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Arsenic, Fluoride and Emerging Contaminants: Groundwater Quality and Water Security...
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Arsenic, Fluoride and Emerging Contaminants: Groundwater Quality and Water Security in the Indian Sub-Continent

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Water Use and Scarcity".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 October 2022) | Viewed by 13262

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. David Polya

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Earth Sciences, School of Natural Sciences and Williamson Research Centre for Molecular Environmental Science, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9L, UK
Interests: environmental geochemistry; analytical geochemistry; exposure science; modelling health risks
Prof. Sudhakar Rao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560012, India
Interests: surface and groundwater quality; remedation of contaminated water; engineering behaviour of unsaturated soils; hazardous waste management; fluoride; organic contaminants
Prof. Saugata Datta

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Weldon W. Hammond, Jr. Endowed Distinguished Professor, Department of Geological Sciences & Director, Institute for Water Research, Sustainability and Policy (IWRSP), The University of Texas at San Antonio, TX 78249, USA
Interests: chemical and physical hydrology; aqueous geochemistry; contaminant hydrology; biogeochemical and hydrological modeling of surface-water-groundwater interactions in hyporheic zones
Dr. Devanita Ghosh

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Laboratory of Biogeochem-mystery, Centre for Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560012, India
Interests: biogeochemistry; organic geochemical proxies; environmental microbiology; water contamination
Dr. Laura Richards

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Earth Sciences, School of Natural Sciences and Williamson Research Centre for Molecular Environmental Science, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9L, UK
Interests: groundwater quality; remediation/mitigation; geogenic contaminants; emerging contaminants; water safety planning

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Water security is a critical issue globally and particularly for countries on the Indian sub-continent. Many of the challenges being addressed relate to water supply and water quantity, but with an increasing reliance on groundwater for both drinking water and agriculture, water quality is also a critical aspect of this challenge, as well as being identified as a key Sustainable Development Goal. Groundwaters in the Indian sub-continent have been variably impacted by geogenic arsenic, fluoride and uranium as well as, particularly in shallow aquifers, by anthropogenic pollutants, notably emerging contaminants such as pharmaceuticals, lifestyle-related chemicals and antimicrobial resistance genes. This Special Issue will focus on all aspects of groundwater quality in the Indian sub-continent and how it impacts water security—these aspects include origin, distribution and distribution modelling, human exposure, modelling health and economic risks, and remediation/mitigation. Articles related to governance and systems approaches to groundwater management in relation to water quality and water security in the Indian sub-continent are particularly welcomed.

Prof. Dr. David Polya
Prof. Sudhakar Rao
Prof. Saugata Datta
Dr. Devanita Ghosh
Dr. Laura Richards
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • water security
  • groundwater
  • arsenic
  • fluoride
  • emerging contaminants
  • India
  • Pakistan
  • Bangladesh
  • Sri Lanka
  • Nepal

