Application of Google Earth in the prevention and management of drinking water type of endemic arsenism / 中国地方病学杂志

ABSTRACT

ObjectiveTo construct geographic information database of drinking water type of endemic arsenism at village level with Google Earth and provide scientific basis for prevention and management of endemic arsenism.MethodsDrinking water samples were collected in the field of Shilegetu village,Tuoketuo county,Inner Mongolia in 2008.Arsenic concentrations were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography-hydride generation-atomic fluorescence spectrometry.Global positioning system(GPS) was performed to obtain the geographic information of the water sources.Google Earth was applied to establish the geographic information database.Results There were 5 drinking water resources in this village.They were located between 40°29′09″ N and 40°29′36″ Nlatitude and 111°28′00″ E and 111°29′02″ E longitude,with the altitude between 1010 m and 1021 m.For all drinking water resources,four water arsenic concentrations was beyond 0.05 mg/L and one below 0.05 mg/L.In addition,one water source had been abandoned and the remaining four were providing daily drinking water for residents of the villages.ConclusionsThe geographic information database,established by Google Earth,can intuitively reflect the real situation of the endemic village.It can provide more useful information for field epidemiological research.It is an effectively tool in control and management of endemic arsenism.