ARSENIC POLLUTION IN

DRINKING WATER

NAME -: Anjali Pandey

C.U. REG. NO. -: 235-1221-0579-16
C.U. ROLL NO. -:

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to convey my regards to the principal mam DR.

MOUSUMI SINGH SENGUPTA for providing me with all
the facility that was required.

I would like to extend my regards to the departmental head

DR. ASIT KUMAR MONDAL, to all the other teachers, my
family and friends for supporting me.

I would like to express my gratitude to my subject teacher

PROF. ANANYA KUNDU DEY. In the guidance of her the
project has been done.

Signature of the candidate

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 CONTENT

Serial Topic Name Page no.

no.
1. Abstract

2. Introduction

3. Objective of study

4. Study area

5. Methodology

6. Result and Discussion

7. Conclusion

8. Bibliography

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 ABSTRACT
The word Arsenic is always alarming to us. It is nothing but a
prejudiced view. If we take arsenic through drinking water or
in other forms, it is not always injurious to health. It is a
matter of lookout weather its intake is within or beyond the
danger level. All of us should be aware of the value of danger
level. The present study deals with to create consciousness
among the people in respect of danger level of arsenic in
drinking water, sources, impacts of arsenic pollution and to
create awareness among rural people about preventive
measures to arsenic pollution. The sample consist of
100(N=100) people of different families gathered by
Situational Sampling Technique from different arsenic prone
rural areas of Habra Block, North 24 Parganas West Bengal,
India. The findings reveals that a large portion of the areas of
North 24 Parganas, is dominated by arsenic pollution and
people suffer from arsenic-stricken diseases because of their
ignorance and lack of awareness regarding arsenic pollution
and its impact on Human Health. Some measures should be
taken to generate awareness among general people from
government, semi-government organizations, NGOs and other
individual and collective efforts. Further studies are necessary
in this regard.

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 INTRODUCTION
Arsenic-
Arsenic is a natural element which behaves like a metal. It is present
in the environment both naturally and due to certain human activities.
Humans may be exposed to arsenic mainly through food and water,
particularly in certain areas where the groundwater is in contact with
arsenic- containing minerals.

Forms of Arsenic-
Arsenic can be found in two types-
i. Organic Arsenic
ii. Inorganic Arsenic

Organic form of arsenic are the forms that have been associated
with short term health effects while Inorganic type of arsenic are
associated with long term health effect.
Organic arsenic has at least one carbon atom while inorganic
arsenic does not have any carbon atom.
Organic and Inorganic form of arsenic are together called as Total
Arsenic.

Source of Arsenic in Drinking Water

Arsenic contamination in drinking water can result either from natural
activities or human activities. Arsenic is an element that occurs
naturally in rocks, soils, water, air, plants and animals. Volcanic,
rocks erosion, forest fire are some natural resources that can release
arsenic into the environment.

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Arsenic Pollution
Arsenic is that pollution which is often due to naturally occurring high
concentrations of arsenic in deeper levels of groundwater. It is
commonly found problem due to the use of deep tube wells for water
supply in the Ganga.
Arsenic contamination of groundwater is found in many countries
throughout the world.

Environmental impact of arsenic pollution

Water and land –living plants and animals show a wide range of
sensitivities to different forms of arsenic. In general, inorganic forms
of arsenic are more toxic to the environment than organic forms and,
among inorganic forms, arsenide is more toxic than arsenate. The
reason why arsenide is toxic is thought to be because it binds to
particular chemical groups such as sulfhydryl groups which is found
on proteins. Whereas, arsenate affects the key energy producing
process that take place in all cells.
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Arsenic compounds can cause short term and long term effects in
individual plants and animals. The nature of effects depends on
species and time of exposure. Environments contaminated with
arsenic contain only a few species and fewer numbers within species.

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 OBJECTIVE OF STUDY
From the above scenario it is proved that arsenic pollution is a global
crisis. The greatest threat to public health from arsenic comes from
drinking water. People from almost all over the world are exposed at
risk of health effect from arsenic for prolonged period. The
consumption of arsenic from water having low concentration of
inorganic arsenic results into several chronic effects like melanosis,
cancer etc.
More than 50million people are living under threatened condition in
Ganga-Brahmaputra delta plain. In this region West Bengal and
Bangladesh are severely affected. Almost nine regions of West
Bengal are polluted with arsenic in soil and water. People ingested
arsenic contaminated water are exposed to several health diseases.
Although it is reported that arsenic seems to be a cancer
promoter than a cancer initiator, in many cases chronic arsenicosis
lead to death.
Considering above facts the major objectives of the study are:
1. Assessment of distribution of arsenic level in irrigation water in
irrigation water.
2. Determinants of total daily arsenic intake though drinking water.
3. Arsenic intake through water in --------- consecutive years.

