Arsenic in food chain and ground water & its mitigation options with particular emphasis in West Bengal
Aritra SahaAnd
Dr. Pabitra Kr. Mani
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY AND SOIL SCIENCEFACULTY OF AGRICULTURE
BIDHAN CHANDRA KRISHI VISWAVIDYALAYA
Arsenic contaminationWorst calamity in the world
An overview• 1st reported in our country- 1983(Garai et al.)
• Most acute arsenic contaminated site of World- Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna basin(> 4000 µg/L, Rahman et al. 2006)
• Area under As contaminated zone in W.B.- 88750 km2 including 79 blocks of different districts.
• Area under Highly As contaminated zone in W.B- 38,861 km2 (Nadia, Murshidabad, N & S 24 pargana, Kolkata) (Chakraborti et al., 2009)
• 98% of affected public tube wells in the State are having maximum Arsenic concentration of 0.5 mg/l. (PHED, Govt. of W.B. & UNICEF, 1993)
(Source: National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee)
As- toxic metalloid Mostly present in sedimentary rocks (Shales, Carbonates, Sandstones). (Sanyal, 2014)
• Atomic no. 33
• copper(II) acetoarsenite, calcium arsenate, and lead hydrogen arsenate- herbicides, insecticides
• Orpiment (As2S3) and realgar (As4S4)- paint production
• Held by solid phases within the sediments, especially iron oxides(FeOOH), organic matter and sulphides.
• Crustal abundance- 2 ppm (Sanyal, 2014)
• Coal mining- 2000 ppm (Sanyal, 2014)
As con. in natural water
other than g. waterSource As(µg/L)
Rainwater and snow <0.002-0.59
Rivers 0.20-264
Lakes 0.38-1.00
Sea water 0.15-6.00
Ponds(WB) 4-70
Canals(WB) 40-150
Source: welch et al., (1988) & ICAR(2003)
Periodic Table of the Elements
As is a Group VA element (like N and P)
Guideline value• WHO (1993) permissible limit for drinking
purpose- 0.01 mg/L
• National standard for MAC- 0.05 mg/L ( WHO, 1971)
• Proposal by WHO in 2001- 0.001 mg/L
• PMTDI inorganic As- 0.002 mg/kg of body wt.(JECFA, 1983)
• PTWI inorganic As- 0.015 mg/kg of body wt.(FAO/WHO, 1989)
Extent of contamination in West BengalState Coverage Level of
contamination
citation
West Bengal
12 districts( Murshidabad, Maldah, Nadia, N & S 24 parganas, Burdwan, Howrah, Hooghly, Kolkata, Coochbehar, N. Dinajpur & S. Dinajpur), 111 blocks.
50-3700 µg/L http://www.soesju.org/arsenic/wb.htm
Source: Sanyal (2014)
Arsenic cycle in the environment
Chemistry & behaviour
In ground water:
• At pH 6-8 : H2AsVO4- and HAsVO4
2 (oxidized env. Eh = 0.2-0.5 V)
• H3AsIIIO3 (reduced condition. Eh = 0-0.1 V) (Saddiq et. al, 1997)
Chemistry & behaviour
In Soil: Arsenite and arsenate (inorganic) MMA acid , DMA acid, TMA acid (org.form) (on reduction) (anoxic cond.) Di/trimethyl arsine(AsH3)
Flooded cond. (Eh= 0-0.1 V, pH 6-8)
As acid sp. And arsenite oxyanions- H3AsO30, H2AsO4
-, HAsO42-, AsO4
3-
(Rochette et al., 1998; Sanyal, 1999).
Aerobic cond.
Under aerobic (oxidizing) conditions AsV predominates- As acid sp. and arsenate oxyanions (H3AsO4
0, H2AsO4-, HAsO4
2-, AsO43-) (Fitz and Wenzel, 2002; Takahashi et al., 2004).
