All the hand pumps in Bhikchu Ka Dera village of Bihar provide water; but, residents use them with fear. “Two years ago, my husband died due to stomach cancer, and this year, my brother-in-law passed away as well. I am now the family head,” says Durga Yadav. “I know the water is poison. But we do not have tap water yet, so we can only depend on the hand pump, be it summer or the monsoon,” she adds. Another resident, Shanti Devi, says, “The water from the hand pump makes my legs bleed. But neither my mother-in law nor I can walk for a long time or over long distances (to fetch water), and the hand pump is accessible.” Such stories are shared in several villages in Simri block, on the Ganga floodplains of Buxar district. The reason is clear: arsenic in groundwater.
Arsenic is a natural element present in earth, soil and water. According to the World Health Organization, its inorganic form is highly toxic and causes arsenic poisoning or arsenicosis, with symptoms like vomiting and dermatological lesions to severe body ache and in extreme cases, death. Consumption of contaminated groundwater is the primary cause of arsenicosis.
In India, arsenic-contaminated groundwater was first detected in West Bengal in 1983. According to the Central Ground Water Board, as of 2025 arsenic is present in the groundwater of 20 states, but contamination runs deepest in agrarian heartlands of the Indo-Gangetic Plains, especially fluvial alluvium deposits of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. In these states, arsenic is generally found in large quantities in shallow aquifers, up to 80 metres in depth, while deeper aquifers largely have concentrations below 10 parts per billion (ppb), according to the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS 0500: 2012). This means people relying on hand pumps are at risk of exposure.
Arsenic is geogenic, or occurs naturally as part of geological processes, and its volume fluctuates by season. It has no odour or taste. Moreover, its concentration in groundwater shows wide spatial variation, according to a 2015 study published in the journal Environmental Geochemistry and Health. This makes it difficult to trace and avoid contaminated water.
Simri block in particular bears a heavy burden, according to a 2016 study published in the International Journal of Preventive Medicine. To understand the situation in 2026, WaterAid India, a non-profit that works on clean water and sanitation solutions, conducted a rapid assessment across 10 villages in Rajpur Kalan, Rajpur Parsanpah, Dullahpur and Simri gram pan-chayats of the block. The assessment found arsenic levels as high as 704.4 ppb…
This article was originally published in the August 16-31, 2026 print edition of Down To Earth