Abstract
Research work was conducted in Wazirabad District to investigate the concentrations of arsenic in irrigation water, soil and plant parts and to assess the future threat to the economy. The level of arsenic inirrigation water was very much above the WHO permissible limit (0.01 mg/l) for drinking water but within the FAO permissible limit of 0.10 mg/l for irrigation water. Results indicate that the arsenic is transferred from irrigation water and paddy soil to various parts of rice plants. In none of the studied samples the concentration of arsenic in soil exceeds the permissible limit of 25 mg/Kg, thus the exposure of the people living in the study area to arsenic is not a matter of immediate concern at the moment but future projections of soil arsenic (52.5 mg/Kg in 2035 and 147 mg/Kg in 2045) cannot be ignored as it possesses serious future threats to human health and economy of the country. To avoid future disturbance due to arsenic contamination, there is a need to take appropriate steps such as the development of new irrigation strategies and continuous monitoring of irrigation water, soil and grain.
Keywords: Arsenic, water, paddy soil, rice, regression, correlation.
