Hydrogeochemical and health risk evaluation of arsenic in shallow and deep aquifers along the different floodplains of Punjab, Pakistan

Natasha; Irshad Bibi; Muhammad Shahid; Nabeel Khan Niazi; Fazila Younas; Salman Raza Naqvi; Sabry M Shaheen; Muhammad Imran; Hailong Wang; Khalid Mahmud Hussaini; Hua Zhang; Jörg Rinklebe

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.124074

Hydrogeochemical and health risk evaluation of arsenic in shallow and deep aquifers along the different floodplains of Punjab, Pakistan

J Hazard Mater. 2021 Jan 15:402:124074. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.124074. Epub 2020 Sep 23.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Vehari Campus, 61100, Pakistan.
² Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Faisalabad 38040, Pakistan.
³ Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Faisalabad 38040, Pakistan; School of Civil Engineering and Surveying, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba 4350, Queensland, Australia. Electronic address: nabeelkniazi@gmail.com.
⁴ School of Chemical & Materials Engineering, National University of Sciences & Technology, 44000H-12 Islamabad, Pakistan.
⁵ University of Wuppertal, School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Institute of Foundation Engineering, Water, and Waste-Management, Laboratory of Soil- and Groundwater-Management, Pauluskirchstraße 7, 42285 Wuppertal, Germany; King Abdulaziz University, Faculty of Meteorology, Environment, and Arid Land Agriculture, Department of Arid Land Agriculture, 21589 Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; University of Kafrelsheikh, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Soil and Water Sciences, 33516 Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt.
⁶ Biochar Engineering Technology Research Center of Guangdong Province, School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Foshan University, Foshan 528000, China.
⁷ State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550081, China.
⁸ University of Wuppertal, School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Institute of Foundation Engineering, Water, and Waste-Management, Laboratory of Soil- and Groundwater-Management, Pauluskirchstraße 7, 42285 Wuppertal, Germany; Department of Environment, Energy and Geoinformatics, Sejong University, Seoul 05006, Republic of Korea.

PMID: 33254839
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.124074

Abstract

The current study delineated the distribution, (hydro)geochemical behavior and health risk of arsenic (As) in shallow (depth < 35 m; handpumps and electric pumps) and deep (depth > 35 m; tube wells) aquifers in five areas along the Indus River (Bhakar, Kallur Kot), Jhelum River (Jhelum) and Chenab River (Hafizabad, Gujranwala) floodplains of Punjab, Pakistan. Relatively, greater As concentration was observed in deep wells (mean: 24.3 µg L^-1) compared to shallow wells (19.4 µg L^-1), with groundwater As spanning 0.1-121.7 µg L^-1 (n = 133) in three floodplains. Groundwater from Hafizabad (Chenab River floodplain) possessed the highest As (121.7 µg L^-1), Na⁺ (180 mg L^-1), Ca²⁺ (95 mg L^-1), Cl^- (101 mg L^-1) and SO₄^2- (1353 mg L^-1) concentrations. Arsenic health risk modeling indicated the potential carcinogenic (value > 10^-4) and non-carcinogenic (hazard quotient > 1.0) risks for groundwater of all areas, with the utmost risk estimated for Chenab floodplain and deep aquifers. Positive saturation index values for Fe oxide mineral phases may suggest their potential role in As mobilization/release in these aquifer environments. This study provides critically-important and baseline knowledge for a widespread groundwater As examination along these three floodplains, which is vital for launching suitable As mitigation and remediation programs to reduce the potential health risk.

Keywords: Contamination; Drinking water; Geochemical speciation; Human risk; Indus basin.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Arsenic* / analysis
Environmental Monitoring
Groundwater*
Pakistan
Water Pollutants, Chemical* / analysis

Substances

Water Pollutants, Chemical
Arsenic