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 STUDY AREA
The geographical boundary of Nadia district comprises Bangladesh in
the East, Bardhaman and Hugli district on the West,Murshidabad
district on the North and North West and North 24 Parganas towards
South and South East. Situated on the main rail route connecting
Howrah/Kolkata and New Jalpaiguri(NJP) including parts of North
Eastern states, the Nadia district can easily be accessed by rail. The
major railway stations are Nabadwip Dham,Ranaghat and others with
regular trains to Kolkata/Howrah/NJP/Guwahati. Bifurcated by
National Highway-34 on the North and East, the district can also be
accessed by road from other parts of the country. The Tropic of
Cancer divides the district in two parts.

Methodology
Arsenic in groundwater is found out in two different forms:
Arsenate (As(V)) and arsenite (As(III)). Arsenite in
comparison is more harmful than arsenate. Different
methodologies are there for their treatment. In the present
study coagulation and adsorption techniques are applied for
eliminating arsenic. A few hybrid materials namely: Activated
Charcoal with Ferric Chloride, Hardened Paste of Portland
Cement, Coarse Calcite with Hydrous Ferric Sulphate were
used efficiently to eliminate arsenic from the prepared sample.

Activated carbon-Activated charcoal or activated carbon or

simply charcoal is a typical form of carbon which is prepared
by burning of coal or organic matter like animal bones or
coconut shells in controlled conditions. Due to this action
millions of tiny pores get cased in between the carbon atoms
and it also increases the surface area (per unit mass) of the

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charcoal, which lies in the range from 500 to 1600 m2 per
gram. The increased surface area of the activated charcoal
makes it suitable for adsorption, process by which impureness
in substances such as liquid or gases are removed. Impure
molecules get stick to inside to the internal pores of carbon
through chemisorption or electrostatic attraction.

Methodology to use activated carbon as an adsorbent –

I. A sample of 0.05ppm (500mL) Arsenic solution was
prepared
II. Activated carbon along with Ferric Chloride was used as
adsorbent.
III. 22g of activates carbon was passed through 400 mesh size,
out of which approximately 4 to 4.5g got retained and rest
passed.
IV. 650 ml of 0.05M FeCl3 was prepared in the acidic
medium.
V. Approximately 17-17.5g of AC, which retained on the
mesh, was boiled in 1M HNO3 for 2 hours at 100oC.
VI. Subsequently to dry up the charcoal the above solution of
activated carbon (AC) with HNO3 was kept in the oven for a
complete day.
VII. The dried mass of activated carbon weighed 14.5g.
VIII. Four samples were prepared; for each sample 3.5g of
AC was added to 150mL of 0.05M FeCl3.
IX. Forced Hydrolysis was next carried out on each of the
four samples at 100oC for 1h, 3h, 6h and 24h respectively.
X. Afterwards the pH(s) of all the samples were made neutral
by adding HCl and NaOH.

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XI. These samples were dried overnight in the hot air oven at
80oC.
XII. Now the activated carbon is ready for the
implementation.
XIII. From each sample, 3g of AC was added per 100mL of
0.05ppm As solution.
XIV. Potassium Iodide (10%) and HCl (10%) (by volume)
were also added to each of the samples. XV. Each sample was
kept on the mechanical shaker for 45 minutes and 40oC and
stirred at 240rpm.
XVI. The solution was passed through 6μm filter paper.
XVII. For the quantification and efficiency of arsenic
removal, the filtered samples were analysed by using
AAnalyst 200 Atomic Absorption Spectrometer at λ =
193.7nm, silt = 0.7, argon flow = 50mL/m and pump velocity
= 120 rpm.
XVIII. For each of the four samples, two readings were taken
and the average of those two was reported as the final
concentration.

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 CONCLUSION
The addition of ferric chloride with activated carbon suffices
the elimination of arsenic. Forced hydrolysis increases the
iron content of activated charcoal. In the present study, the
deposition of iron content was obtained in the range of 1.5 to
9.4 percent by weight. Concentration of deposited iron
upsurges with hydrolysis period. It was pointed out that higher
the concentration of iron content within the AC- higher is the
elimination of arsenic. But for the iron doped activated
carbon, whose hydrolysis period was 24h, arsenic deposition
was very low. This phenomenon is possibly due to the
presence of cluster of iron hydroxides nanoparticles, which
once get hydrated hinders and even prevents diffusion of
(As(V)) ions on activated carbon grains.
DIFFRENCE BETWEEN 2011 AND 2019:

SL.NO BASIS OF 2011 2019

DIFFRENCIATION
1 POPULATION 48.50 51.96
2 Child propotions(0- 10.78% 12.36%
6)
3 LITERACY rate 73.31 76.83
4 Sex 939 950
ration(1000)males
5 Proportion’s to west 5.31 6.16
bengal population

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 Bibliography
Sources from were references has been taken are as follows-
 From last survey of census.
 www.images of howrah arsenic pollution
 From the newspaper of telegraph, times of india,and
economics time.
 From the teachers those are related to this field of subject
matters.
 Lastly from the books of economic growing and friends
of mine.

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