the most important fact about As toxicity is its carcinogenicity and the U.S.Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has classified inorganic As as a group Ahuman carcinogen. Astolfi et al . (1981) observed that a regular intake of drinkingwater with As > 100 µg/L can cause identifiable types of As toxicity and eventuallyin some cases leads to skin cancer. Long-term As exposure can also cause cancer ofvarious organs or tissues such as skin, liver, lung, and bladder (Khan et al . 2009).

In India, West Bengal has been explored often as a worst-case affected area dueto groundwater As contamination. However, very little is known about the statusof groundwater As contamination and its health impact in the eastern state of In-dia Bihar. In June 2002 the groundwater As contamination was first reported inthe Semaria Ojha Patti village of Sahapur in the Bhojpur district of Bihar, India(Chakraborti et al . 2003). Nickson et al . (2007) later reported groundwater As con-tamination in the 50 blocks of 11 districts of a total 36 districts of Bihar. Out of 66,623total sources tested, 12,097 were found contaminated with As between 10–50 µg/Land 7164 sources had As > 50 µg/L. The highest As concentration (1861 µg/L) wasdetected in the Bhojpur district itself (Ghosh et al . 2007, 2009; Nickson et al . 2007).Recently Saha (2009) reported As contamination in 15 districts of Bihar (Figure1). The As concentration profile was prepared after testing about 82,000 samplesin 57 blocks in 15 districts. As per the findings Patna, Bhojpur, and Buxur werethe most As-affected districts. Arsenic concentrations ranged between <20 µg/Lto >1000 µg/L. However, a series of obstetric outcomes was also documented forwomen exposed to As-contaminated groundwater and 60 persons with arsenical skinlesions were also reported in Bihar in 2003 (Chakraborti et al . 2003).

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Health Risk Assessment Due to Groundwater Arsenic Contamination

Figure 1. Arsenic concentration (mg/L) profile of groundwater of Bihar (India).Adapted from Saha (2009). The districts on the left side of the line areon the southern bank of River Ganga and remaining districts are fromthe northern plain. (Color figure available online.)

In Bihar the most important source of drinking and irrigation water is groundwa-ter rather than surface water. Here, groundwater is also used for irrigation purposes,posing a significant risk of As accumulation in the soil and consequently enteringinto the food-chain through plant uptake and consumption by animals and hu-mans. The As contamination in the groundwater of Maner was first reported in2007 (Ghosh et al . 2007) and by Singh and Ghosh (2011). The present article isan extension of our previous work and has used As contamination data for analy-sis in this article (Singh and Ghosh 2011; Singh 2011). Therefore, the overall aimof this study was to do health risk assessment of the exposed population due tothe consumption of As-contaminated water used for drinking and cooking in twopanchayats,1 Rampur Diara (RD) and Haldichapra (HC) of the Maner block ofPatna.

METHODS AND MATERIALS

Collection of Water Samples

Water samples were collected from the tube wells (used for mainly drinking,cooking, and irrigation purposes by the communities) from both panchayats. The

1Editor’s note: “panchayat raj is a South Asian political system mainly in India, Pakistan,and Nepal. ‘Panchayat’ literally means assembly (ayat) of five (panch) wise and respectedelders chosen and accepted by the village community. Traditionally, these assemblies settleddisputes between individuals and villages. Modern Indian government has decentralizedseveral administrative functions to the village level, empowering elected gram panchayats”(Wikipedia 2011).

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water samples were stored in polyethylene bottles, prewashed with concentratedhydrochloric acid (1:1) and after collection it was added as a preservative. All thesamples were tested on an UV-spectrophotometer by a standard silverdiethyledithio-carbamate (SDDC) method (Islam and Rahman 2001; Laizu 2007; Nickson et al .2007). Detailed methodology is described elsewhere (Singh and Ghosh 2011).

