I explore hydrogeology and water resources problems, and aim to improve the understanding of the groundwater system and its responses to human uses, in particular the vulnerability of groundwater to contamination and/or its depletion. The scales of my studies span from a few metres to hundreds of kilometres in the basins.
http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/people/m.hoque
The nature and the distribution of the earthquake events in different seismic zones of the countr... more The nature and the distribution of the earthquake events in different seismic zones of the country are intrinsically related to various tectonic elements. The increased frequency of earthquake events in Bangladesh in the last 30 years suggests reviving tectonic activity. In case of severe earthquake and increased probability of earthquakes the risk on the loss of life and damage to the property in Bangladesh will be quite high. Four severest risk zones in the country are inferred those include northern part of Dinajpur, Rangpur, Mymensingh, Sylhet, Tangail, northern part of Dhaka, Khulna, Jessor, Kushtia, and Chittagong. Considering the devastating impact of such impending earthquake on land and society and the lack of adequate infrastructures for earthquake studies, the installation of network of high-sensitivity modern seismographs with all components is immediately needed. Valid predictions of earthquakes can thus be made and warnings are issued in order to minimize loss of lives...
Large abstraction by water-wells has been causing a linear to exponential drop in groundwater lev... more Large abstraction by water-wells has been causing a linear to exponential drop in groundwater level and substantial aquifer dewatering in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The city is almost entirely dependent on groundwater, which occurs beneath the area in an unconsolidated Plio-Pleistocene sandy aquifer. Analysis shows that the pattern of water-level change largely replicates the patterns of change in the rate of groundwater abstraction. Contribution of the aquifer storage to the abstraction is estimated to be more than 15% in the year 2002. This abstraction has caused a sharp drop in water level throughout the city and turned into two cones of depression in the water level. Upper parts of the aquifer are already dewatered throughout the area, with the exception of part of the northeast and southeast corner of the city. It is calculated that about 41 million cubic metres (MCM) of the aquifer dewatered by the year 1988, which increased to 2,272 MCM in the year 2002. Water-level decline may increase non-linearly due to limiting vertical recharge in areas where the aquifer is dewatered and may severely threaten the sustainability of the aquifer.
Drinking water, a fluid primarily for human hydration, is also a source of mineral nutrients. Gro... more Drinking water, a fluid primarily for human hydration, is also a source of mineral nutrients. Groundwater, a drinking water source for more than 70% of inhabitants living in Asian deltas, has received much attention because of its naturally occurring arsenic, but the linkage of arsenic toxicity with other water constituents has not been studied. In addition, although nutrients are generally provided by food, in under developed rural settings, where people subsist on low nutrient diets, drinking-water-nutrients may supply quantities vital to human health thereby preventing diseases. Here, we show, using augmented datasets from three Asian deltas (Bengal, Mekong, and Red River), that the chemical content of groundwater is such that in some areas individuals obtain up to 50% or more of the recommended daily intake (RDI) of some nutrients (e.g., calcium, magnesium, iron) from just two litres of drinking water. We also show some indications of a spatial association of groundwater nutrients and health outcome using demographic health data from Bangladesh. We therefore suggest that an understanding of the association of non-communicable disease and poor nutrition cannot be developed, particularly in areas with high levels of dissolved solids in water sources, without considering the contribution of drinking water to nutrient and mineral supply.
Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is home to a population of 15 million people, whose water suppl... more Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is home to a population of 15 million people, whose water supply is 85% drawn from groundwater in aquifers that underlie the city. Values of Cl/Br >500 are common in groundwater beneath western Dhaka in areas <3 km from the river, and in rivers and sewers around and within the city. The study shows that groundwater beneath western Dhaka is strongly influenced by infiltration of effluent from leaking sewers and unsewered sanitation, and by river-bank infiltration from the Turag-Buriganga river system which bounds the western limit of the city. River-bank infiltration from other rivers around Dhaka is minor. Values of Cl/Br and Cl concentrations reveal that 23 % of wells sampled in Dhaka are influenced by saline connate water in amounts up to 1%. This residual natural salinity compromises the use of electrical conductivity of groundwater as a method for defining pathways of recharge by contaminated surface waters. Concentrations of As, B, Ba, Cd, Cu, F, Ni, NO3, Pb, Sb, Se and U in groundwater samples are less than WHO health-based guideline values for drinking water.
