Processes conducive to the release and transport of arsenic into aquifers of Bangladesh

Abstract

Arsenic is a contaminant in the groundwater of Holocene aquifers in Bangladesh, where approximately 57 million people drink water with arsenic levels exceeding the limits set by the World Health Organization. Although arsenic is native to the sediments, the means by which it is released to groundwater remains unresolved. Contrary to the current paradigm, ferric (hydr)oxides appear to dominate the partitioning of arsenic in the near surface but have a limited impact at aquifer depths where wells extract groundwater with high arsenic concentrations. We present a sequence of evidence that, taken together, suggest that arsenic may be released in the near surface and then transported to depth. We establish that (i) the only portion of the sediment profile with conditions destabilizing to arsenic in our analysis is in the surface or near-surface environment; (ii) a consistent input of arsenic via sediment deposition exists; (iii) retardation of arsenic transport is limited in the aquifers; and (iv) groundwater recharge occurs at a rate sufficient to necessitate continued input of arsenic to maintain observed concentrations. Our analyses thus lead to the premise that arsenic is liberated in surface and near-surface sediments through cyclic redox conditions and is subsequently transported to well depth. Influx of sediment and redox cycling provide a long-term source of arsenic that when liberated in the near surface is only weakly partitioned onto sediments deeper in the profile and is transported through aquifers by groundwater recharge.