Chemosphere 180 (2017) 437e447

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Chemosphere
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Arsenic in groundwater of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC),

India: Critical review and modes of mitigation
Dipankar Chakraborti a, *, Bhaskar Das a, b, Mohammad Mahmudur Rahman a, c,
Bishwajit Nayak a, Arup Pal a, Mrinal K. Sengupta a, Sad Ahamed a, Md. Amir Hossain a,
Uttam K. Chowdhury a, Bhajan Kumar Biswas a, Khitish Chandra Saha d, R.N. Dutta r e
a
School of Environmental Studies (SOES), Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700 032, India
b
Department of Environment and Water Resources Engineering, School of Civil and Chemical Engineering (SCALE), VIT-University, Vellore 632014, Tamil
Nadu, India
c
Global Centre for Environmental Remediation (GCER), The University of Newcastle, Faculty of Science, Callaghan Campus, Callaghan, New South Wales,
NSW 2308, Australia
d
Department of Dermatology, School of Tropical Medicine, Kolkata, India
e
Department of Dermatology, Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research, SSKM Hospital, Kolkata, India

h i g h l i g h t s g r a p h i c a l a b s t r a c t

Arsenic concentrations in ground-

water of mega city of Kolkata, India.

14.2% and 5.2% samples had arsenic
>10 mg/l and >50 mg/l, respectively.

Arsenic >10 mg/l and >50 mg/l was
found in 77 and 37 wards,
respectively.

Enhanced lifetime cancer risk for the
population in southern KMC.

Issues involved in the water supply of
Kolkata and mitigation strategies.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This study represents the rst comprehensive report of groundwater arsenic contamination status in the
Received 26 October 2016 Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC). During the past 23 years, 4210 groundwater samples were ana-
Received in revised form lysed from all 141 wards in the KMC: 14.2% and 5.2% samples had arsenic >10 mg/l and >50 mg/l,
1 April 2017
respectively, representing 77 and 37 wards. The study shows that the number of arsenic contaminated
Accepted 9 April 2017
samples (and wards) in the southern part of the KMC exceeds that of other parts of the city. The daily
intake of arsenic from drinking water was estimated as 0.95 mg per kg bw and the cancer risk was
Handling Editor: X. Cao estimated as 1425/106. Analyses of biological samples (hair, nail and urine) showed elevated concen-
trations of arsenic indicating the presence of subclinical arsenic poisoning, predicting an enhanced
Keywords: lifetime cancer risk for the population in southern part of the KMC. In the KMC, groundwater is not a
Arsenic contamination sustainable source of freshwater due to arsenic, high iron, hardness and total dissolved solids. Its
Groundwater, Kolkata Municipal continued use is impelled by the lack of an adequate infrastructure to treat and supply surface water and
Corporation in some wards the unaccounted for water (UFW) is even >45% incurred during distribution. The rare
Biological samples
imposition of a water tax makes the water supply systems unsustainable and fosters indifference to
Cancer risk
water conservation. To mitigate the arsenic problem, continuous groundwater monitoring for pollutants,
Mitigation strategy