Pollution of groundwater in the Bengal Basin (Bangladesh and West Bengal, India) by arsenic (As) ... more Pollution of groundwater in the Bengal Basin (Bangladesh and West Bengal, India) by arsenic (As) puts at risk the health of more than 100 million consumers. Using 1,580 borehole lithological logs and published hydrochemistry on 2,387 wells, it was predicted that low-As (<10 μg/L) groundwater exists, in palaeo-interfluvial aquifers of brown sand capped by a protective palaeosol, beneath at least 45,000 km2 of the Bengal Basin. The aquifers were predicted to be at a depth of as little as 25 m below ground level (mbgl), and typically no more than 50 mbgl. The predictions were confirmed along an east–west traverse 115 km in length (i.e. across half of Bangladesh) by drilling 28 new boreholes to 91-m depth to reveal subsurface sedimentology, and by mapping As distribution in groundwater. The aquifers identified occur at typically <40 mbgl and so are accessible with local drilling methods. A protective palaeosol that caps the palaeo-interfluvial aquifers prevents downward movement into them of As-polluted groundwater present in shallower palaeo-channel aquifers and ensures that the palaeo-interfluvial aquifers will yield low-As groundwater for the foreseeable future. Their use, in place of the shallower As-polluted palaeo-channel aquifers, would rapidly mitigate the health risks from consumption of As-polluted groundwater.
In forty six wells > 150 m deep, from across the arsenic-polluted area of south-central Banglades... more In forty six wells > 150 m deep, from across the arsenic-polluted area of south-central Bangladesh, groundwater composition remained unchanged between 1998 and 2011. No evidence of deteriorating water quality was found in terms of arsenic, iron, manganese, boron, barium or salinity over this period of 13 years. These deep tubewells have achieved operating lives of more than 20 years with minimal institutional support. These findings confirm that tubewells tapping the deep aquifers in the Bengal Basin provide a safe, popular, and economic, means of arsenic mitigation and are likely to do so for decades to come. Nevertheless, concerns remain about the sustainability of a resource that could serve as a source of As-safe water to mitigate As-pollution in shallower aquifers in an area where tens of millions of people are exposed to dangerous levels of arsenic in well water. The conjunction of the stable composition in deep groundwater and the severe adverse health effects of arsenic in shallow groundwater lead us to challenge the notion that strong sustainability principles should be applied to the management of deep aquifer abstraction in Bangladesh is, the notion that the deep groundwater resource should be preserved for future generations by protecting it from adverse impacts, probably of a minor nature, that could occur after a long time and might not happen at all. Instead, we advocate an ethical approach to development of the deep aquifer, based on adaptive abstraction management, which allows possibly unsustainable exploitation now in order to alleviate crippling disease and death from arsenic today while also benefiting future generations by improving the health, education and economy of living children.
Across West Bengal and Bangladesh, concentrations of Cl in much groundwater exceed the natural, u... more Across West Bengal and Bangladesh, concentrations of Cl in much groundwater exceed the natural, upper limit of 10 mg/L. The Cl/Br mass ratios in groundwaters range up to 2500 and scatter along mixing lines between waste-water and dilute groundwater, with many falling near the mean end-member value for waste-water of 1561 at 126 mg/L Cl. Values of Cl/Br exceed the seawater ratio of 288 in uncommon NO(3)-bearing groundwaters, and in those containing measurable amounts of salt-corrected SO(4) (SO(4) corrected for marine salt). The data show that shallow groundwater tapped by tube-wells in the Bengal Basin has been widely contaminated by waste-water derived from pit latrines, septic tanks, and other methods of sanitary disposal, although reducing conditions in the aquifers have removed most evidence of NO(3) additions from these sources, and much evidence of their additions of SO(4). In groundwaters from wells in palaeo-channel settings, end-member modelling shows that >25% of wells yield water that comprises ≥10% of waste-water. In palaeo-interfluvial settings, only wells at the margins of the palaeo-interfluvial sequence contain detectable waste water. Settings are identifiable by well-colour survey, owner information, water composition, and drilling. Values of Cl/Br and faecal coliform counts are both inversely related to concentrations of pollutant As in groundwater, suggesting that waste-water contributions to groundwater in the near-field of septic-tanks and pit-latrines (within 30 m) suppress the mechanism of As-pollution and lessen the prevalence and severity of As pollution. In the far-field of such sources, organic matter in waste-water may increase groundwater pollution by As.
