Assess arsenic distribution in groundwater applying GIS in capital of Punjab, Pakistan

Abstract. Arsenic contamination of groundwater resources threatens the health of millions of people worldwide, particularly in the densely populated river deltas of Southeast Asia. Arsenic causes health concerns due to its significant toxicity and worldwide presence in portable water. The major sources of arsenic pollution may be natural process such as dissolution of arsenic containing minerals and anthropogenic activities. Lahore is groundwater dependent city, arsenic contamination is a major issue of portable water and has recently been most environmental health management issue especially in the plain region, where population density is very high. GIS was used in this study for visualizing distribution of arsenic groundwater concentration through geostatistics analysis technique, and exposure risk zones for two years (2010 and 2012). Town's data was compared and concentration variation evaluated. ANOVA test was also applied to compare concentration between cities and years. Arsenic concentrations widely range 7.3–67.8 and 5.2–69.3 μg L⁻¹ in 2010 and 2012, respectively. Over 71% area is represented arsenic concentration range from 20 to 30 μg L⁻¹ in both analyzed years. However, in 2012 arsenic concentration over 40 μg L⁻¹ has covered 7.6% area of Data Gunjbuksh and 8.1% of Ravi Town, while over 90% area of Allama Iqbal, Aziz Bhatti and Samanabad Town contain arsenic concentration between 20–30 μg L⁻¹. ANOVA test depicts concentration probability less than 0.05, while differences were detected among towns. In light of current results, it needs urgent step to ensure groundwater protection and preservation for future.