Baig Jameel Ahmed, Kazi Tasneem Gul, Arain Muhammad Balal, Afridi Hassan Imran, Kandhro Ghulam Abbas, Sarfraz Raja Adil, Jamal Muhammad Khan, Shah Abdul Qadir
National Center of Excellence in Analytical Chemistry, University of Sindh, Jamshoro 76080, Pakistan.
J Hazard Mater. 2009 Jul 30;166(2-3):662-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2008.11.069. Epub 2008 Nov 28.
Arsenic contamination in water has caused severe health problems around the world. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the geological and anthropogenic aspects of As pollution in surface and groundwater resources of Jamshoro Sindh, Pakistan. Hydride generator atomic absorption spectrophotometry (HG-AAS) is employed for the determination of arsenic in water samples, with detection limit of 0.02 microg l(-1). Arsenic concentrations in surface and underground water range from 3.0 to 50.0, and 13 to 106 microg l(-1), respectively. In most of the water samples As levels exceeded the WHO provisional guideline values 10 microg l(-1). The high level of As in under study area may be due to widespread water logging from Indus river irrigation system which causes high saturation of salts in this semi-arid region and lead to enrichment of As in shallow groundwater. Among the physico-chemical parameters, electrical conductivity, Na(+), K(+), and SO(4)(2-) were found to be higher in surface and ground water, while elevated levels of Ca(2+) and Cl(-) were detected only in ground water than WHO permissible limit. The high level of iron was observed in ground water, which is a possible source of As enrichment in the study area. The multivariate technique (cluster analysis) was used for the elucidation of high, medium and low As contaminated areas. It may be concluded that As originate from coal combustion at brick factories and power generation plants, and it was mobilized promotionally by the alkaline nature of the understudy groundwater samples.
水中的砷污染已在全球范围内引发了严重的健康问题。本研究的目的是评估巴基斯坦信德省詹谢罗地表水和地下水资源中砷污染的地质和人为因素。采用氢化物发生原子吸收分光光度法（HG-AAS）测定水样中的砷，检测限为0.02微克/升。地表水和地下水中的砷浓度分别为3.0至50.0微克/升和13至106微克/升。在大多数水样中，砷含量超过了世界卫生组织10微克/升的临时指导值。研究区域内砷含量高可能是由于印度河灌溉系统导致的大面积积水，这使得该半干旱地区盐分高度饱和，进而导致浅层地下水中砷含量富集。在理化参数中，地表水和地下水中的电导率、钠离子、钾离子和硫酸根离子含量较高，而仅在地下水中检测到钙离子和氯离子含量高于世界卫生组织的允许限值。地下水中铁含量较高，这可能是研究区域内砷富集的一个来源。采用多元技术（聚类分析）来阐明高、中、低砷污染区域。可以得出结论，砷源自砖厂和发电厂的煤炭燃烧，并且由于所研究的地下水样品的碱性性质而被促进迁移。