The distribution of As-pollution in groundwater of the deltaic aquifers of south-eastern Asia may... more The distribution of As-pollution in groundwater of the deltaic aquifers of south-eastern Asia may be controlled by the subsurface distribution of palaeo-channel sediments (As-polluted groundwaters) and palaeo-interfluvial sediments (As-free groundwaters). To test this idea, termed the palaeosol model of As-pollution, we drilled 10 sites, analysed groundwater from 249 shallow wells (screened < 107 mbgl), field-tested another 149 for As, and used colour as a guide to the presence or absence of As-pollution in a further 531 wells. Our work was conducted along a 32-km traverse running W to E across southern West Bengal, India. At seven drill sites we logged a palaeo-interfluvial sequence, which occurs as three distinct units that together occupy 20 km of the traverse. These palaeo-interfluvial sequences yield As-free groundwaters from brown sands at depth < 100 m. The palaeo-interfluvial sequences are separated by two deep palaeo-channels, which were logged at 3 sites. The palaeo-channel deposits host As-polluted groundwater in grey sands. Our findings confirm the predictions of the palaeosol model of As-pollution. We show again that well-colour can be used both to successfully predict the degree of As-pollution in groundwater, and to locate regions of buried palaeo-interfluve that will yield As-free groundwater for the foreseeable future.
Environmental isotopes and 14C dating were applied to estimate ages and recharge sources of deep ... more Environmental isotopes and 14C dating were applied to estimate ages and recharge sources of deep groundwater (⩾150 m bgl) in south-east Bangladesh. With one exception, deep groundwater is shown to have been recharged more recently than 10 Ka (range 3–9 Ka, mean 7.6 Ka), under climatic conditions indicated by δ18O and δ2H as similar to the present day. Groundwater age distributions have been used to infer the scale of aquifer hydraulic anisotropy. 2D groundwater flow modelling is able to reproduce the observed vertical profiles of groundwater age, as determined at two locations, when the aquifer is assigned a permeability anisotropy (Kx/Kz) of at least 103. Under these conditions, deep groundwater originates as recharge in the hill regions at the eastern boundary of the basin. Recharge rates estimated from the groundwater ages are close to an estimate of the current rate of deep groundwater abstraction. Cautious development and careful monitoring are therefore necessary, as excessive deep groundwater pumping could draw dissolved arsenic from the shallow levels of the Bengal Aquifer System (BAS) and contaminate the deep groundwater resource.
Studies within the As-affected Bengal Basin have indicated that low-As groundwater can be found i... more Studies within the As-affected Bengal Basin have indicated that low-As groundwater can be found in a variety of geological and geomorphological settings. The hydrogeological environments that host low-As groundwater may be interpreted within a geological framework determined by the Quaternary evolution of the Bengal Aquifer System (BAS). This provides the basis for delineating the position and extent of shallow low-As groundwater, low-As groundwater in oxidised ‘red-bed’ sediments, and deep low-As groundwater. Data available on a national scale allow a preliminary delineation of these low-As groundwater environments across Bangladesh, based on empirical associations of low-As groundwater occurrences with topography, water table elevation, surface sediment lithology, geology and the screen depth of deep wells in low-As zones.
Shallow groundwater, the primary water source in the Bengal Basin, contains up to 100 times the W... more Shallow groundwater, the primary water source in the Bengal Basin, contains up to 100 times the World Health Organization (WHO) drinking-water guideline of 10 μg l−1 arsenic (As), threatening the health of 70 million people. Groundwater from a depth greater than 150 m, which almost uniformly meets the WHO guideline, has become the preferred alternative source. The vulnerability of deep wells to contamination by As is governed by the geometry of induced groundwater flow paths and the geochemical conditions encountered between the shallow and deep regions of the aquifer. Stratification of flow separates deep groundwater from shallow sources of As in some areas. Oxidized sediments also protect deep groundwater through the ability of ferric oxyhydroxides to adsorb As. Basin-scale groundwater flow modelling suggests that, over large regions, deep hand-pumped wells for domestic supply may be secure against As invasion for hundreds of years. By contrast, widespread deep irrigation pumping might effectively eliminate deep groundwater as an As-free resource within decades. Finer-scale models, incorporating spatial heterogeneity, are needed to investigate the security of deep municipal abstraction at specific urban locations.
