Governance and Management of High Arsenic Ground Water based Drinking Water Supply in India

1. Governance and Management of High Arsenic Ground Water based Drinking Water Supply in India Dr. S.P. Sinha Ray (Retd.) Member, Central Ground Water Board Emeritus President, Centre for Ground Water Studies, Kolkata

2. Distribution of Arsenic

3. Arsenic affected areas in West Bengal Arsenic affected areas in Uttar Pradesh

4. Arsenic affected areas in Jharkhand Arsenic affected areas in Bihar

5. Arsenic affected areas in Punjab Arsenic affected areas in Assam

6. Arsenic Mobilization Oxidation of Arsenic bearing Sulphide Minerals Dissolution of Arsenic-rich Iron Hydroxide in reducing Environment. • Some researchers believe that competition by anions viz, PO4 plays important • role in arsenic release. • Microbialy-mediated reductive dissolution of arsenic bearing host minerals are • considered as a cause of arsenic mobilisation. • Combination of oxidation and reduction phenomena coupled with changes • introduced by organic matter present in sediments might have contributed largely • for such high mobilization of arsenic. • Large scale round water withdrawal during summer causes lowering of water table and enhances oxidized zone. During monsoon due to substantial rainfall recharge reducing environment is created with the sediments. Under changing redox conditions the ferric ions are reduced and result in mobilization of adsorbed arsenic.

7. Tapping ground water from contamination free aquifers Large scale surface water (River, Lake) based piped water supply Technological Options Conservation and quality upgradation of traditional surface water sources like ponds, tanks etc. Removal of pollutants from ground water by in-situ, ex-situ treatment technologies Rain Water Harvesting and utilization of such water for drinking purposes in arsenic affected areas.

8. Arsenic: Extent & Magnitude of the Problem in West Bengal • Affected Districts (> 0.01ppm) : 11 • Affected Blocks (> 0.01 ppm) : 104 • Affected Blocks (> 0.05 ppm) : 83 • Affected Habitations(> 0.01 ppm) : 16,629 • Rural Population at Risk (Census 2011) : 1.79 Crores • Urban Population at Risk (Census 2011) : 1.41 Crores

9. Arsenic Mitigation in West Bengal • An Arsenic Master Plan covering 8 (eight) arsenic affected • districts in the State has been prepared. • 12 numbers of River Water based Public Water Supply • Schemes covering 45% of arsenic affected areas have been • completed. • Out of 338 nos of ground water based schemes, 147 have • already been completed, others in progress. These schemes • are filled with Arsenic Removal Plants. • Performance evaluation by reputed Institutions like • IIT, Kharagpur, Jadavpur University etc has been made, • Water ATMs having capacity of 150 litre of treated water • have been installed.

10. Arsenic Master Plan: Long Term Measure

11. Arsenic Removal Plant Raw Water intake point Filter bed and outlet point Flocculation Units Sludge holding unit

12. Community Purification Plant (CPP) based on Nano-Technology • Output: Treated water 10 KL liter per day. • Users: School students & local community; approx. 1000 • Cost: ₹ 10 Lakh / unit • Media : Metal Oxy Hydroxide • Arsenic Adsorption Capacity:  min 25mg/g at 200 ppb • No Regeneration of Media, No backwashing, No Arsenic Sludge • Disinfection by UV • Total no. of CPPs installed 385 (Malda, Murshidabad, Nadia and North 24 Parganas) • Water ATM • Dispenses 150 Litres of treated water per hour • Cost per unit:₹ 15.58 Lakh • Oxidation filter, Iron removal filter , Activated carbon filter, UV system, Automated filter backwash • Treated water from the Water ATM located in the school is also shared by the community • 206 nos. of Water ATMs have been installedin schools in the Arsenic affected areas of North 24 Parganas

13. Performance evaluation of AIRPs • To assess efficiency of the contaminant removal technology and to identify, address the gaps in monitoring, operation and maintenance of the AIRPs performance evaluation is integral • Therefore, considering this institutes recommended by Arsenic Task Force were engaged for third party performance evaluation • IIT Kharagpur, IIEST, Shibpur, Jadavpur University and University of Kalyani • Phase I • 32nosof commissioned AIRPs have been evaluated by the selected institutes • Each institute is evaluating 8 nos of AIRPs for a period of 12 months • Nadia : 14 nos(KU & IIEST, Shibpur) • North 24 Paraganas: 10 nos(JU & IIEST, Shibpur) • Murshidabad: 8 nos(IIT, Kgp) • Primary Focus: Understanding the Operation & Contaminant Removal efficiency of different media used • Phase II • 24nosof commissioned AIRPs have been selected for evaluation • 8 more commissioned AIRPs in Nadia district for each evaluating institute (KU, JU & IIEST, Shibpur) • Primary Focus: Sludge Management & Interfering ions influencing arsenic removal