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: dcsoesju@gmail.com (D. Chakraborti), bhaskardas@vit.ac.in
(B. Das), mahmud.rahman@newcastle.edu.au (M.M. Rahman).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2017.04.051
0045-6535/ 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
438 D. Chakraborti et al. / Chemosphere 180 (2017) 437e447
a treated surface water supply with strict policy implications, rainwater harvesting in the urban areas
and introduction of water taxes seem to be long-term visible solutions.
1. Introduction
Catastrophic arsenic contamination of groundwater has been a
major public concern in different parts of the world for the last few
decades. Arsenic contamination has been identied in 105 coun-
tries with an estimated exposed population of >200 million
worldwide (Murcott, 2012; Naujokas et al., 2013). Asian countries,
especially the GangaeMeghnaeBrahmaputra (GMB) Plain of India
and Bangladesh are the worst affected. In GMB-Plain alone at
present more than 100 million people are potentially at risk from
groundwater arsenic contamination (Chakraborti et al., 2013).
The rst arsenic contamination of groundwater in India and its
health effects were reported from Chandigarh in North India and its
surrounding villages in 1976 (Datta, 1976). The next incident of
arsenic health effects in India was reported from the lower Ganges
plain of West Bengal in 1984 (Garai et al., 1984). The School of
Environmental Studies (SOES) began working on the groundwater
arsenic contamination problem in West Bengal in 1988. In 1995,
SOES arranged an international arsenic conference in Kolkata for 5
days including visits to arsenic affected villages (International
Conference on Arsenic in Groundwater, 1995). During and after
the conference, national and international news agencies covered
the arsenic groundwater problem and its health effects in West
Bengal. In 2002, SOES reported the groundwater arsenic contami-
nation situation in West Bengal and critically discussed the attitude
of various organizations including government of West Bengal to-
ward this serious problem (Chakraborti et al., 2002). The complete
situation of arsenic groundwater contamination from 1988 to 2009
in West Bengal was reported including a small report on Kolkata
city itself in 2009 (Chakraborti et al., 2009). During that period,
SOES analysed 140,150 hand tube-wells from all 19 districts of West
Bengal. In 13 districts, groundwater arsenic exceeded the World
Health Organization (WHO) guideline value (10 mg/l) in drinking
water and in 9 districts arsenic was above 300 mg/l, the concen-
trations causing arsenical skin symptoms (Chakraborti et al., 2004).
Only in six districts arsenic concentration in groundwater samples
were less than 10 mg/l, but those districts are uoride affected
(Chakraborti et al., 2010a). Overall, 48.1% (n 140,150) of hand
tube-wells had arsenic concentrations above the WHO guideline
value and 23.8% (n 140,150) were above 50 mg/l (the standard for
arsenic in many developing countries and (BIS, 2012) value if
alternative water is not available). We further classied all districts
in West Bengal based on the severity of arsenic contamination
(Chakraborti et al., 2009). Nine districts (Malda, Murshidabad,
Nadia, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Bardhaman, Howrah,
Hoogly and Kolkata), mainly on the eastern side of Bhagirathi River
are highly affected with arsenic in many hand tube-wells exceeding
300 mg/l. Thousands of patients were suffering from arsenic
toxicity. We have already reported detailed ndings of arsenic
contamination and health effects from three of these highly arsenic
affected districts, Murshidabad (Mukherjee et al., 2005; Rahman
et al., 2005a, 2005b, 2005c, 2005d), North 24 Parganas (Rahman
et al., 2003) and Nadia (Rahman et al., 2014).
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), has a population of
4,496,694 and an area of 185 km2 is the major Municipal Corpo-
ration in West Bengal, India. Arsenic in the groundwater of Kolkata
city of India was detected in 1993 (Anandabazar-Patrika, 8th March,
2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1993). Few articles report the contamination of arsenic in the
drinking water of major cities around the world. Peters et al. (1999)
reported the presence of arsenic in the range of <0.0003e180 mg/l
from 992 drinking water samples from randomly selected house-
holds of New Hampshire-USA. The domestic drilled bedrock wells
contained signicantly more arsenic than water from municipal
sources (Peters et al., 1999). Berg et al. (2001) reported arsenic
groundwater contamination from the city of Hanoi and the sur-
rounding rural districts of the Red River alluvial tract. The average
concentration was found to be 159 mg/l was with a range of
1e3050 mg/l in rural groundwater samples from private small-scale
hand tube-wells (Berg et al., 2001). In a very recent study
(Middleton et al., 2016), it was reported that private water supplies
(PWS) in Cornwall, South West England exceeded the current WHO
guidance value and UK prescribed concentration value for arsenic
of 10 mg/l in 5% of properties surveyed out of 497. None of these was
major municipalities, dening an urgent need to examine the
contamination by arsenic in a major city (Kolkata) of India for the
human exposure from both the municipal water supplies the KMC
and private wells in the KMC. A recent study analysed 262 water
samples from all 144 wards in the KMC and reported that 100
wards out of 144 are having alarming level of arsenic contamina-
tion in groundwater (Malakar et al., 2016). It was also found that 51
wards (35.4%) have been found to have arsenic level above the
Indian standard of 50 mg/l, 49 wards have arsenic level between 11
and 50 mg/l; only 44 wards (30%) have been found to have arsenic
below 10 mg/l in the groundwater (Malakar et al., 2016). As the
number of samples were very limited (even <2 samples per ward)
in their study, so preparation of comprehensive municipal ward-
wise map of groundwater arsenic content in the KMC is
questionable.
In this article for the rst time, we report the consolidated
ndings of 23 years surveillance of the groundwater (in use for
drinking and cooking) arsenic contamination and its health related
effects in the KMC, the jurisdiction area of Kolkata city. This further
highlights the critical issues of the existing water supply scenario
and the need for arsenic safe water in the KMC.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Description of the study area
The Kolkata Metropolitan Area (KMA) comprises three munic-
ipal corporations (KMC, Howrah and Chandhannagore), is the
oldest and third largest urban agglomerate (UA) in India [after
Greater Mumbai UA and National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi]
extends over 1851 km2 with a population of 14,112,536 (Census,
2011). The KMC, the economic and nancial focal point of eastern
India is the major Municipal Corporation in KMA (Supplementary
Material Fig. S1). As per 2011 census report, the KMC is the 5th
densest city in India (24,252 person per km2). For administrative
purpose, the city is divided into 141 wards (currently the admin-
istrative division of KMC is 144 wards since 2013. But the area of the
newly subdivided wards has not been included in ofcial KMC map.
Hence, we have considered all 141 wards which consist the ofcial
map of KMC). Ward in an administrative division of a city or bor-
ough that typically elects and is represented by a counsellor.
 D. Chakraborti et al. / Chemosphere 180 (2017) 437e447
2.2. Hydrological setting and groundwater occurrence in the KMC
Kolkata forms a part of the lower deltaic plains of the Ganga-
Bhagirathi river system. This deltaic at land is 3.5e6 m above
mean sea level. The typical geomorphological characteristic con-
sists of younger levee, deltaic plain, inter-distributary marsh, paleo
channels and younger levee adjacent to the river Hugli and older
levee on both sides of the old Adi Ganga (CGWB, 2007). The pre-
dominant soil type consists of younger alluvial soil mainly of silt
and clayey loams. The master slope of the land is towards south.
The Geomorphological map of the KMC area is presented in
Supplementary Material Fig. S2.
Groundwater in the KMC area occurs under conned to semi
conned condition under a clay barrier of varied depth of
10 me60 m. In the major part of the KMC area, fresh groundwater
overlies the brackish ground water except in the western part. The
principal productive fresh water aquifer occurs within the depth
span of 60e180 m below ground level (CGWB, 2007).
2.3. History of groundwater arsenic contamination situation in the
KMC
SOES's rst report on groundwater arsenic contamination and
peoples suffering from the KMC area was from Jadavpur (Ward No.
98) on March 1993 (Anandabazar-Patrika, 8th March, 1993). On
June 1995, SOES further reported groundwater arsenic contami-
nation from two Wards (100 and 112) of the KMC (Anandabazar-
Patrika, 10th June, 1995). In 1996 we reported the elevated level
of arsenic from biological samples (urine, hair, and nail) in some
people who are drinking contaminated water from ward nos 89 and
93 in the KMC (Telegraph, 12th January, 1996). In the middle of
1996, SOES further reported groundwater arsenic contamination
(Telegraph, 13th July, 1996) from three Wards (95, 96, and 99).
Fig. 1. An arsenic contaminated tube-well inside Kalighat Kali Temple.
439
During OcteNov 2000, SOES reported groundwater arsenic
contamination in two additional upscale areas (Alipore, Woodland
Hospital) in the KMC (The-Statesman, 26th October, 2000).
Groundwater arsenic contamination in the KMC was also reported
by SOES from Victoria Memorial Hall, one of the renowned mon-
uments and most important tourist spot at the heart of the city in
August 2003 (Anandabazar-Patrika, 1st August, 2003). At the end of
the same year, SOES further reported (Anandabazar-Patrika, 20th
October, 2003) the arsenic contamination in hand tube-wells in-
side the campus of one of the busiest public hospitals in the KMC
(SSKM Hospital. During our surveys between May 2004 and June
2012, we found more arsenic contaminated hand tube-wells in
South Kolkata (Ward Nos. 89, 94, 93, 95, 96, 100, 112 and 113)
including some multi-storied residential complexes. In August
2012, we collected water samples from Kali Mandir (Temple) area
(Ward 73 and 83) and discovered arsenic contamination [Main
pump (evening), taps and deep tube-wells including the deep
tubewell inside Kalighat Kali Temple]. Kali Temple is the holiest
Hindu site and a major pilgrimage site for Hindu devotees around
the country with over 20,000 people visiting every day. Fig. 1 shows
a child drinking water from a tubewell source inside Kalighat Kali
Temple where the water arsenic was 60 mg/l. However, after
informing the government, they immediately dismantled all
contaminated hand tube-wells from the temple premise.
2.4. Sample collection and arsenic analysis
Groundwater samples from all 141 wards of the KMC were
collected and analysed between 1993 and 2015. Water samples
were collected without ltration in acid pre-washed 10 ml poly-
thene bottles. Immediately after collection, 1 drop of dilute nitric
acid-water (7 M) GR Grade was added as preservative. The modes of
water sample collection and analytical procedures and quality
440 D. Chakraborti et al. / Chemosphere 180 (2017) 437e447
control were reported earlier (Chatterjee et al., 1995; Das et al.,
1995). Year-wise distribution of samples collected and analysed
from the KMC along with number of wards surveyed is presented in
Table S1 (Supplementary Material).
Hair, nail, and urine samples were collected from inhabitants of
KMC during the groundwater samples collection. The urine sam-
ples were labelled and refrigerated in icebox immediately after
collection and transferred to the laboratory for analysis. The hair,
and nail samples were collected in zip packs with proper labelling
and transferred to the laboratory for analysis. The modes of bio-
logical samples collection, the digestion procedures for hair and
nail and the analytical procedures were reported earlier (Samanta
et al., 1999). For urine samples, only inorganic arsenic and its me-
tabolites [arsenite, As (III); arsenate, As (V); monomethyl arsenic
acid, MMA (V) and dimethyl arsenic acid, DMA (V)] were measured
with no chemical treatment. For hair and nail samples, total arsenic
was determined after digestion For iron analysis, the 1,10-
phenanthroline method was used with a UVevisible spectropho-
tometer. Accuracy of our analytical method using FI-HG-AAS was
veried by analyzing Standard Reference Materials (SRMs) as
described earlier (Chakraborti et al., 2004).
Fig. 2. Arsenic contamination in some important areas in KMC.
3. Results
3.1. Arsenic concentration in the KMC underground water
In Fig. 2, the groundwater arsenic contamination status in all 141
wards in the KMC is displayed. Table 1 gives the parametric pre-
sentation of the analysis. From Fig. 2, it is evident that number of
arsenic contaminated samples (and wards) in the southern part of
the KMC exceeds that of other parts of the city. To understand the
magnitude of arsenic contamination, we collected and analysed
more samples (54% of total) from 19 wards in southern Kolkata.
From our analysis, it was found that the southern part of KMC is
more arsenic contaminated (Das, 2010). Table 2 shows the arsenic
contamination status in some of the wards in south Kolkata. Out of
2277 samples analysed from 19 highly affected wards, 912 (44.0%),
389 (18.8%), 181 (8.7%), and 16 (0.8%) of the samples contained
arsenic greater than 5, 10, 50 and 300 mg/l, respectively.
3.2. Arsenic concentration with depth of tube-wells in the KMC
During our complete survey (1993e2016), we have collected
depth information for 61 samples from 6 wards (63, 93, 94, 139, 140,
 D. Chakraborti et al. / Chemosphere 180 (2017) 437e447 441