The nature and the distribution of the earthquake events in different seismic zones of the countr... more The nature and the distribution of the earthquake events in different seismic zones of the country are intrinsically related to various tectonic elements. The increased frequency of earthquake events in Bangladesh in the last 30 years suggests reviving tectonic activity. In case of severe earthquake and increased probability of earthquakes the risk on the loss of life and damage to the property in Bangladesh will be quite high. Four severest risk zones in the country are inferred those include northern part of Dinajpur, Rangpur, Mymensingh, Sylhet, Tangail, northern part of Dhaka, Khulna, Jessor, Kushtia, and Chittagong. Considering the devastating impact of such impending earthquake on land and society and the lack of adequate infrastructures for earthquake studies, the installation of network of high-sensitivity modern seismographs with all components is immediately needed. Valid predictions of earthquakes can thus be made and warnings are issued in order to minimize loss of lives...
Large abstraction by water-wells has been causing a linear to exponential drop in groundwater lev... more Large abstraction by water-wells has been causing a linear to exponential drop in groundwater level and substantial aquifer dewatering in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The city is almost entirely dependent on groundwater, which occurs beneath the area in an unconsolidated Plio-Pleistocene sandy aquifer. Analysis shows that the pattern of water-level change largely replicates the patterns of change in the rate of groundwater abstraction. Contribution of the aquifer storage to the abstraction is estimated to be more than 15% in the year 2002. This abstraction has caused a sharp drop in water level throughout the city and turned into two cones of depression in the water level. Upper parts of the aquifer are already dewatered throughout the area, with the exception of part of the northeast and southeast corner of the city. It is calculated that about 41 million cubic metres (MCM) of the aquifer dewatered by the year 1988, which increased to 2,272 MCM in the year 2002. Water-level decline may increase non-linearly due to limiting vertical recharge in areas where the aquifer is dewatered and may severely threaten the sustainability of the aquifer.
Drinking water, a fluid primarily for human hydration, is also a source of mineral nutrients. Gro... more Drinking water, a fluid primarily for human hydration, is also a source of mineral nutrients. Groundwater, a drinking water source for more than 70% of inhabitants living in Asian deltas, has received much attention because of its naturally occurring arsenic, but the linkage of arsenic toxicity with other water constituents has not been studied. In addition, although nutrients are generally provided by food, in under developed rural settings, where people subsist on low nutrient diets, drinking-water-nutrients may supply quantities vital to human health thereby preventing diseases. Here, we show, using augmented datasets from three Asian deltas (Bengal, Mekong, and Red River), that the chemical content of groundwater is such that in some areas individuals obtain up to 50% or more of the recommended daily intake (RDI) of some nutrients (e.g., calcium, magnesium, iron) from just two litres of drinking water. We also show some indications of a spatial association of groundwater nutrients and health outcome using demographic health data from Bangladesh. We therefore suggest that an understanding of the association of non-communicable disease and poor nutrition cannot be developed, particularly in areas with high levels of dissolved solids in water sources, without considering the contribution of drinking water to nutrient and mineral supply.
Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is home to a population of 15 million people, whose water suppl... more Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is home to a population of 15 million people, whose water supply is 85% drawn from groundwater in aquifers that underlie the city. Values of Cl/Br >500 are common in groundwater beneath western Dhaka in areas <3 km from the river, and in rivers and sewers around and within the city. The study shows that groundwater beneath western Dhaka is strongly influenced by infiltration of effluent from leaking sewers and unsewered sanitation, and by river-bank infiltration from the Turag-Buriganga river system which bounds the western limit of the city. River-bank infiltration from other rivers around Dhaka is minor. Values of Cl/Br and Cl concentrations reveal that 23 % of wells sampled in Dhaka are influenced by saline connate water in amounts up to 1%. This residual natural salinity compromises the use of electrical conductivity of groundwater as a method for defining pathways of recharge by contaminated surface waters. Concentrations of As, B, Ba, Cd, Cu, F, Ni, NO3, Pb, Sb, Se and U in groundwater samples are less than WHO health-based guideline values for drinking water.
