ABSTRACT
Arsenic (As) contaminated groundwater is a serious health issue worldwide (Wang et al. 2009; Smedley 2002). High arsenic concentration in drinking groundwater has caused serious endemic poisoning cases in Bangladesh, India, Mongolia and China, especially northern China (Guo et al. 2005). High concentrations of arsenic have been detected in saline groundwater from Quaternary aquifers in the Yuncheng Basin (YB), a semi-arid area of Shanxi Province in northern China, where groundwater is the major source of drinking and irrigation water. Endemic arsenic poisoning was first confirmed in the YB early 2010s. 18% of the total tested quaternary water in the study area contained arsenic concentration exceeding 10 μg/L, the arsenic maximum contaminant level (MCL) for drinking water in China. Various works have been done to understand the occurrence and species of arsenic in groundwater. However, little is known about the chemical characteristics of arsenic in saline groundwater. In this study, field investigation on arsenic distribution in saline groundwater was carried out with water samples from YB. This will help to understand the chemical characteristics of arsenic in saline groundwater in inland arid semi-arid basin areas.