Study Population

Two panchayats (RD and HC) in the Maner block of Patna, with populations(n = 264; 222, respectively) were stratified as children (age 5–10 years old), youth(11–20), adults (21–39), and the elderly (40+) were covered in this study. The totalpopulation of both panchayats was about 5093 (RD = 3437 and HC = 1556). Thepopulation of HC was the representative population of Mangarpal as the actualpanchayat HC was not updated on the block level map.

Per Capita Consumption of Water and Food

A survey was conducted in both panchayats to assess the average intake of drinkingwater, water consumed through cooked food, and per capita consumption of foodmaterials. Specific questions were asked and verified twice and thrice to get theactual answer. Questions asked to learn the consumption of drinking water were:How much water do you drink per day?; Do you use a specific vessel to drink water?;What is the volume of the vessel you use to drink water?; Do you always use a fullglass/jug of water?; What is the minimum and maximum number of times you drinkwater everyday? For food consumption, questions were asked of women: How muchrice/pulses2/vegetables do you cook per day?; What utensils do you use to weighrice and pulses?; How do you calculate amounts consumed by kids, youth, adults,and older persons?; and so on.

A calibrated glass of 500 mL volume was used to measure the correct volume ofconsumption of water and cereals. The said volume by the respondents was laterconfirmed with our calibrated glass. Village people usually use a glass or a big jar(lota) to drink water. The volume of the glass or jar varies between 100 mL to 500 mLand 500 mL to 1500 mL, respectively. Women usually use their palms to weigh thequantity of rice and pulses. They grab as much as they can in their palm and put itinto the cooking vessels. Therefore, the quantity of rice and pulses was calculatedby the number of palm counts. They also use glasses or other containers to weighrice and pulses to cook. Our goal was to know the approximate average per capitaconsumption of water and food in the study area.

The amount of water used to cook rice, pulses, and vegetables varies with family tofamily and community to community. Village people prepare “curries.” Poor peopleuse more water in curry to make it more voluminous in order to feed all their familymembers. Following the similar questionnaire format mentioned above the actualamount of water used to cook rice, pulses, and vegetables during normal days wascalculated. However, the amount of water used to cook food significantly varies whenfoods are prepared for visitors, guests, and relatives. The amount of water used tocook food on normal days was considered for this study.

2Editor’s note: Pulses are peas, beans, lentils, or any leguminous plant.


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Health Risk Assessment and Problems

An open- and closed-ended questionnaire method was adopted to survey thevisible health symptoms, including diarrhea, gastric problems, body itching, andpigmentation on the body as health indicators and initial symptoms of arsenicosis.Personal interview was also conducted. Health risk assessment was done by calcu-lating average total dose (ATD), chronic daily intake (CDI), cancer risk (CR), andhazard quotient (HQ) (Muhammad et al . 2010; Phan et al . 2010; Liu et al . 2009).

RESULTS

Groundwater Arsenic Contamination in Maner

A total of 20 water samples were collected (10 samples from each panchayat)from the areas’ hand tube wells (HTW). Samples were representative of the house-holds surveyed for the health risk analysis. Samples were analyzed for As, pH, andphosphate (P) concentration (Table 1). Depth of the installed hand pumps wasnoted on the basis of information given by the majority of the communities andlocal trained mesons. Depth ranged from 80 feet to 155 feet with a mean value of108.5 ft (n = 20). The groundwater of RD and HC was found highly contaminatedwith As, ranging between 8 µg/L of As (RD) to 498 µg/L (HC). The average Asconcentration in HC (231 µg/L) was 4.4 times that in RD (52 µg/L). These twopanchayats represent the majority of the As-affected area of the Maner block. There-fore, the overall mean value of As in the groundwater of this area was 141 µg/L,which exceeds the permissible limit of the BIS and the WHO guideline of 50 µg/Land 10 µg/L As, respectively, in drinking water in both areas and the Food and

Table 1. Statistical expressions of the groundwater data in both panchayats werecalculated as shown.

