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Environmental science

Rising arsenic risk?

Millions of people in southern Asia rely on arsenic-contaminated groundwater to live. Massive water withdrawals through wells may be increasing the problem by drawing arsenic-mobilizing substances into shallow aquifers and arsenic-contaminated shallow groundwaters into deeper aquifers.

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Figure 1: Tube well used to supply groundwater to villagers.

THOMAS ROSENBERG

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Polya, D., Charlet, L. Rising arsenic risk?. Nature Geosci 2, 383–384 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo537

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