TITLE:
Modelling the Spatial Distribution of Arsenic in Water and Its Correlation with Public Health, Central Indus Basin, Pakistan
AUTHORS:
Yawar Hussain, Adil Dilawar, Sadia Fida Ullah, Gulraiz Akhter, Hernan Martinez-Carvajal, Muhammad Babar Hussain, Abdul Qayyum Aslam
KEYWORDS:
Arsenic, GIS, Human Health, IDW, Indus Basin, Layyah
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection,
Vol.4 No.2,
February
4,
2016
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.