Groundwater Arsenic Contamination in West Bengal: Current Scenario, Effects and Probable Ways of Mitigation

During the past two decades, Arsenic (As) contamination via groundwater has become a serious issue worldwide and is now a major concern in the Indo-Bangladesh Gangetic delta. Arsenic enters human body through contaminated groundwater consumed as drinking water. Food safety in this region is also facing severe consequences as bio-accumulation of Arsenic is occurring in food crops irrigated with As-contaminated water. Chronic exposure to Arsenic can cause not only cancerous and non-cancer health effects. Reports suggest that about 20 % population in West Bengal is highly affected. Various techniques are being introduced to provide arsenic-free drinking water at an affordable cost. But a rigorous change in habit and mind set for procuring safe drinking water in those surviving in As-contaminated zones is the most essential step towards curbing the fatal consequences of As exposure. Harvesting rain water and utilization of proper purification techniques can be considered a possible alternative of safe drinking water.

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Common themes contributing to recent drinking water disease outbreaks in affluent nations

Water Science & Technology Water Supply ◽

10.2166/ws.2019.051 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 19 (6) ◽

pp. 1767-1777 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

S. E. Hrudey ◽

E. J. Hrudey

Keyword(s):

Drinking Water ◽

New Zealand ◽

Scientific Literature ◽

Disease Outbreaks ◽

Disease Outbreak ◽

Safe Drinking Water ◽

Waterborne Disease ◽

George Santayana ◽

The Past ◽

Recent Outbreak

Abstract New Zealand experienced its largest waterborne disease outbreak in modern history in August 2016 with 5,500 cases and four fatalities. This recent outbreak is one of 24 drinking-waterborne disease outbreaks in affluent nations that have been reported in the scientific literature since the infamous Walkerton, Ontario, Canada fatal outbreak (2,300 cases, seven fatalities) in May 2000. These disasters were all eminently preventable given the economic and intellectual resources existing in the countries where they occurred. These outbreaks are analysed according to major recurring themes, including: complacency, naiveté and ignorance, failure to learn from experience and chemophobia. Lessons that can be learned to improve preventive approaches for ensuring safe drinking water are based on an extensive and authentic body of evidence in support of meaningful improvements. Philosopher George Santayana captured this need with his famous quote: ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’

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Status and Prospects of Rural Drinking Water in China

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.281.263 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 281 ◽

pp. 263-266

Author(s):

Zhen Hua Liu

Keyword(s):

Drinking Water ◽

Rural Areas ◽

Industrial Pollution ◽

Water System ◽

Policy Support ◽

Contaminated Water ◽

Safe Drinking Water ◽

Rural Residents ◽

Financial Investment ◽

Drinking Water System

Safe drinking water in rural areas in china was worried about, and was very urgent.Table 2 shows that more than 320 million people living in rural areas drank unhealthy water in 2004, there were 90.84 million rural residents in 2004 drinking contaminated water in china. Contaminated water became the main reason of unsafe drinking water in rural areas,coming from industrial pollution and agricultural pollution. At the same time, emergency exacerbating crisis of rural drinking water, especially rising incidents of industrial pollution. china plans to provide safe drinking water for rural residents in rural areas, through financial investment and policy support, and improves rural safe drinking water system.

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Arsenic Removal from Contaminated Water Using Natural Adsorbents: A Review

Coatings ◽

10.3390/coatings11111407 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (11) ◽

pp. 1407

Author(s):

Kanfolo Franck Herve YEO ◽

Chaokun Li ◽

Hui Zhang ◽

Jin Chen ◽

Wendong Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Drinking Water ◽

Ion Exchange ◽

Flow Rate ◽

Contact Time ◽

Arsenic Removal ◽

Polluted Water ◽

Contaminated Water ◽

Natural Materials ◽

The Past ◽

Natural Adsorbents

More than 170 million individuals have been influenced by arsenic (As) because of the ingestion of As-polluted groundwater. The presence of As in water bodies, particularly groundwater, has been found to become a widespread issue in the past few decades. Because arsenic causes extreme wellbeing impacts, even at a low concentration in drinking water, the innovations of As removal from contaminated water are of significant importance. Traditional strategies, for example, reverse osmosis, ion exchange, and electro-dialysis are generally utilized for the remediation of As-polluted water; however, the high cost and/or sludge production restricts their application in less-developed areas. The utilization of adsorbents acquired from natural materials has been explored as an alternative for the costly techniques for As removal. This paper aims to review the past and current developments in using naturals adsorbents or modified natural materials for arsenic removal and show the different parameters, which may influence the As removal effectiveness of the natural adsorbent, such as contact time, adsorbent dosage, flow rate, pH, reusability, temperature, and influence of others ions.

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Measuring the Impact of West Bengal Drinking Water Sector Improvement Project: A Baseline Study

10.22617/wps200410-2 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Aniceto C. Orbeta ◽

Neeta Pokhrel ◽

Saswati Ghosh Belliappa ◽

Saugata Dasgupta ◽

Arati Nandi

Keyword(s):

Drinking Water ◽

Impact Evaluation ◽

West Bengal ◽

Safe Drinking Water ◽

Water Sector ◽

Improvement Project ◽

Project Completion ◽

The Government ◽

The Impact ◽

North And South

Access to safe drinking water is a fundamental right of people. The West Bengal Drinking Water Sector Improvement Project is assisting the Government of West Bengal to provide safe, sustainable, and inclusive drinking water services to over 1.65 million people in the arsenic, fluoride, and salinity-affected areas of Bankura, North and South 24 Parganas, and Purba Medinipur districts. This publication sets the baseline of the project by providing the benchmark comparison of primary outcomes for the project and non-project households, before implementation, so that an impact evaluation can be carried out at project completion.