Depth pH Phosphate (µg/L) As (µg/L)

Rampur DiaraCount 10 10 10 10Mean 113.5 6.6 32.6 52.1St. Dev 26.3 0.4 12.2 31.5Median 112.5 6.5 33 61.5Min 80 6 19 8Max 155 7.5 47 103CoV 23% 6% 37% 60%

HaldichapraCount 10 10 10 10Mean 103.5 6.6 27.5 231St. Dev 16.2 0.5 18.8 110.7Median 107.5 6.5 24 213Min 80 6 5 106Max 125 7.5 71 498CoV 16% 7% 68% 48%


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Table 2. Per capita consumption of water and foods in Maner block of Patna.

Age Drink Rice Pulses Veg.Panchayat group Ages Count (L) (gm) (gm) (gm)

Rampur Diara Children 5–10 55 2.4 99 24 19Haldichapra Children 5–10 40 2.5 105 26 85Rampur Diara Youth 11–20 60 4.9 213 44 46Haldichapra Youth 11–20 63 5.3 201 44 158Rampur Diara Adults 21–40 80 5.8 190 41 40Haldichapra Adults 21–40 75 5.85 228 42 140Rampur Diara Elderly 40+ 69 6.1 135 37 26Haldichapra Elderly 40+ 44 6.36 144 41 170Rampur Diara All ages 5–40+ 264 5.0 161.9 37.1 33.3Haldichapra All ages 5–40+ 222 5.2 181.5 39.5 141.1Ratio All ages 5–40+ 486 1.05 1.12 1.06 4.23

Agriculture Organization’s (FAO’s) standard of 100 µg/L for irrigation in only onecase in RD and in all the cases in HC (Figure 2).

Per Capita Consumption of Water and Food

A total of 486 people were surveyed in 45 households (RD = 27 and HC = 18) inboth the panchayats with a mean value of per capita water consumption of 5.0 L inRD and 5.2 L in HC (Table 2). The per capita consumption of drinking water wasrecorded to be 2.4 L, 4.9 L, 5.8 L, and 6.1 L by children, youth, adults, and elderlyin RD, respectively, and 2.5 L, 5.3 L, 5.8 L, and 6.4 L by children, youth, adults, andelderly in HC, respectively. However, average per capita consumption of raw rice,pulses, and vegetables was 159.2 g, 36.5 g, and 32.7 g in RD and 169.5 g, 38.2 g, and138.2 g in HC, respectively (Table 2). The age group specific consumption of water,rice, and pulses did not differ between the two panchayats but the consumption of

Figure 2. Arsenic in the groundwater of Maner, Patna. (Color figure availableonline.)


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vegetables is markedly lower in RD than in HC. The population-weighted averagedaily consumption of vegetables (141 gm/day) in HC was more than four timesgreater than that in RD (33 gm/day). The HC area is flood affected and peoplemostly cultivate vegetables because of the less cost involved in the cultivation andharvesting processes. The reason for the higher consumption of vegetables in HCmay be because of greater vegetable cultivation and their availability in the areaor because of the different food habits, as the HC area is very far from the urbanmarket where other options (e.g ., eggs, fish, chicken, meat) for vegetables are notavailable at affordable prices as is the situation for the RD community as they arevery close to the urban market.

Per Capita Consumption of As through Different Sources

On the basis of mean value of As in water and per capita consumption of water; percapita consumption of As through different sources was calculated. Per capita con-sumption of As through only the drinking water route was found to be 124 µg/day,254 µg/day, 301 µg/day, and 317 µg/day by children, youth, adults, and the elderlyin RD, respectively, and 577 µg/day, 1224 µg/day, 1351 µg/day, and 1469 µg/dayby children, youth, adults, and the elderly in HC, respectively (Table 3). However,considering consumption of water through both drinking and cooking, the totalAs consumption by the communities was more. Therefore, the communities wereconsuming As from potable water more than the permissible limit. They were alsoconsuming As from cooked food (as boiling of water never affects the concentrationof As in water) through water used for cooking, which is extremely toxic for them;especially for children and pregnant women.