Table 1
Parametric presentation of arsenic contamination in KMC.
Parameters
Area (km2)
Population
Total number of wards
Number of wards surveyed
Total number of sample analysed
Number (%) of samples >5 mg/l
Number (%) of samples >10 mg/l
Number (%) of samples >50 mg/l
Number (%) of samples >300 mg/l
Highest concentration in mg/l
Number of wards where groundwater contains
arsenic > 300 mg/l
Number of wards where groundwater contains
arsenic > 50 mg/l
Number of wards where groundwater contains
arsenic > 10 mg/l
Number of wards where groundwater contains
arsenic > 5 mg/l
Population living in the wards groundwater contains
arsenic > 300 mg/l
Population living in the wards groundwater contains
arsenic > 50 mg/l
and 141) with arsenic concentration in the KMC area. Depth in-
formation is limited by the lack of reliable depth information for
roadside public hand tube-wells. The samples, with reliable the
depth information were from hand tube-wells installed inside club,
institutional, and residential complexes. The depth range varies
from 20 to 246 m. The average depth of 68 m, exceeds the average
depth of hand tube-wells in West Bengal (34 m) of our previous
study (Chakraborti et al., 2009). We did not nd any noticeable
relation between the arsenic concentrations and depth although
the depth has high variance and the sample size was also less
(Supplementary Material Fig. S3). We also checked the correlations
in depths up to 50 m and 100 m as well as deep tube-wells
(>100 m) and unfortunately we did not get any fruitful correla-
tions. Arsenic concentration in hand tube-wells at depth <50 m has
interesting trend (Supplementary Material Fig. S3). A majority
(68%) of the samples had arsenic below the BIS limit but signicant
samples (32%) had arsenic concentration above the BIS limit
(maximum: up to 366 mg/l). From our prior studies in other areas in
KMC West Bengal and Bangladesh, we found arsenic concentrations in
185
tube-wells depth of <100 m to be greater than that of tube-wells
4,496,694 having depth >100 m (Chakraborti et al., 2009). It is relevant,
141 however that temporal variation may result in a previously safe
141 well becoming unsafe over the course of time (Chakraborti et al.,
4210
2009, 2010b). Explanations for this increase have been cited
1357 (32.2%)
596 (14.2%) earlier (Harvey et al., 2002).
221 (5.2%)
17 (0.4%)
825
8
3.3. Relationships between arsenic and iron concentrations in the
37
KMC
77
From the 43 wards of the KMC, we analysed 114 samples for
104 both arsenic and iron during our survey. The result shows elevated
level of iron in these samples (range: 52e24226 mg/l; mean:
271,630 (6.0%)
3136 mg/l). Around 94% of the samples were above requirement
1,271,699 (Acceptable Limit) as per Bureau of Indian Standard (IS10500:2012)
(28.3%) of 300 mg/l (BIS, 2012). No health based guideline value for iron in
drinking water has been proposed by WHO (WHO, 2008), but taste
is usually unacceptable at iron concentrations above 300 mg/l. Bi-
variate analysis of arsenic and iron shows (Supplementary
Material Fig. S4) a very poor relationship between groundwater
iron and arsenic (r 0.005, n 114). The reason for the poor
relationship is possibly that there are many processes by which iron
is removed from groundwater that do not necessarily involve
arsenic (Chakraborti et al., 2016). Most studies from Bengal delta
also revealed poor correlation between arsenic and iron and the
reasons might be due to the co-precipitation of arsenic by iron
(Nickson et al., 2000; Ravenscroft et al., 2001; Anawar et al., 2003;
Ahmed et al., 2004) and other processes such as the ratio of As and
FeOOH controlled by mineral weathering, oxygen consumption and
nitrate reduction (Kumar et al., 2010) which induce arsenic release
in groundwater. Saha et al. (2009) found strong positive correlation
(r2 0.674) between arsenic and iron in Sone-Ganga Interuve
groundwater, which was substantiated by reductive dissolution
triggered by biomass accumulated organic carbon of FeOOH, hence
releasing of arsenic and iron in the groundwater.

