Abstract
Like India, Bangladesh and China, Pakistan also has some regions where concentration of Arsenic in water has crossed the WHO safe drinking water limits, 10 ppb. Presence of Arsenic in drinking water is causing serious human health issues for the local residents of Sindh and southern Punjab, which needs serious attention. The present study is focused on the spatial distribution of Arsenic in groundwater and its relationship with the major reported human diseases at settlement level of District Layyah. Data collection is done by taking water samples from hand pumps and health issues reported at the local health care centers adjoining to that sampling pump. The spatial distribution of Arsenic concentration in groundwater is done by using Inversion Distance Weight (IDW) technique. Arsenic Risk Index (ARI) is developed based of WHO health standards, and then used to divide study area into two Arsenic Risk Zones as no risk and high risk with As values less or equal to 10 ng·ml-1 and greater than 10 ng·ml-1, respectively . In the final step these zones were correlated with the diseases at village level. The results show that, Arsenic is high near the Indus River and it decreases in central and eastern parts towards Chenab River. Same trend of Indo-Chenab Arsenic gradient is followed by skin diseases among the people especially, in tehsil Layyah and tehsil Koror. It is concluded that high Arsenic amount in water and skin diseases are highly dependent on the recharge from Indus River.
Highlights
Pakistan like other major Asian countries (Banghladesh, India and China), is suffering from the problem of Arsenic (As) in its drinking water [1]
Tehsil Layyah contains 250 samples out which 200 samples lie below the WHO standards
Near Indus River Arsenic concentration is higher than the accepted limits of WHO, which is associated with higher health risk
Summary
Pakistan like other major Asian countries (Banghladesh, India and China), is suffering from the problem of Arsenic (As) in its drinking water [1]. The contaminated water with Arsenic is a serious public health concern especially in Sindh [2] and southern parts of Punjab province [3]. Arsenic is an organic component of earth crust; it is present in earth atmosphere like air, water and soil [6]. If this concentration in earth’s environment exceeds up to certain limits, it can cause serious human health issues. Inorganic Arsenic is more harmful than organic one [6] In this analysis only one effect of Arsenic contaminated water on population of district Layyah has been taken under consideration i.e. skin problem on palms and soles (SPPS). Present spatial modelling of Arsenic is performed in GIS which offers an excellent environment for such an analysis
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