Chemistry & behaviour
In Rhizosphere:
Micro-organisms oxidized rhizosphere
Precipitation of FeOOH (Fe plaques on root of wetland crops) ( Meharg et al. 2004)
Uptake in plants• AsV- high affinity PO4
- upatke system (Meharg, 2004)
• AsIII- aquaporins (water channels of roots) (Meharg, 2003)
• MMA & DMA –rice (but rate is slow than inorg. Form) (Abedin et al. 2002c)
*Mechanism of uptake of org. As – UNCLEAR *Prediction of As uptake- Impossible
Translocation & accumulation
• Roots to shoot- limited(except hyperaccumulators)
• Org As- readiliy translocated but uptake is lower than inorg. Sp. (Carbonell et al., 1998)
• Pot expt. Of rice( irrigated with As contaminated water)- root>straw>husk>grain. (Abedin et al., 2002a)
Metabolism in plant• AsV reduction AsIII (causing oxidative stress)
Anti-oxidants (Detoxification) (Hartley,2002)• Exposure to As III induces no such type of
mechanism• 70% of As in rice straw- AsV (Abedin et al.,
2002b)• AsV in plant- exposed to AsIII ( oxidation of AsIII
takes place) (Schmidt et al. 2004)
Sources of As in Ground water
Two hypotheses: Geogenic origin1.Oxidation of pyrite(FeS2) & solubilisation of As
FeS2 + 2H2O + 502 = FeSO4 + 2H2SO4
As liberated in aquifers (Mandal et. al, 1996)
2. Reduction of As rich FeOOH in anoxic(depleted dissolved O2) g.water (due to microbial oxidation of sedimentary organic matter, paddy cultivation, high WT) (Bhattacharya et. al., 1997)
Sources of As in food chain
Irrigation with As contaminated ground water
Soil (major sink in Agro-ecosystem)
Crop
Human Livestock Human
As in food-chainAs in Soil
(mg/kg)
As in Rice
As in Vegetables
(mg/kg)
Reference
11.35 0.245 <0.0004-0.693
Roychowdhury et al.(2002)
7.0-38.0 0.30 NA Norra et al.( 2005)
1.34-14.09
0.16-0.58 NA Bhattacharya et al.(2009)
5.70-9.71
0.334-0.451
0.030-0.654 Bhattacharya et al. (2010)
NA 0.156-0.194
0.069-0.78 Samal et al. (2011)
NA 0.01-0.64 0.03-0.35 Halder et al. (2012)
Several findings Rice (due to flooded cond. Where mobile As III presents in soil
water)- Takahashi et al.(2004)
As TF is more in rice (0.8)>wheat(0.1)- Xu et al. (2008)
root, shoot and leaf tissue of rice- inorganic AsIII and AsV
rice grain- DMA (85 to 94%) and As III (Smith et al.,2008, Liu et al.,2006).
Shoot root > root shoot (Bhattacharya et al. 2009)
Accumulation in boro rice> Aman rice (Bhattacharya et al. 2010b)
As level in daily consumption of rice- 0.08 mg/kg (Williams et al. 2006)
Several findings More in tuberous vegetables > leafy vegetables
Aurum(0.11- 3.49 ppm) Kalmi sak (0.09- 2.03ppm) (Samal et al. 2011)
Chilli- 0.114 ppm oil seed- 0.339 ppm – 0.373 ppm (Biswas et al. 2012)
Pulses- pea(1.3 ppm) & Mung bean (0.314 ppm) (Biswas et al. 2012)
90% of daily intake of As in farm animals of Nadia district- Feed< drinking water. (Sanyal, 1999)
Clinical ill effects• Melanosis• Leucomelanosis• Keratosis• Hyperkeratosis• Skin cancer• Oedema
• Nausea
• Anorexia• Chronic lung disease• Black foot disease
Mitigation options• Using Surface water Sources.
• Exploring and harnessing alternative arsenic free aquifer, if available.
• Removal of Arsenic from ground water using Arsenic treatment plants/filters.
• Rain Water harvesting.
Scientific technologies followed in removal of As from Ground water -
• Coagulation/ Co-precipitation(with Fe/Al salts)
• Adsorption(with Fe hydroxides & activated alumina)
• Sedimentation
• Ion exchange expensive
• Membrane/ Reverse osmosis
• Biological Treatment (Oxidation)
Various ARPsName Activity type Media used
RPM technology Adsorbant Activated aluminaWSI technology Ion exchange Bucket of resin
Pal trockner technology
Adsorbant AdsorpAS
Oxide India technology
Adsorbant Activated alumina
Apyron technology Adsorbant Activated aluminaSchool Of
fundamental research
Adsorption Al-silicate+Ferric hydroxide
AIIH & PH model Oxdn.+coagulation+floccul
ation+filtration
Chlorinated agent+Ferric alum
PHE dept., Govt. of WB model
Adsorption Red hematite+quartz+
sand activated alumina
Source : Technology Brochure on arsenic mitigation programme (by AIIHPH& SFR)
PhytoremediationHyperaccumulator plants
(phytoextraction, phytostabilization)
As in above ground partse.g. Pteris vittata (Brake fern), P. longifolia, P. umbrosa
Pteris genera – most efficient (Raskin, 2000) Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes)– 170- 340 µg As/dry wt.