Table 2
Survey report of arsenic in hand tube-wells from South KMC.

Sl. No. Ward No No. of samples Number of samples (%) having arsenic concentration Highest concentration in mg/l

>5 mg/l >10 mg/l >50 mg/l >300 mg/l

1 88 16 12 (75.0) 6 (37.5) 4 (25.0) 0 113

2 89 173 44 (25.4) 33 (19.1) 14 (8.1) 0 255
3 92 283 100 (35.3) 28 (9.9) 13 (4.6) 2 (0.7) 421
4 93 181 72 (39.8) 38 (21.0) 11 (6.1) 2 (1.1) 825
5 95 103 58 (56.3) 25 (24.3) 12 (11.7) 0 260
6 96 46 30 (65.2) 27 (58.7) 16 (34.8) 0 270
7 97 100 36 (36.0) 14 (14.0) 7 (7) 0 235
8 98 306 119 (38.9) 70 (22.9) 29 (9.5) 0 296
9 102 57 19 (33.3) 6 (10.5) 3 (5.3) 0 287
10 103 184 77 (41.8) 35 (19.0) 23 (12.5) 3 (1.6) 335
11 104 23 12 (52.2) 6 (26.1) 2 (8.7) 0 170
12 110 367 158 (43.1) 45 (12.3) 14 (3.8) 0 215
13 111 49 19 (38.8) 9 (18.4) 5 (10.2) 1 (2.0) 435
14 112 85 29 (34.1) 23 (27.1) 17 (20.0) 4 (4.7) 348
15 113 190 150 (78.9) 32 (16.8) 9 (4.7) 2 (1.1) 346
16 118 30 12 (40.0) 4 (13.3) 2 (6.7) 0 130
17 120 18 8 (44.4) 3 (16.7) 2 (11.1) 2 (11.1) 800
18 121 48 19 (39.6) 14 (29.2) 5 (10.4) 0 127
19 123 18 5 (27.8) 2 (11.8) 1 (5.6) 0 110
Total 2277 979 (43.0) 420 (18.4) 189 (8.3) 16 (0.7) 825
442 D. Chakraborti et al. / Chemosphere 180 (2017) 437e447

Table 3
Biological sample (hair, nail, urine) analysis of 14 people drinking both from a KMC hand tube-well water (arsenic 309 mg/l) and close by tube-well (arsenic 108 mg/l) from South
Kolkata during 1996.