Health Risk Assessment

A health risk analysis was done by following USEPA (1989) guidelines. The pur-pose was to know the susceptibility to getting cancer among all the inhabitantsexposed to the As-contaminated drinking water sources, especially for children.The surveyed population was categorized into four groups: children (5–10 years),youth (11–20 years), adults (21–40 years), and the elderly (41+ years). Althoughstudy participants’ actual bodyweight was noted during the survey, our risk analysiswas performed by following USEPA (1986) standards for bodyweights of 10 kg forchildren and 70 kg for youth, adults, and the elderly. The modified recent dataon average bodyweights are available but for this study the previous data best repre-sented the studied population. Average total dose (ATD), chronic daily dose (CDD),risk, and hazard quotient (HQ) were calculated (Muhammad et al . 2010; Phan et al .2009; Liu et al . 2009).

Average total dose: Average total dose is the product of contaminant concentra-tion in mg/L and intake rate of water in L:

Average total dose (mg) = AsW × IR

where; Asw = Arsenic concentration of water (mg/L), IR = Water ingestion rate(L/day).


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Tab

le3.

Per

capi

taco

nsu

mpt

ion

ofto

talA

sth

roug

hw

ater

used

for

drin

kin

gan

dco

okin

g.

Per

capi

taco

nsu

mpt

ion

(in

L)

Peop

lesu

rvey

edTo

talc

onsu

mpt

ion

Mea

nva

lue

ofA

sPe

rca

pita

con

sum

ptio

nR

esea

rch

area

Ch

ildre

n(n

=55

)A

ges

5–10

Dri

nki

ng

wat

erof

wat

erin

wat

er(µ

g/L

)of

tota

lAs(

µg/

day)

Ram

pur

Ch

ildre

n(n

=55

)5–

102.

42.

752

124

Dia

raYo

uth

(n=

60)

11–2

04.

95.

552

254

Adu

lts

(n=

80)

21–4

05.

86.

352

301

Eld

erly

(n=

69)

40+

6.1

6.5

5231

7

Hal

dich

apra

Ch

ildre

n(n

=40

)5–

102.

52.

823

157

7Yo

uth

(n=

63)

11–2

05.

35.

923

112

24A

dult

s(n

=75

)21

–40

5.8

6.5

231

1351

Eld

erly

(n=

44)

40+

6.4

6.9

231

1469

758

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Chronic daily intake (CDI): Chronic daily intake is derived by dividing total doseby body weight of a person by using the formula:

CDI (mg/kg day) = Total Dose (mg)/Bodyweight (kg)

Cancer risk: Lifetime cancer risk assessment through oral ingestion of As wasestimated by the following equation:

Cancer Risk = CDI × Potency Factor (PF)

where; PF (oral route) for As is 1.5 (mg/kg/day)−1 (established by USEPA’s Inte-grated Risk Information System-IRIS).

Hazard quotient (HQ or HI): Hazard quotient or hazard index is the index ofnon-carcinogenic toxicity of a substance, in this case As in drinking water (unit less).It can be calculated by the following formula:

HI = CDI/RfD

where; RfD is the reference dose for As (mg/kg d), i.e., 3 × 10−4.A HQ less than 1 is considered to infer no significant risk of non-carcinogenic

effects, and if the value of cancer risk is between 10−4 and 10−6, it is believed that thecarcinogenic risk is acceptable.

Health risk analysis was done in two different ways; one by considering consump-tion of As through drinking water only and second by considering total consumptionof water through different sources including drinking water and water also used forcooking. Results showed that because of the consumption of only As-contaminateddrinking water, the residents in the RD and HC areas had HQs ranging from 12.1 to41.6 (n = 264) and 58.3 and 192.5 (n = 222), respectively (Table 4). The lower andupper end of the ranges for both areas exceeded 1, suggesting that the residentsin the RD and HC areas might confront more significant adverse non-carcinogenichealth impacts.

