Soil Pollution Due to Irrigation with Arsenic-Contaminated Groundwater: Current State of Science

Food with elevated arsenic concentrations is becoming widely recognized as a global threat to human health. This review describes the current state of knowledge of soil pollution derived from irrigation with arsenic-contaminated groundwater, highlighting processes controlling arsenic cycling in soils and resulting arsenic impacts on crop and human health. Irrigation practices utilized for both flooded and upland crops have the potential to load arsenic to soils, with a host of environmental and anthropogenic factors ultimately determining the fate of arsenic. Continual use of contaminated groundwater for irrigation may result in soils with concentrations sufficient to create dangerous arsenic concentrations in the edible portions of crops. Recent advances in low-cost water and soil management options show promise for mitigating arsenic impacts of polluted soils. Better understanding of arsenic transfer from soil to crops and the controls on long-term soil arsenic accumulation is needed to establish effective arsenic mitigation strategies within vulnerable agronomic systems.