Arsenicosis and deteriorating groundwater quality: Unfolding crisis in central-east Indian region

We report here the appearance of arsenic and chemical extent of the deterio ration in groundwater quality of the Rajnandgaon district of MP. Out of the 390 samples we analysed, 26 sites were found to be contaminated with arsen ic. Total arsenic concentration obtained in the analyses ranged between 0.0 1 and 1.01 mg/l, Statistical analysis shows that the mean concentration of arsenic is about 0.35 mg/l in the village Koudikasa. Our survey shows that about 400 people (30 % of the population) are affected and about 130 people are critically affected by arsenic poisoning in a single village. The numb er of people at risk is about 10,000. The symptoms observed and the age dis tribution of patients are also presented. Studies on arsenic have shown nei ther a strong positive correlation with iron concentration nor a strong neg ative correlation with pH. These results testify the urgent need to study t he source profile and the geo-chemical reactions responsible for the occurr ence of arsenic.