14. Water Quality Monitoring and Surveillance Mechanism pH Conductivity Total Dissolved Solids Residual Chlorine- (onsite) Turbidity Total Hardness Fluoride Chloride Total Arsenic Iron Manganese Total coliforms E. coli • Water sample collection • GPS tagging of source • Sanitary survey • Photograph: source PHED/ NGO managed laboratory Re-testing Jurisdiction: one/ two blocks 1 GP = 1 Facilitator WQ data input Disinfection GP Other stakeholders WQ Report & SMS (Bact. WQ) WQ Report Upload Surface water based piped water supply schemes Groundwater based piped water supply schemes with AIRPs/ without AIRPs Community Purification Plants Water ATMs etc. PHED IMIS (Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation) DSS PHED (Infrastructure creation) WQ Dashboard

15. Water Quality Testing Laboratories in West Bengal • No of Laboratories : 217 • No. of Lab Managed by PHED : 137 • No. of Lab Managed by NGO : 80 • No. of District Lab. : 18 in 18 districts • One Lab is designated as State Lab (Dakshin Roypur) Newly established The laboratories are categorized based on the location specific type of contaminant • Arsenic : 57 nos • Fluoride : 44 nos • Salinity: 25 nos • General: 59 nos • Arsenic & Fluoride: 11 nos • Arsenic & Salinity: 18 nos • Arsenic, Fluoride & Salinity: 3 nos • There are 341 no. of blocks and each laboratory covers 1-2 Blocks.

16. AIRP Dashboard

17. Arsenic Mitigation through Behaviour Change Communication PRA map Household Survey Stakeholder Discourse PRA mapping exercise

18. Capacity Building & Training Programmes Training on “Internal calibration procedure and Quality Assurance plan” was imparted conforming ISO IEC 17025:2012. Hands-on traininghas been given to all lab personnel on instruments like analytical balance, pH meter, turbidity meter, spectrophotometers etc. Technical and Quality managers from NABL accredited and aspirational laboratories have attended Two days training programme on Transition and Implementation from ISO/IEC 17025: 2005 to ISO/IEC 17025: 2017 AIRP Operators at commissioned AIRP sites have been trained on onsite testing of critical water quality parameters such as Arsenic, Residual Chlorine etc. They have been provided mobile phones with pre-installed application and OMAS Facilitator’s training has been scheduled to start from 18.09.2018 which includes hands-on training on the “Dos and Don’ts” of using routine mobile apps, source mapping, sampling procedures etc. Batchwise training of lab personnel by various reputed Govt. institutes such as NEERI, CGCRI, Jadavpur University, IIEST, Shibpur etc. will be conductedto enhance their knowledge on testing procedures and to ensure accuracy and reliability of test results.

19. Awareness generation, health impact assessment and epidemiological studies conducted in arsenic affected districts South 24 Pgs • Epidemiological survey was conducted in a cohort population living in 8 arsenic affected blocks of South 24 Pgs in 1995 • A follow up study was conducted in 2010-11 to ascertain the impact on the same cohort population regarding morbidity & mortality following use of arsenic safe water supplied to the community Key findings • 82.5% (781) households were using safe water supplied from PHED • Clinical manifestations • Skin pigmentation cleared in 128 (56.64%) out of 226 cases (detected in 1995) • Skin Keratosis cleared in 60 (65.93%) out of 91 cases (detected in 1995) Malda • Awareness generation & epidemiological study conducted in 7 arsenic affected blocks of Malda in 2015-16 • Medical officers and grassroot level workers trained to detect possible arsenicosis patients, door-to-door survey conducted Key findings • Cases of arsenicosis detected during survey: 446 (8.4%) • Drinking water samples collected and tested for arsenic: 1665 • Samples found to have arsenic >0.01mg/lit: 1278 (78%) • No safe source habitation identified out of the 81 habitations surveyed: 18 nos Doctor examining patient of arsenicosis Arsenicosis: Severe keratosis, diffuse Based on the list of no safe source habitations, provision for safe water through Community Purification Plants is in progress

20. Research Needs • Continuous research on arsenic science, its removal • techniques and development of appropriate models • to make aware the people about critical health hazards • due to intake of arsenic-rich drinking water can bring a • Sea-change in arsenic mitigation scenario. • The study of the impact on food chain due to arsenic- • rich ground water based irrigation is another very • important area which needs urgent attention.

21. Thank you…