Further

work is required to ascertain the possible origin(s), age and characteristics of DOC in Terai aquifers. The river water chemistry (increase in concentrations of As, Fe, Mo and Abs254) are broadly consistent with the spatial patterns in groundwater chemistry. Although As concentrations in the Bhaluhi River water were below the WHO GLV, there was a general increase in concentrations selleck inhibitor downstream, with a peak corresponding to the middle region of the sampling area where groundwater As concentration were also highest. The higher concentration of As in the river water might be due to baseflow from shallower, more As-enriched groundwater (Mukherjee and Fryar, 2008) or localized reductive processes in the hyporheic zone. This is consistent with Brikowski et al. (2013), who suggested that groundwater in this region made a significant contribution to stream baseflow during the dry Selleckchem INK 128 season. The decrease in concentration of Mn in the middle region suggests precipitation or loss of Mn via sorption. The elevated concentrations of fluoride suggest

fluoride is also being released in the river water via groundwater baseflow. This study extends the work of Bhattacharya et al. (2003) and Weinman (2010) and suggests that, along with carbonate and silicate weathering, microbial mediated oxidation of organic matter coupled with reductive dissolution of FeOOH is likely to be an important process responsible for release of high concentrations of aqueous As(III) and Fe(II) in the shallow aquifer at Nawalparasi. The apparent decoupling between As and Fe may be explained by the formation of siderite, but further investigation is required to confirm this suggestion. Contrary to Williams et al., 2004 and Williams et al., 2005, we found no evidence to suggest sulfide oxidation was a major source of contemporary As. Further work is required

to ascertain the origin(s), role and age of organic carbon in the aquifer systems. However, there are important limitations in using well-based collection Oxalosuccinic acid methods to resolve aquifer geochemical processes. This is particularly the case in environments with complex stratigraphy where the screened zone of tube wells may span multiple, contrasting sedimentary facies. Future work that collects depth-resolved sediments and porewaters simultaneously and integrates sediment mineralogy with aqueous characterization would be of great benefit in helping unambiguously identify key geochemical processes controlling aquifer As mobilization in the Terai. In the shallow aquifer of the Nawalparasi district, groundwaters display reducing/sub-oxic conditions with circum-neutral pH and are characterized by Ca-HCO3 type water. The concentration of aqueous As [mainly As(III)] exceeded the WHO limit (0.13 μM) for safe drinking water in 59 (80%) out of 73 sampled wells.