Assessment of arsenic exposure and its mitigation intervention in severely exposed population of Buxar district of Bihar, India

Objective The present study aims to carry out the assessment of arsenic contamination in groundwater samples along with the health status of the exposed population of Buxar district of Bihar. Methods In the present study, randomly 80 groundwater samples were collected from the handpumps across the village households. For the health assessment, blood samples from human subjects were collected from the same household to know the status of the arsenic contamination in their body and were analysed. Results The study showed significantly very high arsenic contamination in their handpumps as well as in the blood samples of the exposed subjects. The maximum arsenic concentration observed in the handpump water sample was 1908 μg/L, while in blood sample of an individual was 462.1 μg/L. Cancer in 12 subjects was also observed within 2 years. The mitigation intervention was carried out by installing an arsenic filter plant for this arsenic exposed village population. After one year of the usage of the installed arsenic filter, there was significant reduction in the disease symptoms in the exposed population. Conclusion The present study deciphers the groundwater status as well as the health status of the arsenic exposed population of a village of Bihar along with an mitigation approach to overcome the disease burden.