Comparative assessment of fluoride and arsenic mobilization mechanisms among the groundwater of the major affected river basins of India

Abstract

The high exposure of fluoride and arsenic in the groundwater of India is a serious challenge that is currently threatening human health, agriculture, livestock, and livelihood. The increased dependency on groundwater due to monsoonal uncertainties amplifies the risk by several folds. Due to the high population density in the affected regions, policies on prevention, monitoring, and mitigation have become extremely challenging to implement. The pursuit of improved human health in the affected regions cannot be completed until and unless there is sufficient urbanization and industrialization to support the livelihood, which again aggravates the situation due to improper disposal of anthropogenic contaminants owing to the lack of knowledge about the natural cycle of contaminants. The present review article is an attempt to understand the problem of fluoride and arsenic in the scenario of Indian floodplains by first explaining the globally identified mobilization mechanisms of these contaminants and then developing a compendium of knowledge through which the risk on the Indian floodplains can be analysed. Then the study compares the similarity/dissimilarity in the enrichment mechanism followed by a detailed investigation of the available mitigation techniques. In totality, the present study adds a new dimension to our understanding of the risk due to contaminants.