Socio-economic Assessment of Arsenic and Iron Contamination of Groundwater and Feasibility of Rainwater Harvesting (RWH): A Case Study of Amdanga Block, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India

Abstract

Arbitrary use of water without proper management has placed this precious resource into a very fragile condition. Multiple demands of water, especially in the agriculture sector put tremendous pressure on this resource triggering more and more groundwater abstraction. Arsenic has been entering into the human body through the food chain and spreading silently from local to distant areas. The traditional practice of water conservation has been continuously ignored over the last few decades. It has been irony of fate that, areas having the huge potentiality of rainfall are facing acute qualitative water scarcity. The case study of Amdanga block, under the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, is an ideal example of such dichotomy. In this region, rainfall is incidentally more than sufficient leading to flooding of vast areas, particularly during late monsoon. Under such circumstances, rainwater harvesting (RWH) may be treated as an alternative practice to combat the situation.