Sample No. Age Sex Arsenic in urine (mg/1.5 l) Arsenic in hair (mg/kg) Arsenic in nail (mg/kg)

1 9 M 278 1.6 1.5

2 2 M 35 1.2 1.3
3 30 F 117 2.6 3.4
4 50 F 100 2.8 3.8
5 55 F 157 2.2 4.5
6 33 F 278 3.1 4.6
7 42 M 107 2.1 3.2
8 39 F 71 1.9 2.1
9 41 F 103 1.7 2.6
10 36 M 131 2.8 3.4
11 45 F 106 2.2 3.5
12 18 F 110 3.1 3.8
13 65 M 98 2.6 2.8
14 60 F 95 1.9 2.2

3.4. Arsenic in biological samples in the KMC 4. Discussion

During our study in 1996, we collected hair, nail and urine
samples from 14 members from two families who were drinking
water from two contaminated hand tube-wells (309 mg/l of 100 m
depth and 108 mg/l of 30 m depth) from Ward No. 93 (Rajendra
Prasad Colony, Lake Gardens, Kolkata 700 033). Arsenic in the urine
has been regarded as the most reliable indicator of recent exposure
(1e3 days) to inorganic arsenic (NRC, 1999). Arsenic concentrations
in hair and nail are useful in evaluating arsenic exposure for the
past (6e12 months) (NRC, 1999). For unexposed populations
arsenic in urine, hair, and nail are reported to be < 100 mg/l in urine,
1000 mg/kg in hair and nails (ATSDR, 2007). Table 3 shows that
71.4% of the 14 persons tested have urine arsenic >100 mg/l and all
the hair and nail samples collected exceeded the criterion for an
unexposed population.
3.5. Arsenic patients in the KMC
In March 1993 (the KMC, Ward no 98), an arsenic patient with
cancer (Supplementary Material Fig. S5) was identied in the
Jadavpur area. His forenger was amputated due to a malignancy.
Fig. S5 (Supplementary Material) also shows the report of the
doctor (arsenic concentrations in drinking water, hair and nails
were 201 mg/l, 5476 mg/kg and 9754 mg/kg, respectively). In the
same year, an additional arsenic patient was also identied from
Ward No. 93 (Jadavpur area) (Supplementary Material Fig. S5). This
patient, a librarian, was admitted in 1999 to the Govt. of West
Bengal's arsenic clinic at SSKM Hospital, Kolkata. Our dermatologist
(co-author) utilizing the analytical report of arsenic in the hair and
nails conrmed the diagnosis (arsenic concentrations in drinking
water, hair and nails were 325 mg/l, 2344 mg/kg and 7321 mg/kg,
respectively). Both patients were of low-income group. Our
dermatologist identied ve patients with arsenical skin lesions
from the surrounding areas (Ward No 98) in 1994.
4.1. Comparison between arsenic concentration of the KMC with
KMA and the three arsenic contaminated districts in West Bengal
Table 4 summarizes the comparison of arsenic concentration
distribution of the KMC and KMA areas with some of the other
highly arsenic-contaminated districts (Nadia, Mursidabad, and
North 24 Parganas) we studied in West Bengal. The severity of
arsenic contamination is in the order - Mursidabad > North 24
Parganas > Nadia > KMA > South KMC > the KMC. One reason for
the KMC to be less-contaminated than other parts of West Bengal
may be that the average depth of the hand tube-wells for the KMC
is greater (68 m) than other parts of West Bengal (34 m). It has been
reported that Holocene aquifers, which generally occur at the
shallower depth, are the source of widespread arsenic poisoning in
India and Bangladesh. From middle Ganga plain of Bihar, it was
reported that shallow hand tube-wells up to 50 m depth were
usually found arsenic-contaminated whereas deeper aquifers
exhibited arsenic levels with permissible limit of arsenic in India
(Saha et al., 2010, 2011; Singh et al., 2016). Previously we reported
that arsenic levels of 50 mg/l are only always absent in water from
hand tube-wells deeper than 350 m, based on 5338 hand tube-
wells (depth range: 100e651 m) data from West Bengal
(Chakraborti et al., 2009). Therefore, we cannot say that tube-wells
>100 m would be always arsenic safe. In addition, aquifers in
Pleistocene plains do not host groundwater with elevated levels of
arsenic (Chowdhury et al., 1999; Van Geen et al., 2013). Pleistocene
aquifers are thus targeted for use as safe sources of drinking water.
A study (Van Geen et al., 2013) demonstrated that changes in
groundwater ow conditions and the redox state of the aquifer
sands induced by groundwater pumping caused the lateral intru-
sion of arsenic contamination from a Holocene aquifer into a pre-
viously uncontaminated Pleistocene aquifer more than 120 m
distant. The study suggested that arsenic contamination of Pleis-
tocene aquifers in south and Southeast Asia as a consequence of

Table 4
Comparative study of arsenic contamination situation in Nadia with 24-Pargana North and Murshidabad districts of West Bengal.

Parameters North 24 Parganas Murshidabad Nadia KMA study (including KMC) KMC South KMC

Area (km2) 4094 5324 3927 393.32 185.39 25.34

Population 10,009,781 7,103,807 517,600 6,133,514 4,496,694 572,406
Total number of water samples analysed 54,368 29,668 28,947 4552 4482 2070
Number (%) of samples having As>10 mg/l 29,018 (53.4) 15,953 (53.8) 14,879 (51.4) 2068 (45.4) 623 (13.9) 389 (18.8)
Number (%) of samples having As>50 mg/l 16,017 (29.5) 7911 (26.7) 5008 (17.3) 843 (18.5) 228 (5.1) 181 (8.7%)
Number (%) of samples having As>300 mg/l 1834 (3.4) 1337 (4.5) 550 (1.9) 56 (1.2) 17 (0.4) (0.8%)
 D. Chakraborti et al. / Chemosphere 180 (2017) 437e447 443

increasing levels of groundwater pumping may have been delayed Table 5

by the retardation of arsenic transport (Van Geen et al., 2013). Arsenic contamination in deep hand tube-wells at Jadavpur (Ward 93), Tollygunge
(Ward No 94) and Kalighat (Ward 83) area of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC).