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

26 pages, 7186 KiB  
Article
Arsenate Removal from the Groundwater Employing Maghemite Nanoparticles
by Ajay Kumar, Himanshu Joshi and Anil Kumar
Water 2022, 14(22), 3617; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w14223617 - 10 Nov 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1726
Abstract
An investigation of the potential of γ-Fe2O3 (maghemite) nanoparticles (MNPs) to remove AsV from groundwater is reported. The MNPs were synthesized using a modified co-precipitation method via refluxing. The morphological and surface characteristics of MNPs were analyzed using XRD, [...] Read more.
An investigation of the potential of γ-Fe2O3 (maghemite) nanoparticles (MNPs) to remove AsV from groundwater is reported. The MNPs were synthesized using a modified co-precipitation method via refluxing. The morphological and surface characteristics of MNPs were analyzed using XRD, FTIR, SEM, TEM, and Zetasizer techniques. Their AsV removal potential was explored in synthetic water representing the elemental composition equivalent to arsenic-contaminated groundwater of the Ballia district, Uttar Pradesh, India. The arsenic concentration in the samples collected from the study area was observed to be much more than the provisional WHO guideline value for drinking water (10 µg L−1). An orthogonal array L27 (313) of the Taguchi design of experimental methodology was employed to design the experiments and optimization of AsV removal. The ANN tool was trained to evaluate Taguchi’s outcomes using MATLAB. The percentage of ionic species distribution and surface complexation modeling was performed using Visual MINTEQ. The study explored the effects of pH, temperature, contact time, adsorbent dose, total dissolved solids, and shaking speed on the removal process. The adsorption was found to occur through electrostatic interactions. The inter-parametric analysis demonstrated the involvement of secondary sites affecting the adsorption. The charge distribution multi-sites complexation (CD-MUSIC) model and 2pk-Three-Plane-Model (TPM) indicated the involvement of the reactivity of singlet (FeOH−0.5) and triplet (Fe3O−0.5) species in the examined pH range. The developed nanoparticles are observed to be efficient in AsV removal. This information could benefit field-scale arsenic removal units. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Arsenic, Fluoride and Emerging Contaminants: Groundwater Quality and Water Security in the Indian Sub-Continent)
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24 pages, 7875 KiB  
Article
Controls on Groundwater Fluoride Contamination in Eastern Parts of India: Insights from Unsaturated Zone Fluoride Profiles and AI-Based Modeling
by David Anand Aind, Pragnaditya Malakar, Soumyajit Sarkar and Abhijit Mukherjee
Water 2022, 14(20), 3220; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w14203220 - 13 Oct 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1971
Abstract
Groundwater fluoride (F) occurrence and mobilization are controlled by geotectonic, climate, and anthropogenic activities, such as land use and pumping. This study delineates the occurrence and mobilization of F in groundwater in a semi-arid environment using groundwater, and an artificial intelligence model. The [...] Read more.
Groundwater fluoride (F) occurrence and mobilization are controlled by geotectonic, climate, and anthropogenic activities, such as land use and pumping. This study delineates the occurrence and mobilization of F in groundwater in a semi-arid environment using groundwater, and an artificial intelligence model. The model predicts climate, soil type, and geotectonic as major predictors of F occurrence. We also present unsaturated zone F inventory, elemental compositions, and mineralogy from 25 boreholes in agricultural, forest, and grasslands from three different land use terrains in the study area to establish linkages with the occurrence of groundwater F. Normalized unsaturated zone F inventory was the highest in the area underlain by the granitic–gneissic complex (261 kg/ha/m), followed by residual soils (216 kg/ha/m), and Pleistocene alluvial deposits (78 kg/ha/m). The results indicate that the unsaturated zone mineralogy has greater control over F mobilization into the groundwater than unsaturated zone F inventory and land-use patterns. The presence of clay minerals, calcite, and Fe, Al hydroxides beneath the residual soils strongly retain unsaturated zone F compared with the subsurface beneath Pleistocene alluvial deposits, where the absence of these minerals results in enhanced leaching of unsaturated zone F. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Arsenic, Fluoride and Emerging Contaminants: Groundwater Quality and Water Security in the Indian Sub-Continent)
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23 pages, 5009 KiB  
Article
Prediction of Groundwater Arsenic Hazard Employing Geostatistical Modelling for the Ganga Basin, India
by Sana Dhamija and Himanshu Joshi
Water 2022, 14(15), 2440; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w14152440 - 06 Aug 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2565
Abstract
Elevated arsenic concentrations in groundwater in the Ganga–Brahmaputra–Meghna (GBM) river basin of India has created an alarming situation. Considering that India is one of the largest consumers of groundwater for a variety of uses such as drinking, irrigation, and industry, it is imperative [...] Read more.