Moreover, when considering total consumption of As-contaminated water usedfor drinking and cooking, both the exposed populations had HQs between13.6 to46.4 and 65.5 to 219.5 in RD and HC, respectively (Table 5). In addition, cancer riskindices found in the RD and HC areas ranged from 6 to 21 in 1000 and 29 to 99 in1000, respectively, due to the consumption of As-contaminated water used both forcooking and drinking.

Further, the ATD, HQ, and CR in the study areas were greater than correspondingvalues for Pakistan, Cambodia, and China (Muhammad et al . 2010; Phan et al . 2009;Liu et al . 2009). The safe standards for cancer risks are in the range of 1 in 10,000 to1 in 1,000,000, therefore, most of the residents in our study areas may be exposedto drinking water with As concentrations that could contribute to development ofcancer.

Health Survey

Health interviews and examinations yielded symptoms of diarrhea, gastric prob-lems, body itching, and pigmentation on the body. Out of the total surveyed popu-lation (n = 264) 1.1% of the population were found suffering from diarrhea, 5.6%from different gastric problems, 2.6% had body itching, and only 0.4% population


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Tab

le4.

Ave

rage

tota

ldos

e,ch

ron

icda

ilyin

take

can

cer

risk

,an

dh

azar

dqu

otie

nto

fres

pon

den

tsin

surv

eyar

eadu

eto

drin

kin

gw

ater

only

.

Con

sum

ptio

nC

DI

Susc

epti

bilit

yA

sin

wat

erof

drin

kin

gT

D(m

g/kg

-C

ance

rto

gett

ing

Proj

ecta

rea

Peop

lesu

rvey

edA

ges

(µg/

L)

wat

er(I

nL

)(m

g/da

y)da

y)ri

skH

Qca

nce

rin

1000

Ram

pur

Ch

ildre

n(n

=55

)5–

1052

2.4

0.12

0.01

20.

019

41.6

19D

iara

Yout

h(n

=60

)11

–20

524.

90.

260.

004

0.00

512

.15

Adu

lts

(n=

80)

21–4

052

5.8

0.30

0.00

40.

006

14.4

6E

lder

ly(n

=69

)40

+52

6.1

0.32

0.00

50.

007

15.1

7

Hal

dich

apra

Ch

ildre

n(n

=40

)5–

1023

12.

50.

580.

058

0.08

719

2.5

87Yo

uth

(n=

63)

11–2

023

15.

31.

220.

017

0.02

658

.326

Adu

lts

(n=

75)

21–4

023

15.

81.

350.

019

0.02

964

.329

Eld

erly

(n=

44)

40+

231

6.4

1.47

0.02

10.

031

70.0

31

TD

=To

talD

ose.

760

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Tab

le5.

Ave

rage

tota

ldos

e,ch

ron

icda

ilyin

take

can

cer

risk

,an

dh

azar

dqu

otie

nto

fres

pon

den

tsin

surv

eyar

eadu

eto

tota

lco

nsu

mpt

ion

ofw

ater

.

Proj

ecta

rea

Peop

lesu

rvey

edA

ges

As

inw

ater

(µg

/L)

Tota

lco

nsu

mpt

ion

ofw

ater

(In

L)

TD

(mg/

day)

CD

I(m

g/kg

-da

y)C

ance

rri

skH

Q

Susc

epti

bilit

yto

gett

ing

can

cer

in10

00

Ram

pur

Ch

ildre

n(n

=55

)5–

1052

2.7

0.14

0.01

40.

021

46.4

21D

iara

Yout

h(n

=60

)11

–20

525.

50.

280.

004

0.00

613

.66

Adu

lts

(n=

80)

21–4

052

6.3

0.33

0.00

50.