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Nanoadsorbants for the Removal of Heavy Metals from Contaminated Water: Current Scenario and Future Directions

Processes ◽

10.3390/pr9081379 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (8) ◽

pp. 1379

Author(s):

Rohit Kumar ◽

Protima Rauwel ◽

Erwan Rauwel

Keyword(s):

Heavy Metals ◽

Cost Effective ◽

Water Current ◽

Contaminated Water ◽

Metallic Ions ◽

Future Directions ◽

The Past ◽

Commercial Scale ◽

Removal Of Heavy Metals ◽

Current Scenario

Heavy metal pollution of aquatic media has grown significantly over the past few decades. Therefore, a number of physical, chemical, biological, and electrochemical technologies are being employed to tackle this problem. However, they possess various inescapable shortcomings curbing their utilization at a commercial scale. In this regard, nanotechnology has provided efficient and cost-effective solutions for the extraction of heavy metals from water. This review will provide a detailed overview on the efficiency and applicability of various adsorbents, i.e., carbon nanotubes, graphene, silica, zero-valent iron, and magnetic nanoparticles for scavenging metallic ions. These nanoparticles exhibit potential to be used in extracting a variety of toxic metals. Recently, nanomaterial-assisted bioelectrochemical removal of heavy metals has also emerged. To that end, various nanoparticle-based electrodes are being developed, offering more efficient, cost-effective, ecofriendly, and sustainable options. In addition, the promising perspectives of nanomaterials in environmental applications are also discussed in this paper and potential directions for future works are suggested.

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Groundwater Arsenic in India: Source, Distribution, Effects and Alternate Safe Drinking Water Sources☆

Reference Module in Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences ◽

10.1016/b978-0-12-409548-9.09342-8 ◽

2015 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

P. Bhattacharya ◽

A. Mukherjee ◽

A.B.. Mukherjee

Keyword(s):

Drinking Water ◽

Water Sources ◽

Source Distribution ◽

Safe Drinking Water ◽

Drinking Water Sources ◽

Groundwater Arsenic

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Increased information on waterborne outbreaks through efficient notification system enforces actions towards safe drinking water

Journal of Water and Health ◽

10.2166/wh.2011.021 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 9 (4) ◽

pp. 763-772 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Outi Zacheus ◽

Ilkka T. Miettinen

Keyword(s):

Drinking Water ◽

Outbreak Detection ◽

Safe Drinking Water ◽

Notification System ◽

The Past ◽

Health Target ◽

Policy Measures ◽

Private Wells ◽

Compulsory Notification

In 1997, a compulsory notification system for waterborne outbreaks was introduced in Finland. The main aim of this notification is to obtain immediate information on suspected waterborne outbreaks in order to restrict and manage the outbreak promptly. During the past ten years, there have been 67 waterborne outbreaks in Finland, mainly associated with small groundwater supplies or private wells. The number of reported waterborne outbreaks has increased since the launch of the notification system indicating that the threshold limit of outbreak detection has most probably decreased. The number of cases of illness has fulfilled the national health target, which is below 0.01% of the population, but more action is still needed to ensure the production of safe drinking water under all circumstances. Ten years accumulation of knowledge on outbreaks has revealed that a compulsory notification system is an effective tool to gather information on waterborne outbreaks. The system has also increased awareness of possible problems related to the quality of drinking water. This article summarises management and legislative actions and policy measures taken so far in Finland to reduce the number of outbreaks and cases of illness related to them.

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Efficacy of Flushing and Chlorination in Removing Microorganisms from a Pilot Drinking Water Distribution System

Water ◽

10.3390/w11050903 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (5) ◽

pp. 903 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Nikki van Bel ◽

Luc M. Hornstra ◽

Anita van der Veen ◽

Gertjan Medema

Keyword(s):

Drinking Water ◽

Distribution System ◽

Water Distribution ◽

Control Measure ◽

Contaminated Water ◽

Safe Drinking Water ◽

E Coli ◽

Drinking Water Distribution ◽

Boil Water Advisories ◽

Contamination Events

To ensure delivery of microbiologically safe drinking water, the physical integrity of the distribution system is an important control measure. During repair works or an incident the drinking water pipe is open and microbiologically contaminated water or soil may enter. Before taking the pipe back into service it must be cleaned. The efficacy of flushing and shock chlorination was tested using a model pipe-loop system with a natural or cultured biofilm to which a microbial contamination (Escherichia coli, Clostridium perfringens spores and phiX174) was added. On average, flushing removed 1.5–2.7 log microorganisms from the water, but not the biofilm. In addition, sand added to the system was not completely removed. Flushing velocity (0.3 or 1.5 m/s) did not affect the efficacy. Shock chlorination (10 mg/L, 1–24 h) was very effective against E. coli and phiX174, but C. perfringens spores were partly resistant. Chlorination was slightly more effective in pipes with a natural compared to a cultured biofilm. Flushing alone is thus not sufficient after high risk repair works or incidents, and shock chlorination should be considered to remove microorganisms to ensure microbiologically safe drinking water. Prevention via hygienic working procedures, localizing and isolating the contamination source and issuing boil water advisories remain important, especially during confirmed contamination events.

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