Address of the sample Type and depth of the Location Arsenic

4.2. Negligence regarding the groundwater contamination issue in
hand-tubewell concentration
the KMC (mg/l)

Asalata Apartment, Residential Apartment N 22 190

Groundwater arsenic contamination in the KMC rst surfaced in Bikramgarh, 58/7 Prince Depth: 122 m 290 49.300
early 1993. It is pertinent to assume that people were suffering Golam Mohammad E 88 

from arsenic toxicity long before 1993. SOES started working on Shah Road, Jadavpur, 210
arsenic groundwater issue in Kolkata in 1993 and one after another Kolkata e 700 032. 40.500
Ward No. 93
contaminated wards surfaced from our survey. Dermatologists
Golf Towers, 9 Prince Residential Apartment N 22 113
identied some patients with arsenic related clinical manifesta- Golam Hossain Road, Depth: 183 m 290 58.300
tions and many biological samples (hair, nail and urine) were Madar Tala Colony, E 88 

analysed to conrm arsenic toxicity with sub-clinical toxicity Tollygunge 210

assumed in others in the arsenic affected the KMC area. The pres- Kolkata e 700045, Ward 24.300
No. 94
ence of arsenic in water and in the urine of the people consuming
Indumati Bhandar, 5/27 KMC e road side N 22 60
the water indicated recent arsenic exposure. Multiple study reports Rajendra Prosad Colony, tubewell 300 0.800
sent to the government and published in local daily newspapers Kolkata-700033 (Near Depth: >122 m E 88
0
evoked mass awareness. It took the government 8 years to accept Jadavpur Police Station). 21 2300
Ward No. 93
that the groundwater of the city of Kolkata had an arsenic problem.
Padatik Club, 51/18A KMC e road side N 22 55
If recognition had been made in 1993 and action taken, thousands Golam Mohammad tubewell
0
30 1.800
could have avoided arsenic contaminated water over the inter- Shah Road, Kolkata e Depth: >122 m E 88
0
vening years. The situation was so extreme that in Dec. 2001, we 700 095. Ward No. 93 21
found that water in injection vials available in medicinal shops in 25.200
Kamal Kuthir, 205/1 Prince KMC e road side N 22 20
the KMC contained arsenic (Supplementary Material Fig. S6) 0
Anawar Shah Road, tubewell 30 2.500
(Anandabazar-Patrika, 28th December, 2001). Local pharmaceutical Kolkata e 700033 Depth: >122 m E 88
0
companies from arsenic affected districts were using arsenic (beside the Aparupa 21 3.200
contaminated tube-well water to prepare sterilized water vials for Beauty Parlour). Ward
No. 93
medical injections.
Trident Club, 185 Prince KMC e road side N 22 30
Information about this potential additional route of arsenic Anawar Shah Road, tubewell
0
30 3.900
exposure was sent to the Drug Controller's Ofce who promised to Kolkata e 700033. Depth: >122 m E 88
0
look after the matter. Even now with every new survey, we discover Ward No. 93 21 3.500
new areas in the KMC with arsenic contaminated water. Recently Biswas Para. Balak Brinda KMC e road side N 22 48
0
Club, 21 Biswas Para, tubewell 30
we have found some the deep hand tube-wells, which were initially
Kolkata e 700 033. Depth: >122 m 13.600
arsenic safe, becoming being contaminated with time (Table 5). Ward No. 93 E 88
0
This trend towards contamination of previously safe wells was also 21 800
found in our previous study from West Bengal (Chakraborti et al., 200 Kalighat Road, Deep tubewell (road N 22 35
opposite Munna Video side) 310
2009). This temporal variation could be due to various reasons
Centre, Kolkata -26. 17.300
and heavy ground water withdrawal (Harvey et al., 2002) is one. Ward No. 83 E 088
200
4.3. Exposure risk assessment and cancer risk of the South KMC 27.000
Kali Mandir (chatal) Deep tubewell N 22 60
opposite to the Kalighat 310
The human health risk assessment model derived by US-EPA Matri Sangha, Kolkata 12.000
(USEPA-IRIS, 1998) was used to evaluate the toxic effects of -26. Ward No. 83 E 088
arsenic present in drinking water on human health. Intake expo- 200
31.000
sure to arsenic in drinking water was estimated by calculating a
Main evening pump (runs Pump (deep tubewell), N 22 34
daily intake using the following equation- 4:00 p.m.e6:00 p.m.), mixed with garden rich 310
Kalighat Road, Kolkata water and supplied 17.500
C  DI EF  ED through taps E 088
DIA  e 26. Ward No. 83
BW AT 200
30.200
Assume:

C 19 mg/l averaging time (d).