007

15.7

7E

lder

ly(n

=69

)40

+52

6.5

0.34

0.00

50.

007

16.1

7

Hal

dich

apra

Ch

ildre

n(n

=40

)5–

1023

12.

80.

660.

066

0.09

921

9.4

99Yo

uth

(n=

63)

11–2

023

15.

91.

370.

020

0.02

965

.429

Adu

lts

(n=

75)

21–4

023

16.

51.

500.

022

0.03

271

.732

tE

lder

ly(n

=44

)40

+23

16.

91.

590.

023

0.03

475

.934

TD

=To

talD

ose.

761

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had pigmentation on their body in RD. However, in HC, 0.9%, 5.8%, 4%, and 2.3%of the population were suffering from diarrhea, gastric problem, body itching, andpigmentation on their body, respectively. The only health difference observed be-tween the two panchayats was a six-fold greater prevalence of pigmentation (p < .10)in the residents of the HC area where the average As concentration was 231 µg/Lcompared to that in RD where the average As concentration was 52 µg/L. Thedata indicate that the two panchayats differ in that compared to RD the residentsof HC have more than four-fold higher As concentrations in their drinking water(231 µg/L vs. 52 µg/L), four-fold greater consumption of vegetables (141 gm/dayvs. 33 gm/day), and six-fold higher prevalence of pigmentation (2.3% vs. 0.4%).The present findings were consistent with the previous findings of Ghosh et al . (2007,2009), except that they reported a case of keratosis in one of the patients in the area.In this study we did not find any such symptoms in the surveyed populations.

DISCUSSION

Initiatives Taken

On the basis of the above discussed problems and personal visit to the affectedareas a proactive step was taken. A request letter mentioning the current statusof the As contamination in the area and severity of the problem was submittedby the first-named author of this article to the District Magistrate (DM) of Patnadistrict (Bihar) and Executive Engineer, Public Health Engineering Department(PHED) Patna, Government of Bihar. PHED is the responsible government agencyto provide safe drinking water in the state. After some time the then AdditionalDistrict Magistrate (ADM) replied (letter no. 362 dated February 28, 2008) and gaveinstructions to the concerning authority to provide safe and As-free drinking water.However, no significant steps were taken. Although many open wells were renovatedand constructed and some rain water harvesting units were also installed in this area,almost all the units were non-functional at the time of our survey. Operation andmaintenance of the units and lack of ownership were identified as the main hurdlesresponsible for the failure of the As mitigation program in this area.

Arsenic Free Pipe Water Supply System

On the basis of our survey done in this area, per capita total requirement of waterwas calculated (Table 6). Census 2001 of India was referred to for the populationdata. We estimate that 18,390 L of safe water is required for drinking and cookingpurposes in the RD area, and 24,083 L of safe water is required in HC. Therefore,a required capacity of pipe water supply system can be installed in such a way thatit can sustain for a long time. Recently, multi-village water supply projects havebeen given the green signal in 200 As-affected villages in three districts of Bihar.The government of Bihar has launched a multivillage water supply projects in 130As-affected villages of Simri block in Buxar district, 45 villages of Bidupur block inVaishali district, and 25 villages of the Maner block in the Patna district of Bihar.Therefore, the data for per capita requirement of water used for drinking andcooking can be used to design appropriate capacities of pipe water supply systems.


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Tab

le6.

Per

capi

tare

quir

emen

tofs

afe

wat

erin

Man

er,P

atn

a.

Tota

lreq

uire

men

tof

Per

capi

taco

nsu

mpt

ion

ofPe

rca

pita

tota

lsa

few

ater

from

wat

erfo

rdr

inki

ng

and

requ

irem

ento

fdr

inki

ng

and

cook

ing

cook

ing

(in

L)

safe

wat

erfo

rin

the

area

(L)

drin

kin

gan

dA

rea

Fam

ilym

embe

rsD

WR

ice

Puls

esVe

geta

bles

cook

ing

(L)

Per

day

Year

ly

RD

Ch

ildre

n(n

=55

)2.