Pollution of groundwater in the Bengal Basin (Bangladesh and West Bengal, India) by arsenic (As) ... more Pollution of groundwater in the Bengal Basin (Bangladesh and West Bengal, India) by arsenic (As) puts at risk the health of more than 100 million consumers. Using 1,580 borehole lithological logs and published hydrochemistry on 2,387 wells, it was predicted that low-As (<10 μg/L) groundwater exists, in palaeo-interfluvial aquifers of brown sand capped by a protective palaeosol, beneath at least 45,000 km2 of the Bengal Basin. The aquifers were predicted to be at a depth of as little as 25 m below ground level (mbgl), and typically no more than 50 mbgl. The predictions were confirmed along an east–west traverse 115 km in length (i.e. across half of Bangladesh) by drilling 28 new boreholes to 91-m depth to reveal subsurface sedimentology, and by mapping As distribution in groundwater. The aquifers identified occur at typically <40 mbgl and so are accessible with local drilling methods. A protective palaeosol that caps the palaeo-interfluvial aquifers prevents downward movement into them of As-polluted groundwater present in shallower palaeo-channel aquifers and ensures that the palaeo-interfluvial aquifers will yield low-As groundwater for the foreseeable future. Their use, in place of the shallower As-polluted palaeo-channel aquifers, would rapidly mitigate the health risks from consumption of As-polluted groundwater.
In forty six wells > 150 m deep, from across the arsenic-polluted area of south-central Banglades... more In forty six wells > 150 m deep, from across the arsenic-polluted area of south-central Bangladesh, groundwater composition remained unchanged between 1998 and 2011. No evidence of deteriorating water quality was found in terms of arsenic, iron, manganese, boron, barium or salinity over this period of 13 years. These deep tubewells have achieved operating lives of more than 20 years with minimal institutional support. These findings confirm that tubewells tapping the deep aquifers in the Bengal Basin provide a safe, popular, and economic, means of arsenic mitigation and are likely to do so for decades to come. Nevertheless, concerns remain about the sustainability of a resource that could serve as a source of As-safe water to mitigate As-pollution in shallower aquifers in an area where tens of millions of people are exposed to dangerous levels of arsenic in well water. The conjunction of the stable composition in deep groundwater and the severe adverse health effects of arsenic in shallow groundwater lead us to challenge the notion that strong sustainability principles should be applied to the management of deep aquifer abstraction in Bangladesh is, the notion that the deep groundwater resource should be preserved for future generations by protecting it from adverse impacts, probably of a minor nature, that could occur after a long time and might not happen at all. Instead, we advocate an ethical approach to development of the deep aquifer, based on adaptive abstraction management, which allows possibly unsustainable exploitation now in order to alleviate crippling disease and death from arsenic today while also benefiting future generations by improving the health, education and economy of living children.
Across West Bengal and Bangladesh, concentrations of Cl in much groundwater exceed the natural, u... more Across West Bengal and Bangladesh, concentrations of Cl in much groundwater exceed the natural, upper limit of 10 mg/L. The Cl/Br mass ratios in groundwaters range up to 2500 and scatter along mixing lines between waste-water and dilute groundwater, with many falling near the mean end-member value for waste-water of 1561 at 126 mg/L Cl. Values of Cl/Br exceed the seawater ratio of 288 in uncommon NO(3)-bearing groundwaters, and in those containing measurable amounts of salt-corrected SO(4) (SO(4) corrected for marine salt). The data show that shallow groundwater tapped by tube-wells in the Bengal Basin has been widely contaminated by waste-water derived from pit latrines, septic tanks, and other methods of sanitary disposal, although reducing conditions in the aquifers have removed most evidence of NO(3) additions from these sources, and much evidence of their additions of SO(4). In groundwaters from wells in palaeo-channel settings, end-member modelling shows that >25% of wells yield water that comprises ≥10% of waste-water. In palaeo-interfluvial settings, only wells at the margins of the palaeo-interfluvial sequence contain detectable waste water. Settings are identifiable by well-colour survey, owner information, water composition, and drilling. Values of Cl/Br and faecal coliform counts are both inversely related to concentrations of pollutant As in groundwater, suggesting that waste-water contributions to groundwater in the near-field of septic-tanks and pit-latrines (within 30 m) suppress the mechanism of As-pollution and lessen the prevalence and severity of As pollution. In the far-field of such sources, organic matter in waste-water may increase groundwater pollution by As.
