Risk evaluation and distribution of arsenic concentration in groundwater resources of villages in Jiroft County, Kerman Province, Iran

In this study, the arsenic polution of drinking water wells of rural areas was investigated for obtaining the extent of this pollution and also finding the possible sources for this pollution. So, the distribution of arsenic in 19 wells with different depth from 5 to 100 m and water flows were examined in a 6-month period from September 2016 to February 2017. These samples were compared with the international standards. Effects of well depth, water flow, rainfall, soil and land usage on the arsenic concentration were evaluated. The results show that places with the inceptisols have higher water pollution. The highest and lowest arsenic concentrations are reported in Daryache and Hokerd villages with 153 and 0.5 μg L-1, respectively. In addition, matching the geographical map of water pollution with the land use map by hot spots analysis indicated that more polluted water wells have been located around the agricultural land. The results also indicated that the accuracy of the RBF method for obtaining the zoning arsenic concentration is higher than the other methods. The results of Pearson’s correlation test indicated that there is no significant relationship among the depths, flows and rainfalls of wells and the arsenic concentration.