Ghosh, P.; Mandal, D.; Aghababaei, M.; Adhikari, J.; Saha, I.; Biswas, J.K.; Chatterjee, D.; Basu, A.; Majumder, S. Geomicrobiological Control on Arsenic Heterogeneity – The Taciturn Factor Controlled by Rural Sanitation System. Preprints2023, 2023062052. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202306.2052.v1
APA Style
Ghosh, P., Mandal, D., Aghababaei, M., Adhikari, J., Saha, I., Biswas, J.K., Chatterjee, D., Basu, A., & Majumder, S. (2023). Geomicrobiological Control on Arsenic Heterogeneity – The Taciturn Factor Controlled by Rural Sanitation System. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202306.2052.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Ghosh, P., Abhishek Basu and Santanu Majumder. 2023 "Geomicrobiological Control on Arsenic Heterogeneity – The Taciturn Factor Controlled by Rural Sanitation System" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202306.2052.v1
Abstract
Arsenic (As) contamination of groundwater is a common problem in BDP. The alkaline pH of the groundwater provides favourable condition for geomicrobiochemical processes, where organic matter also plays an important role in mobilization of As. The total arsenic content (AsT) of the groundwater is in the range of 69-178 µgL-1 with mean value of 118.58 µgL-1. The groundwater quality of monitored drinking water wells are related to local land–use pattern and rural sanitation installation and practices (which can have a strong influence on microbial contamination). The study indicates that As heterogeneity, probably a consequence of microbial heterogeneity is a feature of the study area. The excessive total and fecal coliform (TC and FC) count of the ponds possibly suggest uncontrolled surface run offs and sewage leakage, notably from nearby pit-latrine, which increased the microbial contamination in these water sources. The tube wells located in close proximity (~ 2-3 m) of the surveyed ponds are also contaminated with high TC and FC values, due to faulty water supply system, pond water infiltration and cracked tube well platforms. Coliforms may influence geomicrobiological processes in groundwater and thereby, contribute in As release and mobilization. The TC and FC values of monitored tube wells and ponds show seasonal variation, with high TC and FC values during wet season. Attempt has been made to focus on sanitation risk of the monitored wells (based on sanitation and fecal coliform scores) which is usually less explored. The sanitary risk score reveal the need of immediate attention to all the sites, as 25.0 %, 58.3 %, 11.1 % and 5 % of tube wells of the six sites fell under very high risk (sanitary risk score ≥ 9), high risk (sanitary risk score 6-8), intermediate risk (sanitary risk score 3-5) and low risk category (sanitary risk score 0-2), respectively. Fecal coliform score classified all the sites under intermediate risk category (FC count 10-100 per 100 ml of water). The predominance of As heterogeneity particularly in areas under high risk category (showing high TC and FC contamination) is observed along with the similar sinusoidal pattern of TC, FC and AsT content. Finally, this study shed light on the factors responsible for unsafe nature of monitored tube wells and the influence of anthropogenic activities on the microenvironment of the groundwater, which could be a probable reason behind the As heterogeneity in the groundwater of the study area.
Environmental and Earth Sciences, Water Science and Technology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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