DI 3 L Lifetime cancer risk (CR) associated with ingestion exposure was
BW 60 kg calculated using
EF 365 days
ED 60 years CR DIA  SF
AT 21,900 days
Then, DIA 0.95 and CR(DIA*SF) 0.95*1500 1425 where, SF is the slope factor of arsenic (mg/l/d). SF values employed
in this study were 1.5 (mg/kg/d), obtained from the USEPA (IRIS,
where, DIA represents daily intake of arsenic (mg/l day), C is the 2013).
concentration of arsenic in drinking water (mg/l); DI is the average In this study, the daily intake of arsenic from drinking water is
daily intake rate (l/day); BW is body weight (kg); EF is the exposure 0.95 mg per kg bw and the cancer risk is estimated as 1425  106.
frequency (d/yr), ED is the exposure duration (yr), AT is the The daily intake of arsenic was estimated based on the water
444 D. Chakraborti et al. / Chemosphere 180 (2017) 437e447
consumption rate as 3 l per adult daily which was determined
earlier from 3 arsenic affected villages in West Bengal (Hossain
et al., 2013). The cancer risk of this study is elevated above the
estimates derived in other studies in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Taiwan
and Vietnam. A study from Pakistan by (Shakoor et al., 2015)
showed that the potential cancer risk (CR) values ranged from
5.4  105 to 8.3  103 in the Punjab area where the concentration
of drinking water arsenic was 1.5e201 mg/l Huy et al. (2014) re-
ported that arsenic concentrations in tube-well water were
8e579 mg/l (mean 301) and daily consumption of 40% of the adults
exceeded the level of TDI (tolerable daily intake) at 1 mg/kg/day
(Huy et al., 2014). As a result, the average skin cancer risk in adults
due to consuming ltered tube-well water were 25.3  105 (using
only well water) and 7.6  105 (using both well and rain water). A
study by (D'Ippoliti et al., 2015) found a mean inorganic arsenic
exposure of 19.3 mg/l, and average exposure duration of 39.5 years
was associated with increased risks for lung cancer, myocardial
infarction, peripheral arterial disease and chronic obstructive pul-
monary disease in males and diabetes in females.
The current WHO guideline value (10 mg/l) of arsenic in drinking
water is based on the default assumption that adults weighing
60 kg consume on average 2 L of water daily (WHO, 2001). This
guideline value does not take into account the higher susceptibility
of individuals to arsenic toxicity due to poor nutrition, genetic
factors, humid climates and livelihoods that require signicant
manual labor. Considering only the negative health effects of
chronic arsenic exposure, the WHO has stated that their guideline
should be signicantly lower than the current value (WHO, 2001).
Based on health evidence Australia has lowered their national
standard to 7 mg/l. The national standards of India and Bangladesh,
however, remain at 50 mg/l. In an attempted compromise, Bureau of
Indian Statistics (BIS) has revised drinking water standards, listing
10 mg/l for As, as the desirable level but 50 mg/l as the legally
enforceable standard if alternative sources are unavailable (BIS,
2012). Considering cancer risk coupled with the compounding
factors of poor nutrition for many of those exposed in India, the BIS
standard of 2012 is not safe. Due to differences in water intake
levels, the WHO has acknowledged that local adjustments to the
daily water consumption value may be needed in setting local
standards (WHO, 2001).
5. Available water supply situation in the KMC and the
proposed plan
At present, the KMC residents get their water supply through (a)
public supply of puried Ganges water through a pipe line (b)
public supply of big diameter underground water through pipe line
(depth of tube-well >100 m) (c) public spot supply of underground
water through tube-wells (depth of tube-well >100 m) (d) private
shallow and deep tube-wells (around 8 m to above 100 m) of
varying capacity. The total water demand in the KMC in 2012 was
1320 MLD (Million Liter per day) (Maiti, 2012). River Ganges is the
only possible source of surface water, which presently serves the
majority (>80%) of the KMC area. The treated surface water supply
in the KMC was around 1220 MLD, which comes from existing four
surface water treatment plants serving the KMC, which are, Palta
WTP (Water Treatment Plant), Garden Reach WTP, Watgunge
Karbala WTP, and Jorabagan WTP. Around 10% of the 245,019
household connections are served by groundwater totaling 112
MLD. There are 439 large diameter electricity driven borewells
(depth of tube-well >100 m) which supply untreated water
through pipelines. Apart from that, there may be more than 5000
municipal approved deep hand tube-wells (Anandabazar-Patrika,
10th March 2015). The total number of public and private hand
driven tube-well (depth from 8 m to more than 100 m) may be
more than 10,000 but the number is not denite (Maiti, 2012). As
per the supply norm set by Kolkata Metropolitan Planning Com-
mittee (KMPC) water supply requirement for the KMC is 200 LPCD
(Liter per capita per day) including UFW (Unaccounted for Water or
process and conveyance loss) with an additional 10% allowance for
industrial, commercial and institutional (ICI) inuences (KMDA
2006).
Even 100 years before, Kolkata people used to get puried river
Ganges (Hoogly River) water through pipeline. In course of time,
considering groundwater safe to drink underground water got the
priority. At present knowing underground water may not be
arsenic safe, again the Ganges water got the preference. However,
due to various reasons presently total water supply in the KMC is
not possible from Ganges water so groundwater is also in use. At
present, the water supply scenario of the KMC is stressed due to
dwindling quality and quantity of both surface and groundwater as
well as absence of proper infrastructure for storage and convey-
ance. Apart from the presence of elevated arsenic level in the
groundwater, followings are some critical issues stressing the water
supply scenario in the KMC.
5.1. Demand and supply gap of existing surface water source
The existing per capita average supply is presently 134 LPCD
versus a norm of 200 LPCD or a 33% decit (ADB, 2012). Though the
treated water generation capacity is adequate, the water supply
system is underperforming due infrastructure deciencies (absence
of adequate number of booster pumping stations, overhead reser-
voirs, wastage of water and condition of distribution network).
Based on a 2011 survey the available distribution network length
and reservoir capacity were 5687 km and 225 ML against the de-
mand of 5687 km and 475 ML (including 30% water loss) respec-
tively (ADB, 2012). The residual pressure is also miserably low,
averaging 2.5 m head (at some sites it is as low as 0.5 me1.0 m)
compared to a standard value of 12 m. Some studies estimated the
average UFW in the KMC as 35% and in some areas it may be as high
of 65% (Maiti, 2012). During our survey, we found the wastage of
treated water in different part of the city (Supplementary Material
Fig. S7).
Due to inadequate treated water, most of the areas in the KMC
are under intermittent supply restrictions ranging from 4 to 8 h
(Supplementary Material Fig. S8) which make it susceptible to
microbiological contamination (Kumpel and Nelson, 2013) espe-
cially for the existing distribution network in Kolkata which is more
than 100 years old. To remove contamination, excess bleaching
