Isolation and characterization of arsenic reducing bacteria from aquatic ecosystems in arsenic affected villages of west bengal

Abstract

Arsenic (As) poses a serious public health hazard in Bangladesh, parts of India, Europe, North newlineAmerica and some other parts of the world. More than 100 million people are at risk from newlinecontaminated groundwater having gt50 and#956;g/L arsenic in Bangladesh and West Bengal (Flanagan et newlineal., 2012). Concerning high health risk of inorganic arsenic, permissible limit of arsenic in newlinedrinking water has recently been revised from 50 and#956;g/L to 10 and#956;g/L in India (WHO, 2001; Edition, newline2011). In India, the arsenic contamination in ground water was first detected in West Bengal and newlinethe problem is now rapidly spreading to other states like Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Assam newlineetc. where tube well water often contains gt10 and#956;g/L (Chakraborty et al. 2004). Chronic arsenic newlineexposure through water and food causes cancer, skin pigmentation disorders, keratosis, newlinecardiovascular diseases, diabetes, neuropathy, pulmonary diseases, developmental effects etc. newline