Research Article Open Access Volume 5 • Issue 4 • 1000290 J Environ Anal Toxicol ISSN: 2161-0525 JEAT, an open access journal Open Access Research Article Environmental & Analytical Toxicology J o u r n a l o f E n v i r o n m e n t a l & A n a l y t i c a l T o x i c o l o g y ISSN: 2161-0525 Kumar et al., J Environ Anal Toxicol 2015, 5:4 http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2161-0525.1000290 *Corresponding author: Kumar A, Scientist-I, Research Centre, Mahavir Cancer Institute and Research Centre, Phulwarisharif, Patna - 801505 (Bihar) India, Tel: (0091) 9334740800, (0091) 0612 2250127 (O); E-mail: arunk31@rediffmail.com Received March 16, 2015; Accepted April 25, 2015; Published April 28, 2015 Citation: Kumar A, Ali Md, Rahman S Md, Iqubal A Md, Anand G, et al. (2015) Ground Water Arsenic Poisoning in “Tilak Rai Ka Hatta” Village of Buxar District, Bihar, India Causing Severe Health Hazards and Hormonal Imbalance. J Environ Anal Toxicol 5: 290. doi: 10.4172/2161-0525.1000290 Copyright: © 2015 Kumar A, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Ground Water Arsenic Poisoning in “Tilak Rai Ka Hatta” Village of Buxar District, Bihar, India Causing Severe Health Hazards and Hormonal Imbalance Kumar A*, Ali Md, Rahman S Md, Iqubal A Md, Anand G, Niraj PK, Shankar P and Kumar R Mahavir Cancer Institute and Research Centre, Patna, Bihar, India Keywords: Arsenic poisoning; Tilak Rai Ka Hatta village; Buxar district; Ground water; Health assessment; Hormonal imbalance Introduction In the recent times, the potable water demand in urban as well as rural areas has increased a lot due to fast growing population in India. he Upper, Middle and Lower Ganga lood plains are the most severely dense populated areas of India. he entire land area is highly fertile and agricultural practices are the main occupation of the village people. he primary states of the upper, middle and lower Ganga plains are Uttrakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. he upper Ganga plain areas are from the states of Uttrakhand and Uttar Pradesh; middle Ganga plain areas are from the Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar state, while the lower Ganga plain covers the entire West Bengal state [1]. he present study area is located in Buxar district which is south to the Middle Ganga plains and these areas are densely populated since the pre-historic times because of its religious importance as well as the highly fertile agricultural land. Arsenic is abundant in the crust of the earth and is found in all environments. It is found in soil, minerals, surface and groundwater. Both natural and anthropogenic sources are responsible for the distribution of it throughout the environment [2]. he excessive withdrawal of ground water for agricultural practices was well practiced in 1990’s which lead to geological changes in Gangetic plain. his lead to the lowering down of the water table in summer season and oxygen to enter into the aquifer causing oxidation of arsenic rich iron sulphide and then contaminating the entire aquifer with arsenic [3-5]. Today, it is estimated that more than 5 million people in the Bihar state are drinking water with arsenic concentrations greater than 50 μg/l [6] and presently the ground water arsenic contamination has spread to 16 districts of the state [6-9]. In India, problems with arsenic in groundwater in West Bengal (Lower Ganga plain region) were irst recognised in the early 1980s and the health efects are now reasonably well documented [1,10,11]. Due to groundwater arsenic contamination, a large number of populations in the arsenic hit area are sufering from melanosis, leuco-melanosis, keratosis, hyperkeratosis, dorsum, non-petting oedema, gangrene, skin cancer and skin lesions in sole and palm [12-16]. Tubewell revolution since 1980’s, has led to serious arsenic menace causing severe health hazards in the population in the recent years [17,18]. he village people of these contaminated regions are still drinking arsenic contaminated water and are not aware of this fact as well as its consequences. he demographic evaluation of arsenic in the ground water has not been done extensively especially in the Buxar district where arsenic poisoning in ground water has a meagre reporting. he Buxar district is situated between 25° 18′ to 25° 45′ latitude North & 84° 20′ to 84° 40′ longitude East. Its geographical area is 1624 km 2 . he total population of district is 10,87,676 (Rural 9,96,855 Urban 90,821). he population density is 621 person/km 2 and sex ratio 899 females/1000 males. Buxar is also the most afected arsenic hit area especially the villages located near the river Ganga. Although, the Government funded works are being carried out in almost all the arsenic hit districts of Bihar but, still people are deprived of arsenic free drinking water and food, as this land area is highly fertile where crops of all types are extensively cultivated. Among all the villages of Buxar Abstract In the recent times, arsenic poisoning due to contaminated ground water in the middle Gangetic plain has resulted to lots of health related problems in the population. In Bihar (India), about 16 districts have been reported to be affected with arsenic poisoning. In the present study, Tilak Rai Ka Hatta village, a lood plain Diara region of river Ganga in Buxar district was targeted for the ground water arsenic assessment and health related problems assessments among the village population. Altogether, 120 water samples were randomly collected for arsenic estimation and their results were statistically analysed. While for assessment of health related problems in the village people, 120 biological samples (blood) were collected from the same households. The study showed high contamination of arsenic in the ground water as three fourth region of the entire village had arsenic levels more than 100 ppb. The typical symptoms of hyperkeratosis in the palm and sole, melanosis of the skin in the village people were highly prevalent. In the population, there was prevalence of cancer and infertility cases also. The assessment of blood samples exhibited severe hormonal imbalance among the village population. Present study thus concludes that, arsenic poisoning in entire village has caused severe health hazards to the village population. It has not only caused skin diseases or cancer but the entire population has threat over the infertility due to hormonal imbalance. So, a proper strategy is immediately required to cater the severity of the arsenic poisoning in this village.