Anthropogenic arsenic menace in Delhi Yamuna Flood Plains

Arsenic, one of the most poisonous chemical elements, was analyzed in the waters of the host of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, i.e., New Delhi. The study revealed shocking outcomes with arsenic concentrations well beyond the safe limits set by WHO, and a maximum concentration up to 180 ppb was found in the groundwater. Analysis of around 120 water samples collected extensively along the Yamuna Flood Plain showed that more than 55% had arsenic contamination beyond the WHO limit of 10 ppb. The maximum value of arsenic in coal and fly ash from Rajghat coal-based thermal power plant contained 200 and 3,200 ppb, respectively. Moreover, the ore petrography of coal samples shows the presence of arsenopyrite mineral. Maximum concentration of arsenic contamination is found within a 5-km radius from power plants. In the perspective of Delhi, arsenic contamination is purely anthropogenic due to coal-based thermal power plants, which had already shown toxic arsenic, fluorine and China-type coal effects. The presence of such power plants in coal field locations, e.g., West Bengal and Bangladesh, could release the arsenic due to combustion in superthermal power plants, thus accentuating the arsenic concentration besides the natural arsenic coming from the foreland basins of the Himalaya in Indian sub-continent.