Abstract
Background/Objectives: Irrigation water at Phuleli and Akram canals carry the waste of Hyderabad city and other places on the way to rice fields at lower part of Indus Plain. The long term use of arsenic contaminated irrigation water can accumulate arsenic in rice soils. This study evaluated total arsenic in irrigation water and transported load to rice sites, in addition to the arsenic concentration in main canals and waste sites on the way to Badin. Methods: Atomic absorption spectrophotometer equipped with hydride vapor assembly was used to analyze the arsenic concentrations in irrigation water. Findings: Currently, the irrigation water quality was generally within the permissible limits of FAO for rice. All types of wastes (14.62-37.2 µg L-1) entering the Phuleli and Akram canals (7.08 µg L-1) on the way contributed to total arsenic (6.30-57.12 µg L-1) in irrigation water at the entrance of rice sites. However, higher arsenic contamination in irrigation water was due to sugar industry waste (37.2 µg L-1) and lowest due to city waste of Badin (14.62 µg L-1). The data indicated that mean total arsenic concentration from irrigation water would load 0.12 and 0.14 mg kg-1 of arsenic annually in soils on the basis of net 1000 and 1300 mm a-1 water application to rice, respectively. Applications/Improvements: The results clearly indicated that waste added from different sources may aggravate the arsenic contamination of canal water and yet the accumulation in rice fields will keep on increasing. It is suggested that waste must be treated before releasing to prevent contamination of rice field. Keywords: Arsenic load, City waste, Contamination, Industrial waste
Highlights
District Badin (24◦13’ to 25◦12’ N and 68◦21’ to 69◦20’ E) is part of Lower Indus plain, formed by alluvial deposits of the Indus River through ancient Hakra, Nullah and Gungra water courses
Amount of arsenic transported in canal irrigation water at each waste point starting from Kotri Barrage to Badin ( Figure 2) depicted that total arsenic concentration at Phuleli (6.55) and Akram (7.6 μg L-1) canals was more or less similar
The results of this study depicted that the canal water itself is not contaminated but it is the anthropogenic activities which keep on adding arsenic to this water and to rice fields in Badin
Summary
District Badin (24◦13’ to 25◦12’ N and 68◦21’ to 69◦20’ E) is part of Lower Indus plain, formed by alluvial deposits of the Indus River through ancient Hakra, Nullah and Gungra water courses. Kotri Barrage, carrying water from the left bank of River Indus. When these canals pass through Hyderabad city, they receive more than 60 million gallons of toxic runoff of industries and about 1.5 million gallons sewerage on daily basis[1,2]. Moving from Hyderabad to Badin, the canals receive wastewater of laundries, animal farms, plastic factories, sugar industries and domestic sewage [3]. The arsenic concentration in some water samples of district Badin was greater than 50 μg L-1, while majority of samples indicated (1.5-50 μg L-1) no contamination [7]. Surface water of district Jamshoro had more or less similar (3.0-50.0 μg L-1) arsenic concentration [8]
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