Detection and Mapping of Arsenic Contamination in Bangladesh

Abstract

— Arsenic contamination in the groundwater of Bangladesh is of major concern due to the high reliance on groundwater for drinking water, large levels of groundwater extraction for agricultural purposes and the impact of climate change depleting the groundwater table. Although the Sitakunda Distract was earlier considered to be free from Arsenic contamination, recent experimental data shows the Sitakunda District has high Arsenic concentrations. The objective of this work was to identify the Arsenic affected wells in the Sitakunda District, Chittagong, map them in QGIS mapping software and updated Bing imagery using GPS coordinates from GPS Devices and to explore the potential relationship between the present data with past data. The Sitakunda District region wells examined in this study determined the Arsenic concentration to be in the range of 100-500+ ppb which is much higher than the World Health Organization limits (10 ppb) and Bangladesh limit (50ppb). The generated maps in QGIS showed the randomly selected tested tubewells with satellite imagery and their corresponding elevation, yet no precise correlation between Arsenic contamination and land elevation was determined. The results of this study and corresponding satellite map has the potential to identify Arsenic contaminated tubewells for the community members. Future investigations will explore the development of suitable low-cost water treatment technologies to remove the Arsenic contamination.