Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Environmental Health Perspectives logoLink to Environmental Health Perspectives
. 2003 Jul;111(9):1194–1201. doi: 10.1289/ehp.5966

Arsenic groundwater contamination in Middle Ganga Plain, Bihar, India: a future danger?

Dipankar Chakraborti 1, Subhash C Mukherjee 1, Shyamapada Pati 1, Mrinal K Sengupta 1, Mohammad M Rahman 1, Uttam K Chowdhury 1, Dilip Lodh 1, Chitta R Chanda 1, Anil K Chakraborti 1, Gautam K Basu 1
PMCID: PMC1241574  PMID: 12842773

Abstract

The pandemic of arsenic poisoning due to contaminated groundwater in West Bengal, India, and all of Bangladesh has been thought to be limited to the Ganges Delta (the Lower Ganga Plain), despite early survey reports of arsenic contamination in groundwater in the Union Territory of Chandigarh and its surroundings in the northwestern Upper Ganga Plain and recent findings in the Terai area of Nepal. Anecdotal reports of arsenical skin lesions in villagers led us to evaluate arsenic exposure and sequelae in the Semria Ojha Patti village in the Middle Ganga Plain, Bihar, where tube wells replaced dug wells about 20 years ago. Analyses of the arsenic content of 206 tube wells (95% of the total) showed that 56.8% exceeded arsenic concentrations of 50 micro g/L, with 19.9% > 300 micro g/L, the concentration predicting overt arsenical skin lesions. On medical examination of a self-selected sample of 550 (390 adults and 160 children), 13% of the adults and 6.3% of the children had typical skin lesions, an unusually high involvement for children, except in extreme exposures combined with malnutrition. The urine, hair, and nail concentrations of arsenic correlated significantly (r = 0.72-0.77) with drinking water arsenic concentrations up to 1,654 micro g/L. On neurologic examination, arsenic-typical neuropathy was diagnosed in 63% of the adults, a prevalence previously seen only in severe, subacute exposures. We also observed an apparent increase in fetal loss and premature delivery in the women with the highest concentrations of arsenic in their drinking water. The possibility of contaminated groundwater at other sites in the Middle and Upper Ganga Plain merits investigation.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (1,022.7 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Acharyya S. K., Chakraborty P., Lahiri S., Raymahashay B. C., Guha S., Bhowmik A. Arsenic poisoning in the Ganges delta. Nature. 1999 Oct 7;401(6753):545–547. doi: 10.1038/44052. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Ahmad S. A., Sayed M. H., Barua S., Khan M. H., Faruquee M. H., Jalil A., Hadi S. A., Talukder H. K. Arsenic in drinking water and pregnancy outcomes. Environ Health Perspect. 2001 Jun;109(6):629–631. doi: 10.1289/ehp.01109629. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Chakraborty A. K., Saha K. C. Arsenical dermatosis from tubewell water in West Bengal. Indian J Med Res. 1987 Mar;85:326–334. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Chowdhury T. R., Basu G. K., Mandal B. K., Biswas B. K., Samanta G., Chowdhury U. K., Chanda C. R., Lodh D., Roy S. L., Saha K. C. Arsenic poisoning in the Ganges delta. Nature. 1999 Oct 7;401(6753):545–547. doi: 10.1038/44056. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Chowdhury U. K., Biswas B. K., Chowdhury T. R., Samanta G., Mandal B. K., Basu G. C., Chanda C. R., Lodh D., Saha K. C., Mukherjee S. K. Groundwater arsenic contamination in Bangladesh and West Bengal, India. Environ Health Perspect. 2000 May;108(5):393–397. doi: 10.1289/ehp.00108393. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Concha G., Vogler G., Lezcano D., Nermell B., Vahter M. Exposure to inorganic arsenic metabolites during early human development. Toxicol Sci. 1998 Aug;44(2):185–190. doi: 10.1006/toxs.1998.2486. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Das D., Chatterjee A., Mandal B. K., Samanta G., Chakraborti D., Chanda B. Arsenic in ground water in six districts of West bengal, India: the biggest arsenic calamity in the world. Part 2. Arsenic concentration in drinking water, hair, nails, urine, skin-scale and liver tissue (biopsy) of the affected people. Analyst. 1995 Mar;120(3):917–924. doi: 10.1039/an9952000917. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Datta D. V., Kaul M. K. Arsenic content of drinking water in villages in Northern India. A concept of arsenicosis. J Assoc Physicians India. 1976 Sep;24(9):599–604. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Datta D. V. Letter: Arsenic and non-cirrhotic portal hypertension. Lancet. 1976 Feb 21;1(7956):433–433. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(76)90282-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Farmer J. G., Johnson L. R. Assessment of occupational exposure to inorganic arsenic based on urinary concentrations and speciation of arsenic. Br J Ind Med. 1990 May;47(5):342–348. doi: 10.1136/oem.47.5.342. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Feldman R. G., Niles C. A., Kelly-Hayes M., Sax D. S., Dixon W. J., Thompson D. J., Landau E. Peripheral neuropathy in arsenic smelter workers. Neurology. 1979 Jul;29(7):939–944. doi: 10.1212/wnl.29.7.939. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Galer B. S. Painful polyneuropathy. Neurol Clin. 1998 Nov;16(4):791–812. doi: 10.1016/s0733-8619(05)70098-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Garai R., Chakraborty A. K., Dey S. B., Saha K. C. Chronic arsenic poisoning from tube-well water. J Indian Med Assoc. 1984 Jan;82(1):34–35. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Kreiss K., Zack M. M., Landrigan P. J., Feldman R. G., Niles C. A., Chirico-Post J., Sax D. S., Boyd M. H., Cox D. H. Neurologic evaluation of a population exposed to arsenic in Alaskan well water. Arch Environ Health. 1983 Mar-Apr;38(2):116–121. doi: 10.1080/00039896.1983.10543990. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Mukherjee Subhash Chandra, Rahman Mohammad Mahmudur, Chowdhury Uttam Kumar, Sengupta Mrinal Kumar, Lodh Dilip, Chanda Chitta Ranjan, Saha Kshitish Chandra, Chakraborti Dipankar. Neuropathy in arsenic toxicity from groundwater arsenic contamination in West Bengal, India. J Environ Sci Health A Tox Hazard Subst Environ Eng. 2003 Jan;38(1):165–183. doi: 10.1081/ese-120016887. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Nickson R., McArthur J., Burgess W., Ahmed K. M., Ravenscroft P., Rahman M. Arsenic poisoning of Bangladesh groundwater. Nature. 1998 Sep 24;395(6700):338–338. doi: 10.1038/26387. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Rahman M. M., Chowdhury U. K., Mukherjee S. C., Mondal B. K., Paul K., Lodh D., Biswas B. K., Chanda C. R., Basu G. K., Saha K. C. Chronic arsenic toxicity in Bangladesh and West Bengal, India--a review and commentary. J Toxicol Clin Toxicol. 2001;39(7):683–700. doi: 10.1081/clt-100108509. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Saha K. C. Melanokeratosis from arsenic contaminated tubewell water. Indian J Dermatol. 1984 Oct;29(4):37–46. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Smith A. H., Lingas E. O., Rahman M. Contamination of drinking-water by arsenic in Bangladesh: a public health emergency. Bull World Health Organ. 2000;78(9):1093–1103. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Environmental Health Perspectives are provided here courtesy of National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

RESOURCES