Arsenic Contamination in Ground Water

of the Lower Mekong Basin

Pranee pattanapipitpaisal
Faculty of Science, Ubon Rajathanee University.

20-30

(
10 )


50



 .. 10 2 2551

Abstract
Arsenic is one of the most important elemental pollutants in ground- and drinking
water. The Bengal delta region of Pakistan and India is perhaps the most severely
afflicted region, where one million people suffer health problems of arsenicosis and
have been drinking arsenic-rich water for 20-30 years. Arsenic contamination of
groundwater is also an emerging issue in the Mekong Basin including Vietnam,
Thailand, and Cambodia. Drinking water supplies in these countries are mainly
groundwater resources, although in Thailand some non-rural people use surface
water and have modern pipe water systems. The Thai government encourages drilling
groundwater tube-wells in rural areas, and the people in the northeastern part of
Thailand are dependent on groundwater for consumption much like people in
Cambodia and Vietnam are. Many research studies in China, Cambodia and
Vietnam indicate that the level of arsenic concentration in groundwater is higher
than WHO standard level (recommendation is 10 micrograms per liter). In
Thailand, information about arsenic contamination in drinking water resources is
quite rare because arsenic is not a main element in water qualification assays.
Moreover, the Pollution Control Department (PCD) allows a maximum arsenic
concentration of 50 micrograms per liter in drinking water and groundwater which is
higher than the European Union and the World Health Organization (WHO)
recommendations. Because the symptoms of chronic arsenic poisoning usually take
more than ten years to develop, the future number of arsenic related ailments in
Thailand is likely to increase. This study of arsenic contamination in the
groundwater of the Lower Mekong Basin will be useful for assigning arsenic level
standards by public health authorities. It may also lead to establishing further
research activities in the treatment of arsenic-contaminated groundwater for safe
consumption.

Keywords: Arsenic, arsenic contamination, arsenic distribution, ground water, Mekong

Basin

28


(Literature Review)
1. (Arsenic)
(metalloid)
As 33 74.92
-3 (arsenides), +3 (arsenites) +5 (arsenates)
arsenic acid (H3AsO4) arsenous acid (H3AsO3) arsenic trioxide (As2O3) arsine
(arsenic trihydride AsH3)
sulfide realgar orpiment arsenopyrite (FeAsS)
arsenic trioxide

gallium arsenide
light-emitting diode
(, 2546; Maryadele, 2006)
arsenopyrite 0.02 0.5
100 2-3

15,000


1-2
5,000

(1-7500 ) (100-1000 ) (8-620 )
(40-750 ) (2-176 ) (10-3200 ) -
(0.5-3500 ) (1-3050 ) (Smedley, 2002)

29
 .. 10 2 2551

2. (Arsenic toxicity)
European Union
67/548/EEC International
Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)
1 arsenic trioxide, arsenic pentoxide arsenate salts (Saha, 2003;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenic) LD50 743
( ) 13 ( )
(http://www.chemistry.org)


130

1.4
3
5

2-3
( ,
2004)

ATP (citric acid cycle)
succinate dehydrogenase
oxidative phosphorylation NAD+
(mitochondrial respiration) ATP

30


(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Arsenic)
, Arsenicosis)
arsenate arsenite




( , 2004; Saha,
2003; Berg et al., 2006, http://digital.lib.kmutt. ac.th/magazine/issue2/articles/art2.html)
(WHO) 0.01
10
(WHO, 1993)

3. (Arsenic in ground water)

arsenopyrite
(Berg et al., 2006) .. 1970

WHO 10 (WHO, 1993)

20
(NGOs)

31
 .. 10 2 2551

(Meharg and Earth, 2005)

4. (Arsenic in ground water of the Lower

Mekong Basin)

(Stanger, 2005) .. 2530

21-16,000 (Visoottiviseth et
al., 2002) ()
5,000
(William et al., 1996)
arsenopyrite

arsenopyrite
arsenopyrite



( ,
2004)
(2541)

87 18
(cord blood) 382
87

32


50 ()


3.0 10.2 (mg/dL)
4.1 (10 )
0.050 0.136 0.068
(0.50 )




(2542)
2530
(50 )



arsenopyrite

13

88
46 21
9
10 18
Bassas ( Kien Svaay
Ta Khman Kandal)
100-500 (Feldman and Rosenboom, 2001)

33
 .. 10 2 2551

25
500
(UNICEF) 20
50
10 (Fredericks, 2003)
Fredericks (2003)
(
164 ) ( 140 )
(
53-81 )
(490 )

Buschmann (2007)
3,700
131 30 1-1,340
( 163 ) 48% 10
350
(200 )

Bassas Kandal 233
( 100 )
10

Berg (2006)
1-1610
( 217 )
1-845 ( 39 )
1-3050

34


( 159 )
12-40
2-33 ( 7
)

10
0.5-1
50
( 50 )
Yu (2007)
21,155 20,517 16 .. 2001 2005
Merck As kit 5
50 fluorescence
spectrometry silver dithiodicarbomate spectrometry 10

582,769

135,492 8
10,096

2005 Shanxi Jilin

1.2% 20

35
 .. 10 2 2551

(Conclusion and Suggestion)

40 ( 50
) 20-30 10-
15
10



5-10


()

()
10-15


1) (160 )

( 10 )

36


2)
50
WHO

50

3)
isolation and containment, mechanical separation, pyrometallurgical separation, chemical
treatment, permeable treatment wall, electrokinetics, biochemical processes,
phytoremediation, in-situ treatment (soil flushing), soil washing (chemical leaching),
treatment of sediments

37
 .. 10 2 2551

(Acknowledgment)

:
. . 2550

. 2542.
. . .
. .
. 2546. .
.
2541. .
.
. .
. 2004. .


. 2
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38


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39