Elevated arsenic concentrations in groundwater in the Ganga–Brahmaputra–Meghna (GBM) river basin of India has created an alarming situation. Considering that India is one of the largest consumers of groundwater for a variety of uses such as drinking, irrigation, and industry, it is imperative to determine arsenic occurrence and hazard for sustainable groundwater management. The current study focused on the evaluation of arsenic occurrence and groundwater arsenic hazard for the Ganga basin employing Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Frequency Ratio (FR) models. Furthermore, arsenic hazard maps were prepared using a Kriging interpolation method and with overlay analysis in the GIS platform based on the available secondary datasets. Both models generated satisfactory results with minimum differences. The highest hazard likelihood has been displayed around and along the Ganges River. Most of the Uttar Pradesh and Bihar; and parts of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, and eastern and western regions of West Bengal show a high arsenic hazard. More discrete results were rendered by the AHP model. Validation of arsenic hazard maps was performed through evaluating the Area Under Receiver Operating Characteristics metric (AUROC), where AUC values for both models ranged from 0.7 to 0.8. Furthermore, the final output was also validated against the primary arsenic data generated through field sampling for the districts of two states, viz Bihar (2019) and Uttar Pradesh (2021). Both models showed good accuracy in the spatial prediction of arsenic hazard. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Arsenic, Fluoride and Emerging Contaminants: Groundwater Quality and Water Security in the Indian Sub-Continent)
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19 pages, 21301 KiB  
Article
Neural Network and Random Forest-Based Analyses of the Performance of Community Drinking Water Arsenic Treatment Plants
by Animesh Bhattacharya, Saswata Sahu, Venkatesh Telu, Srimanti Duttagupta, Soumyajit Sarkar, Jayanta Bhattacharya, Abhijit Mukherjee and Partha Sarathi Ghosal
Water 2021, 13(24), 3507; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w13243507 - 08 Dec 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2503
Abstract
A plethora of technologies has been developed over decades of extensive research on arsenic remediation, although the technical and financial perspective of arsenic removal plants in the field requires critical evaluation. In the present study, focusing on some of the pronounced arsenic-affected areas [...] Read more.
A plethora of technologies has been developed over decades of extensive research on arsenic remediation, although the technical and financial perspective of arsenic removal plants in the field requires critical evaluation. In the present study, focusing on some of the pronounced arsenic-affected areas in West Bengal, India, we assessed the implementation and operation of different arsenic removal technologies using a dataset of 4000 spatio-temporal data collected from an in-depth field survey of 136 arsenic removal plants engaged in the public water supply. Our statistical analysis of this dataset indicates a 120% rise in the average cumulative capacity of the plants during 2014–2021. The majorities of the plants are based on the activated alumina with FeCl3 technology and serve about 49% of the population in the study area. The average cost of water production for the activated alumina with FeCl3 technology was found to be ₹7.56/m3 (USD $1 ≈ INR ₹70), while the lowest was ₹0.39/m3 for granular ferric hydroxide technology. A machine learning-based framework was employed to analyze the impact of water quality and treatment plant parameters on the removal efficiency, capital, and operational cost of the plants. The artificial neural network model exhibited adequate statistical significance, with a high F-value and R2 of 5830.94 and 0.72 for the capital cost model, 136,954, and 0.98 for the operational cost model, respectively. The relative importance of the process variables was identified through random forest models. The models indicated that flow rate, media, and chemicals are the predominant costs, while contaminant loading in influent water and a coagulating agent was important for removal efficiency. The established framework may be instrumental as a decision-making tool for water providers to assess the expected performance and financial involvement for proposed or ongoing arsenic removal plants concerning various design and quality parameters. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Arsenic, Fluoride and Emerging Contaminants: Groundwater Quality and Water Security in the Indian Sub-Continent)
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16 pages, 6258 KiB  
Article
Groundwater Arsenic-Attributable Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) Mortality Risks in India
by Ruohan Wu, Lingqian Xu and David A. Polya
Water 2021, 13(16), 2232; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w13162232 - 17 Aug 2021
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2763
Abstract
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) have been recognized as the most serious non-carcinogenic detrimental health outcome arising from chronic exposure to arsenic. Drinking arsenic contaminated groundwaters is a critical and common exposure pathway for arsenic, notably in India and other countries in the circum-Himalayan region. [...] Read more.
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) have been recognized as the most serious non-carcinogenic detrimental health outcome arising from chronic exposure to arsenic. Drinking arsenic contaminated groundwaters is a critical and common exposure pathway for arsenic, notably in India and other countries in the circum-Himalayan region. Notwithstanding this, there has hitherto been a dearth of data on the likely impacts of this exposure on CVD in India. In this study, CVD mortality risks arising from drinking groundwater with high arsenic (>10 μg/L) in India and its constituent states, territories, and districts were quantified using the population-attributable fraction (PAF) approach. Using a novel pseudo-contouring approach, we estimate that between 58 and 64 million people are exposed to arsenic exceeding 10 μg/L in groundwater-derived drinking water in India. On an all-India basis, we estimate that 0.3–0.6% of CVD mortality is attributable to exposure to high arsenic groundwaters, corresponding to annual avoidable premature CVD-related deaths attributable to chronic exposure to groundwater arsenic in India of between around 6500 and 13,000. Based on the reported reduction in life of 12 to 28 years per death due to heart disease, we calculate value of statistical life (VSL) based annual costs to India of arsenic-attributable CVD mortality of between USD 750 million and USD 3400 million. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Arsenic, Fluoride and Emerging Contaminants: Groundwater Quality and Water Security in the Indian Sub-Continent)
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