Arsenic exposure in drinking water a growing health threat: Well testing in outskirts of Lahore to identify wells low in arsenic to mitigate the As crisis in Pakistan

摘要

For the first time blanket testing was done in 1818 wells from 10 villages along a transect line selected on the basis of an ongoing study in India. As was tested by Arsenic Econo-Quick (~(?)) (EQ) kit with 10% samples collected for quality control. 100% of the wells installed were untested. As concentrations in 82% of the samples exceeded the WHO guidelines (>10 μg/L) for drinking water. 42% of wells were save when compared with National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS) which is 50 μg/L. The mechanism of arsenic enrichment seems different form that of the other side of border on the basis of the basic parameters done in the study. The research is ongoing and approximately 40,000 wells will be tested along the two selected transect lines.