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Abstract
In Nepal, the National Arsenic Steering Committee has reported the Nawalparasi district as a high-risk area for groundwater contamination by arsenic. One type of shallow well, the seesaw well, is most popular among the farmers due to its large water pumping capacity under manual operation. About 600 seesaw wells exist for irrigation water extraction for vegetable farming in the district. However, the wells have not yet been tested for arsenic. Therefore, this study was performed to generate preliminary data on arsenic contamination of the irrigation water of the three Villages: Manari, Devgaoun and Sukrauli. Some 100 water samples were collected from those wells and analyzed for total arsenic content immediately, using an ENPHO field test kit. From these, 52 samples (52%) were randomly selected for arsenic speciation and for the analysis of total arsenic by Atomic Adsorption Spectroscopy. The results show that the arsenic concentration in 65% of the wells exceeded 50 µg l−1 and in 36%, 100 µg l−1. A calculation of soil contamination based on these data (n = 52) revealed an increase in arsenic contamination to soil ranging from about 0.04 mg kg−1 to 10.19 mg kg−1 per year.