Unraveling Health Risk and Speciation of Arsenic from Groundwater in Rural Areas of Punjab, Pakistan

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Muhammad Bilal Shakoor²  Nabeel Khan Niazi²  Irshad Bibi²  Mohammad Mahmudur Rahman⁴  Ravi Naidu³  Zhaomin Dong³  Muhammad Shahid¹  Muhammad Arshad² 

[1] Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Vehari 61100, Pakistan; E-Mail:;Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Faisalabad 38040, Pakistan; E-Mails:;Global Centre for Environmental Remediation (GCER), Faculty of Science and Information Technology, The University of Newcastle, University Drive, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia; E-Mails:;Centre for Environmental Risk Assessment and Remediation (CERAR), Mawson Lakes Campus, University of South Australia, SA 5095, Australia; E-Mail:

关键词: arsenic;    groundwater;    speciation;    health risk;    cancer;    contamination;    toxicity;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijerph121012371

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

This study determined the total and speciated arsenic (As) concentrations and other health-related water quality parameters for unraveling the health risk of As from drinking water to humans. Groundwater samples (n = 62) were collected from three previously unexplored rural areas (Chichawatni, Vehari, Rahim Yar Khan) of Punjab in Pakistan. The mean and median As concentrations in groundwater were 37.9 and 12.7 µg·L⁻¹ (range = 1.5–201 µg·L⁻¹). Fifty three percent groundwater samples showed higher As value than WHO safe limit of 10 µg·L⁻¹. Speciation of As in groundwater samples (n = 13) showed the presence of inorganic As only; arsenite (As(III)) constituted 13%–67% of total As and arsenate (As(V)) ranged from 33% to 100%. For As health risk assessment, the hazard quotient and cancer risk values were 11–18 and 46–600 times higher than the recommended values of US-EPA (i.e., 1.00 and 10⁻⁶, respectively). In addition to As, various water quality parameters (e.g., electrical conductivity, Na, Ca, Cl⁻, NO₃⁻, SO₄²⁻, Fe, Mn, Pb) also enhanced the health risk. The results show that consumption of As-contaminated groundwater poses an emerging health threat to the communities in the study area, and hence needs urgent remedial and management measures.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.