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Arsenic hazard in shallow Cambodian groundwaters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

D. A. Polya ,
A. G. Gault ,
N. Diebe ,
P. Feldman ,
J. W. Rosenboom ,
E. Gilligan ,
D. Fredericks ,
A. H. Milton ,
M. Sampson  and
H. A. L. Rowland
...Show all authors
D. A. Polya*
Affiliation:
School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences & Williamson Research Centre for Molecular Environmental Science, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
A. G. Gault
Affiliation:
School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences & Williamson Research Centre for Molecular Environmental Science, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
N. Diebe
Affiliation:
School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences & Williamson Research Centre for Molecular Environmental Science, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
P. Feldman
Affiliation:
Plan-International, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
J. W. Rosenboom
Affiliation:
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
E. Gilligan
Affiliation:
AAH-UK, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
D. Fredericks
Affiliation:
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
A. H. Milton
Affiliation:
Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, The University of Newcastle, NSW 2300, Australia
M. Sampson
Affiliation:
RDIC, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
H. A. L. Rowland
Affiliation:
School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences & Williamson Research Centre for Molecular Environmental Science, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK Department of Mineralogy, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK
P. R. Lythgoe
Affiliation:
School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences & Williamson Research Centre for Molecular Environmental Science, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
J. C. Jones
Affiliation:
School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences & Williamson Research Centre for Molecular Environmental Science, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
C. Middleton
Affiliation:
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
D. A. Cooke
Affiliation:
School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences & Williamson Research Centre for Molecular Environmental Science, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
*
*E-mail: David.Polya@manchester.ac.uk
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Abstract

Our recent discovery of hazardous concentrations of arsenic in shallow sedimentary aquifers in Cambodia raises the spectre of future deleterious health impacts on a population that, particularly in non-urban areas, extensively use untreated groundwater as a source of drinking water and, in some instances, as irrigation water. We present here small-scale hazard maps for arsenic in shallow Cambodian groundwaters based on >1000 groundwater samples analysed in the Manchester Analytical Geochemistry Unit and elsewhere. Key indicators for hazardous concentrations of arsenic in Cambodian groundwaters include: (1) well depths greater than 16 m; (2) Holocene host sediments; and (3) proximity to major modern channels of the Mekong (and its distributary the Bassac). However, high-arsenic well waters are also commonly found in wells not exhibiting these key characteristics, notably in some shallower Holocene wells, and in wells drilled into older Quaternary and Neogene sediments.

It is emphasized that the maps and tables presented are most useful for identifying current regional trends in groundwater arsenic hazard and that their use for predicting arsenic concentrations in individual wells, for example for the purposes of well switching, is not recommended, particularly because of the lack of sufficient data (especially at depths >80 m) and because, as in Bangladesh and West Bengal, there is considerable heterogeneity of groundwater arsenic concentrations on a scale of metres to hundreds of metres. We have insufficient data at this time to determine unequivocally whether or not arsenic concentrations are increasing in shallow Cambodian groundwaters as a result of groundwater-abstraction activities.

Keywords

arsenicgroundwaterCambodiahazardgeochemistry
Type
Research Article
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 69 , Issue 5 , October 2005 , pp. 807 - 823
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2005

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