400.

290.

150.

095.

3518

,390

6,71

2,52

9Yo

uth

(n=

60)

4.90

Adu

lt(n

=80

)5.

85E

lder

ly(n

=69

)6.

14

HC

Ch

ildre

n(n

=40

2.50

0.32

0.15

0.12

5.80

24,0

838,

790,

326

Yout

h(n

=63

)5.

38A

dult

(n=

75)

5.85

Eld

erly

(n=

44)

6.36

RD

=R

ampu

rD

iara

;HC

=H

aldi

chap

ra;D

W=

Dri

nki

ng

Wat

er.

763

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Table 7. Per capita requirement of food materials in Maner, Patna.

Per capita consumption Total requirement of foodof food (in gm) per capita/day (kg)

Area Family members Rice Pulses Vegetables Rice Pulses Vegetables

RD Children (n = 55) 99.1 24.9 62.2 2194 511 1611Youth (n = 60) 213.3 44.5 166.5Adult (n = 80) 190.6 41.6 131.6Elderly (n = 69) 135.5 37.7 108.5

HC Children (n = 40) 105.5 26.9 79.4 2823 644 2259Youth (n = 63) 201.6 44.1 170.6Adult (n = 75) 228.9 42.9 169.3Elderly (n = 44) 144.3 41.4 125.0

Arsenic-Free Food Supply System

Apart from the drinking water, soil and food materials were also found to becontaminated with As in the RD area (Singh and Ghosh 2011). However, the levelsof As in soil and food materials were within the permissible limit but, the cumula-tive effect can significantly affect the exposed communities. Therefore, per capitarequirement of rice, pulses, and vegetables were also calculated. A total 2195 kgof As-free rice, 511 kg of pulses, and 1611 kg of vegetables in RD and 2823 kg ofrice, 644 kg of pulses, and 2259 kg of vegetables will be required in HC (Table 7).As-free food materials can be provided to the people below the poverty line (BPL) atsubsidized rates through the Public Distribution System. This can be implementedeffectively with the active and sincere involvement of Panchayati Raj Institutions(PRIs). People above the poverty line (APL) can pay the actual price for food.

CONCLUSION

The groundwater of RD and HC panchayats of Maner block, Patna, was highlycontaminated with As. The average As concentration in HC was 4.4 times that in RD.The residents were using similar contaminated groundwater sources for drinkingand cooking purposes, so the cooked food with As-contaminated water is now an-other source of As intake in the body of this area. Health risk analysis suggests that thecancer risk and HI were higher than the acceptable minimum and maximum ranges,therefore, the people are susceptible to developing cancer and non-carcinogenicillnesses. Children are at the greatest health risk among all in both areas. Therefore,the issue should be dealt with by providing various feasible mitigation options and byameliorating the nutritional status of the population. Arsenic-free water pipe supplysystems and As-free food supply systems can be adopted as one of the most importantAs mitigation options. Moreover, socioeconomically feasible mitigation techniquesare also required for a sustainable As mitigation in this area. In addition, clinicalinvestigation is required to identify arsenicosis patients for proper medical referraland treatment. Moreover, all the As affected areas of Bihar should be given similar


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priority and attention as was given to West Bengal and Bangladesh while addressingAs problems at national and international platforms.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

S. K. Singh gives special thanks to the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, NewDelhi, India, for financial assistance to conduct a Ph.D. dissertation. Similarly, thanksgo to Anand, Chandan, Amit, and Rajiv, students in the Department of Environmentand Water Management, A. N. College, Patna, India, for their support during thefield and lab study. The authors express their heartiest thanks to two anonymousreviewers and HERA editor for their efforts to improve the quality of this article.

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health risk assessment due to groundwater arsenic contamination: children are at high risk

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