powder is often added to the treated water, which creates taste and
odor problems in tap water.
Absence or inadequate supply of treated surface water forces
ground water utilization. The situation is alarming for high-rise
residential apartments where most of the time, the supplied sur-
face water is not adequate and they have to depend on their own
groundwater sources. Though the latest demographical prole
shows an overall decline of the KMC population of 1.7%, there is
4.8% increase of population for the 8 high arsenic contaminated
wards (>300 mg/l) during 2001e2011. The insufcient treated sur-
face water supply coupled with an increase of population may
trigger the increase of the arsenic concentration in groundwater.
The majority of these wards are in fringe areas of the KMC with
other municipalities in KMA where major water sources are from
groundwater (Supplementary Material Fig. S8). For an example, in
Ward 112, where 20% of the samples (n 85) are more than 50 mg/l,
the decadal population increase is around 27%.
While, the nighttime population in the KMC has marginally
declined in the last decade (1.7%) the daytime oating population
has doubled to 6 million per day (KMC website). Calculating 5 LPCD
 D. Chakraborti et al. / Chemosphere 180 (2017) 437e447
of average consumption of treated water for such population
(KMDA, 2006), an additional 30 MLD (excluding loss) provision is
required.
5.2. Groundwater condition of surrounding municipalities in KMA
It is evident from our study that the groundwater arsenic
contamination is more prevalent in the south and eastern part of
Kolkata (Fig. 2). In most of these wards, unlike whole the KMC, the
population growth trend is positive. Our preliminary survey of six
municipalities in KMA found elevated level of arsenic in their
groundwater. Out of total 3894 groundwater samples analysed, we
have found 1800 (46.2%) and 843 (18.9%) samples having arsenic
above 10 mg/l and 50 mg/l respectively (Supplementary Material
Table S2). Alarmingly the overall population increase in those
municipalities is 29.7%. This indicates widespread construction of
large apartment complexes in the fringe areas of the KMC, which
might eventually trigger groundwater arsenic contamination in the
near future. An example is Newtown Rajarhat, where the popula-
tion explosion is 48.2% in last decade and where we rst identied
groundwater arsenic contamination in 2001 (The-Statesman,
Wednesday 11th July 2001).
5.3. Unsustainable water supply segment
There is no existing consumer meter and treated water is a
supplied completely free of cost to household connections. This
makes it difcult to estimate, control and minimize water usage at
the micro level, making the whole water supply scenario unsus-
tainable. During 2011e2012, the total expenditure for water supply
in the KMC was Rs. 2.54 Billion against the revenue generated of
meagre Rs. 0.065 Billion, which came only from bulk meter con-
sumers indicating Non Revenue Water (NRW) 97.46% (Maiti, 2012).
5.4. Groundwater quality and quantity issue other than arsenic
Reports are available of elevated amounts of dissolved iron and
other toxic trace elements such as Cr, Co that are found in excess in
different parts of the KMC groundwater (CSE, 2005-06, CGWB,
2007). In this study, we found iron concentrations as high as
24.2 mg/l (Supplementary Material Fig. S4). The deposition of Fe-
oxide and Ca-Mg salts in the inner surface of the supply pipes de-
creases the water ow and lifespan of the pipes. Even at sites where
the groundwater is arsenic safe, the presence of saline ground
water and hydraulically connected marshy/swampy land makes the
groundwater unsuitable for direct consumption (CGWB, 2007).
In areas of inadequate surface water supply, heavy withdrawal
of groundwater induces sharp declines in the groundwater level as
well as land subsidence. The KMC ofcials have admitted that at the
eastern fringe of the KMC groundwater level has plummeted
4.5e6.0 m during last 12 years. There is an average decline of
around 0.6 m of groundwater per year in the KMC area
(Bandyopadhyay, 2015). Two different studies envisage land sub-
sidence at the rate of 13.53 mm/yr and 18.23 mm/y (Sahu and
Sikdar, 2011; Bhattacharya, 2013).
6. Recommendations
6.1. Groundwater, as an intermediate solution
Groundwater cannot be a sustainable source for drinking water
in the KMC due to quality and quantity issues. Until a full-edged
surface water scheme is implemented, it may act as an interme-
diate solution depending upon its quality and availability. The
groundwater activity mapping for each ward should be prepared.
445
Fluctuation of the piezometric level of groundwater should be
monitored before installation and operation of bore wells. All the
bore wells must be identied through GIS application and contin-
uous monitoring of all these sources should be implemented. No
further permission for the installation of new tube-wells in the
arsenic contaminated wards should be given.
6.2. Recycling the existing surface water source
The existing surface water availability for the KMC from the
Hoogly River (98000 MLD) is much more than the present fresh
water requirement, which is 1320 MLD (ADB, 2012; Maiti, 2012).
Hence, priority should be given to revamp the surface water supply
infrastructure to make this sector technologically and nancially
sustainable. Domestic meters need to be installed and development
of ow and pressure monitoring systems at the consumer level is
highly recommended. If possible, the water tax should be imple-
mented with exemptions for those living below the poverty level
(Mitra, 2008).
Renovation of WTP is another component, which should be
looked into. Advanced technology needs to be implemented for the
production and supply of treated water. This would include refur-
bishment and expansion of different components of WTP including
intake jetty, Rapid Gravity Filter units, clarioculators, and waste
disposal units. Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA)
and Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) will also
enable efcient monitoring and control over treatment operations
and coordination with the laboratory through automation. This will
eventually save time, money and work force. Implementation of
District Meter Area (DMA), GIS mapping of the distribution
network and the use of modern instruments such as Ground
Penetrating Radar (GPR) can reduce the UFW loss below 10%.
6.3. Harvesting the rainwater
In the KMC area, the average annual rainfall is 1821 mm and the
net rainwater available annually is 247 Mm3. Considering the hydro
geological condition in the KMC area and to collect this huge
rainfall, rooftop water harvesting should be strictly implemented in
the area. Though West Bengal government has done rooftop rain-
water harvesting a mandatory for a building larger than 60,000 sq.
ft. or more than 100 ats, nothing signicant has been achieved in
this respect.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to Mr. Debdut Ghosh Thakur, Guest Professor of Presi-
dency University, Kolkata for his encouragement during the whole
study. Financial support from SOES is greatly appreciated.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data related to this article can be found at http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2017.04.051.
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