Arsenic in Groundwater Poisoning and Risk Assessment

About this book

The main focus of Arsenic in Groundwater is to explore the untold stories of groundwater arsenic in view of its poisonous nature for human health, social implications, exposure and risk assessment, worldwide concentrations with space-time dimension, micro level GIS application in spatial arsenic concentration, policy response and mitigation options, and water right and legal issues of safe drinking water. There are very few books on arsenic issues and almost all Arsenic in Groundwaters are mainly based on geology, geochemistry and health issues. There is a gap in spatial, social and legal issues of arsenic toxicity, and the lack of literature on GIS-based modeling for spatial risk of arsenic contamination is a serious methodological limitation.

Therefore, Arsenic in Groundwater would be a departure for health geography with a social science and legal context. The proposed book deals with the arsenic issue within a social science point framework, with the context being set by environmental and legal considerations. Due consideration will be given to the methodological issues of spatial, quantitative and qualitative enquiries on arsenic poisoning, for instance using GIS to investigate the distribution of arsenic-laced water in space-time to uncover the pattern of variations over scales from metres to kilometres.

The production of spatial risk maps will provide an indication to researchers, policy makers, and politicians of possible long-term strategies of mitigation. Qualitative methodological approaches will uncover the hidden issues of arsenic poisoning on human health and their social implications as well as their coping strategies and adaptation in the face of community and in-family ostracism.

Contents

- Introduction
- Worldwide Distribution of Groundwater Arsenic Poisoning
- Spatial Arsenic Concentrations and Mapping
- Arsenic and Health Impact: People's Experience and Adapting Strategy
- Arsenic and Risk Assessment: Spatial Investigation and Dose-Response Analysis
- Social Implications of Arsenic Poisoning: A Qualitative Enquiry
- Policy Response and Arsenic Mitigation
- Environmental Justice and Legal Issues of Drinking Water
- Summary and Conclusion

Customer Reviews