A Comprehensive Study of Arsenic in Drinking Water of Lahore-Pakistan

Presence of arsenic higher than permissible limit is a hot issue in the world in these days. Unfortunately Pakistan is also facing this crisis and arsenic is reported higher than WHO guideline and Standards. From previous studies we came to know a bitter fact that we have arsenic in drinking water with higher value than permissible limit. So a comprehensive study is made by using ICP-OES 1200 technique which is more reliable as compare to other techniques. According to present study 14 sources are found with arsenic value higher than permissible limit with maximum value of 166.9ppb. ICP is a sensitive technique it can¿t ignore a single ion of arsenic during ionization process so it¿s least possible that arsenic can be higher than 166.9 to 170ppb in WASA sources as was reported in previous studies. 2ndly still ICP don¿t give us idea in which form arsenic in present. Arsenic in inorganic form is more toxic as compare to other forms. Water samples are also analyzed for arsenic from distribution system where arsenic values are found higher in sources. It was alarming that in some locations arsenic is found higher than sources.