ABSTRACT
Recent studies on arsenic (As) occurrence particularly in African waters show that several sources of drinking water have elevated concentrations above national and international guidelines. In Tanzania, elevated concentrations of As above the WHO guideline (10μg L−1) in Lake Victoria Gold fields is emerging as a threat to public health depending on groundwater and surface water as drinking water sources. In this study, spatial statistics and GIS tools have been used to delineate the relationship between As occurrence and local geological settings. Among the 12 mapped local geological units, the most targeted aquifers for potable water are characterized by granitoids, migmatite, mafic and ultramafic meta-sediments (∼50% of water points). The probability of having As levels above the WHO guideline was 0.71 and 0.33 for surface water and groundwater systems respectively.