(Low & Lee, 1990)
Pointed gourd (Trichosanthes dioica) (panda & Das, 2001)
Hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata) (Lee et al., 1991)
Elephant foot yam, green gram (ICAR, 2001)
Microbial remediationMicro-organism- AsV (e- acceptor) or AsIII (e- donor) (Joshi et al. 2009)
As tranforming genera- Pseudomonas, Rhizobium, Acinetobacter and Microbacterium (Paul et al., 2014)
Mitigation from Food chain
• Use of surface water (pond water) for irrigation- Safer altenative ( Giri et al., 2011).
• Use of rainwater collected in harvesting structure may be used. (Planning commission, 2007)
Mitigation from Food chain
Imposition of intermittent ponding during 16 to 40 DAT reduced the As content of straw, husked grain and unhusked grain respectively by 22, 33 and 36% with insignificant reduction in grain yield.(Sarkar et al., 2012)Table 3. Impact of deficit irrigation on arsenic load in soil and different parts of rice as well as yield of rice grain (As content of irrigation water 0.163 mg L-1) Irrigation regimes
As added, mg m-2 soil
Total As, mg Kg-1 Grain yield,
Mg ha-1Soil Straw Husked
GrainUnhusk
ed grain
CP 171.6 18.74 4.20 0.56 0.26 4.69IP 143.0 18.16 3.42 0.42 0.19 4.43
SAT 125.84 17.75 3.96 0.53 0.21 3.92AER 115.83 16.22 3.51 0.46 0.19 3.65
CD (p = 0.05)
1.98 0.13 0.08 0.04 0.03 0.65
Mitigation from Food chain
Recycling of crop residues, incorporation of organic manures to improve the soil organic matter stock and hence arsenic retention in the arsenic-affected soil. (Giri et al.)
Fig: Role of organics on percent share of As species in straw and grain of boro rice. (Sarkar et al., 2012)
Mitigation from Food chain
Application of Vermicompost & FYM. (Benik and Bhebaruah 2004).
Fig: Per cent reduction in grain arsenic content in rice (genotype Shatabdi) through organic amendments. (Sarkar et al. 2012)
Mitigation from Food chain
• Incorporation of inorganic amendments especially micronutrients like Zn, Fe, Si etc.
• Efficiency order- FeSO4 > ZnSO4 > CaSiO3 - regardless of growth stages of plant. (Giri et al., 2011).
• Application of silica (Bogdan and Schank,2008)
Mitigation from Food chain
Suitable Rice Varieties- khitish, Satabdi, Lalswarna As content of important rice genotypes of Nadia district
Variety As mg kg-1
ROOT STRAW GRAIN Nayanmoni 7.37 - 9.71 1.20 – 2.35 0.46 – 0.93 Gs-3 7.52 – 11.64 1.79 – 1.93 0.47 -0.68 Satabdi 7.26 – 9.52 1.22 – 1.64 0.43 – 0.61 Naraminikit 6.21 – 8.92 1.12 – 1.94 0.33 – 0.61 Khitish 6.49 – 8.42 1.02 – 1.65 0.38 -0.51 Lal swarna 6.94 – 9.36 1.18 – 2.30 0.22 – 0.48
(Sarkar et al.2012)
Mitigation from Food chain
Selection of appropriate site for rice cultivation
(Sarkar et al. 2012)
As load and grain yield of rice in different topo-sequences
Land situation
Total amount of irrigation,
mm
As content mg kg-1 Grain yield Mg ha-1
Straw Grain
Med-up land 1400
2.91 0.67 4.05
Medium land 950
2.63 0.51 5.13
Low land500
2.01 0.36 5.56
CD (P=0.05)
0.24 0.12 0.41
Govt. InitiativesTapping of arsenic free
deep aquifers for drinking water supply
(3rd aquifers or beyond) as found
uncontaminated.
Water supply schemes- surface waters and ground water after
treatment.
Development and application of Arsenic removal filters with
Hand Pumps on tubewells with sludge
disposal arrangement.
Change of cropping pattern resulting lesser consumption of ground
water.
Epidemiological, clinical and therapeutic studies.
Study on effects of Arsenic toxicity on
animals.
Study on impact of Arsenic laden ground water, on food chain.
Setting up of modern laboratories to test
samples of water on this parameter, of District and
State levels.
Conclusion
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.
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