understand whats arsenic and how it affect us

Hi people. =) In this post, we will be sharing with you all some information about arsenic and how it enters our water supply.


SO What’s ARSENIC?

Picture extracted from: http://www.unesco-ihe.org/var/ihe/storage/images/media/images/projects/arsenic_minerals/15333-1-eng-GB/arsenic_minerals_reference.jpg

Arsenic is actually a metalloid element that belongs to the nitrogen group.It’s widely distributed in the earth’s crust with only a trace amount in all rock, soil and air. Concentration of arsenic in ground may be higher in certain areas due to weathering and anthropogenic activities such as metal mining, smelting, fossil fuel combustion and pesticide uses.

Arsenic can occurs in crystalline, power, amorphous or vitreous forms.Being toxic in nature, Arsenic is more toxic in its inorganic form than its organic form.It’s invisible, tasteless and odorless when present in water, which put people off guard when they drank water containing arsenic.Lastly, arsenic can be found in more than 200 mineral species.



Health impacts of arsenic in water bodies

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Arsenic in drinking water causes bladder, lung and skin cancer, and may cause kidney and liver cancer. Studies have also found that arsenic can harm the central and peripheral nervous systems, as well as heart and blood vessels, and causes serious skin problems. It may also cause birth defects and reproductive problems-National Academy of Sciences.


How arsenic gets into our water bodies?

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Arsenic can either enters water supplies through natural deposits in the earth’s crust or from industrial and agricultural pollution. As arsenic is widely used in industry and agriculture processes, this rises the chance of the water bodies been contaminated with arsenic.Beside that, arsenic is also a by product of copper smelting, mining and coal burning.


In the next post we will be discussing further about the impact of arsenic to human, with bangladesh as our case study.

Stay tune!for more intersting knowledge =)!