The distribution of As-pollution in groundwater of the deltaic aquifers of south-eastern Asia may... more The distribution of As-pollution in groundwater of the deltaic aquifers of south-eastern Asia may be controlled by the subsurface distribution of palaeo-channel sediments (As-polluted groundwaters) and palaeo-interfluvial sediments (As-free groundwaters). To test this idea, termed the palaeosol model of As-pollution, we drilled 10 sites, analysed groundwater from 249 shallow wells (screened < 107 mbgl), field-tested another 149 for As, and used colour as a guide to the presence or absence of As-pollution in a further 531 wells. Our work was conducted along a 32-km traverse running W to E across southern West Bengal, India. At seven drill sites we logged a palaeo-interfluvial sequence, which occurs as three distinct units that together occupy 20 km of the traverse. These palaeo-interfluvial sequences yield As-free groundwaters from brown sands at depth < 100 m. The palaeo-interfluvial sequences are separated by two deep palaeo-channels, which were logged at 3 sites. The palaeo-channel deposits host As-polluted groundwater in grey sands. Our findings confirm the predictions of the palaeosol model of As-pollution. We show again that well-colour can be used both to successfully predict the degree of As-pollution in groundwater, and to locate regions of buried palaeo-interfluve that will yield As-free groundwater for the foreseeable future.
Environmental isotopes and 14C dating were applied to estimate ages and recharge sources of deep ... more Environmental isotopes and 14C dating were applied to estimate ages and recharge sources of deep groundwater (⩾150 m bgl) in south-east Bangladesh. With one exception, deep groundwater is shown to have been recharged more recently than 10 Ka (range 3–9 Ka, mean 7.6 Ka), under climatic conditions indicated by δ18O and δ2H as similar to the present day. Groundwater age distributions have been used to infer the scale of aquifer hydraulic anisotropy. 2D groundwater flow modelling is able to reproduce the observed vertical profiles of groundwater age, as determined at two locations, when the aquifer is assigned a permeability anisotropy (Kx/Kz) of at least 103. Under these conditions, deep groundwater originates as recharge in the hill regions at the eastern boundary of the basin. Recharge rates estimated from the groundwater ages are close to an estimate of the current rate of deep groundwater abstraction. Cautious development and careful monitoring are therefore necessary, as excessive deep groundwater pumping could draw dissolved arsenic from the shallow levels of the Bengal Aquifer System (BAS) and contaminate the deep groundwater resource.
Studies within the As-affected Bengal Basin have indicated that low-As groundwater can be found i... more Studies within the As-affected Bengal Basin have indicated that low-As groundwater can be found in a variety of geological and geomorphological settings. The hydrogeological environments that host low-As groundwater may be interpreted within a geological framework determined by the Quaternary evolution of the Bengal Aquifer System (BAS). This provides the basis for delineating the position and extent of shallow low-As groundwater, low-As groundwater in oxidised ‘red-bed’ sediments, and deep low-As groundwater. Data available on a national scale allow a preliminary delineation of these low-As groundwater environments across Bangladesh, based on empirical associations of low-As groundwater occurrences with topography, water table elevation, surface sediment lithology, geology and the screen depth of deep wells in low-As zones.
Shallow groundwater, the primary water source in the Bengal Basin, contains up to 100 times the W... more Shallow groundwater, the primary water source in the Bengal Basin, contains up to 100 times the World Health Organization (WHO) drinking-water guideline of 10 μg l−1 arsenic (As), threatening the health of 70 million people. Groundwater from a depth greater than 150 m, which almost uniformly meets the WHO guideline, has become the preferred alternative source. The vulnerability of deep wells to contamination by As is governed by the geometry of induced groundwater flow paths and the geochemical conditions encountered between the shallow and deep regions of the aquifer. Stratification of flow separates deep groundwater from shallow sources of As in some areas. Oxidized sediments also protect deep groundwater through the ability of ferric oxyhydroxides to adsorb As. Basin-scale groundwater flow modelling suggests that, over large regions, deep hand-pumped wells for domestic supply may be secure against As invasion for hundreds of years. By contrast, widespread deep irrigation pumping might effectively eliminate deep groundwater as an As-free resource within decades. Finer-scale models, incorporating spatial heterogeneity, are needed to investigate the security of deep municipal abstraction at specific urban locations.
Uploads
Papers by Mohammad Hoque