Arsenic contamination
Topic: Water Resources of India: Availability, Use and Conservation · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 4 "Water Resources"
Meaning
Arsenic contamination is the presence of poisonous arsenic in groundwater. It is mostly geogenic (natural). The arsenic is released from young alluvial sediments, the river-laid silt and sand of the plains, into the water around them. Heavy pumping draws more of this water out and makes the problem worse. Drinking such water for years causes skin lesions (sores and patches) and cancer.
Example
The Ganga-Brahmaputra plains of West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Assam are the worst-affected belt in India. Many villages there depend on tubewells. The Jal Kranti Abhiyan (2015-16) proposed arsenic-free wells for such areas.
Don't confuse with
- Fluoride contamination: it comes from hard rocks in dry areas, such as Rajasthan and Nalgonda in Telangana, and causes fluorosis. Arsenic comes from young alluvium in the eastern plains and causes skin lesions and cancer.
Related concepts
- Groundwater depletion
- Punjab groundwater crisis
- Fluoride contamination
- Groundwater contamination belts