Arsenic Levels in Drinking Water and Urinary Biomarkers: Implications for Public Health and Nutrition in Poboya Village, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia
Article History
Submited : December 4, 2025
Published : December 10, 2025
Arsenic contamination from artisanal gold mining poses significant public health and nutritional risks. This cross-sectional study assessed arsenic levels in drinking water and urinary biomarkers among 100 residents of Poboya Village, Central Sulawesi. Eight drinking water sources were tested, and all showed arsenic concentrations far above the permissible limit (>10 µg/L), ranging from 40–70 µg/L. Elevated urinary arsenic levels (≥35 µg/L) were found in 75% of participants. Duration of residence was significantly associated with urinary arsenic concentration (p = 0.026), while occupation, nutritional status, and distance from pollutant sources showed no significant associations. These findings indicate widespread arsenic exposure through contaminated drinking water, underscoring the need for improved water safety and integrated public health and nutrition interventions in the community.
- Sultan MW, Qureshi F, Ahmed S, Kamyab H, Rajendran S, Ibrahim H, et al. A comprehensive review on arsenic contamination in groundwater: Sources, detection, mitigation strategies and cost analysis. Environ Res. 2025;265:120457.
- Kapaj S, Peterson H, Liber K, Bhattacharya P. Human health effects from chronic arsenic poisoning–a review. J Environ Sci Health Part A. 2006;41(10):2399–428.
- World Health Organization. Arsenic in drinking-water: background document for development of WHO guidelines for drinking-water quality. World Health Organization; 2003.
- Flanagan SV, Johnston RB, Zheng Y. Arsenic in tube well water in Bangladesh: health and economic impacts and implications for arsenic mitigation. Bull World Health Organ. 2012;90:839–46.
- Keita MM, Ogendi GM, Owuor O, Nyamao WN. Impacts of artisanal gold mining on water quality: a case study of tangandougou commune in sikasso region, Mali. J Environ Health Sustain Dev. 2018;621–9.
- Sagar L, Singh S, Attri M, Maitra S, Shankar T, Sairam M, et al. Arsenic contamination in soil and water across south east Asia: Its impact and mitigation strategies. In: Global arsenic hazard: Ecotoxicology and remediation. Springer; 2022. p. 533–60.
- Tosepu R, Parman P, Nasaruddin N. Heavy Metal Pollution in the Waters of South Konawe Regency, Southeast Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. WSEAS Trans Environ Dev. 2023;19:820–5.
- Levin KA. Study design III: Cross-sectional studies. Evid Based Dent. 2006;7(1):24–5.
- Esparza-Ros F, Vaquero-Cristóbal R. Anthropometry. Springer; 2025.
- Kiani B, Hashemi Amin F, Bagheri N, Bergquist R, Mohammadi AA, Yousefi M, et al. Association between heavy metals and colon cancer: an ecological study based on geographical information systems in North-Eastern Iran. BMC Cancer. 2021;21(1):414.
- Shivhare H, Chincholikar P. ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY: Overview (Techniques & Applications). J Pharm Negat Results. 2022;13.
- World Health Organization. Guidelines for drinking-water quality: small water supplies. World Health Organization; 2024.
- Eaves LA, Choi G, Hall E, Sillé FC, Fry RC, Buckley JP, et al. Prenatal exposure to toxic metals and neural tube defects: a systematic review of the epidemiologic evidence. Environ Health Perspect. 2023;131(8):086002.
- Ganie SY, Javaid D, Hajam YA, Reshi MS. Arsenic toxicity: sources, pathophysiology and mechanism. Toxicol Res. 2024;13(1):tfad111.
- Mattimoe R, Hayden M, Murphy B, Ballantine J. Approaches to analysis of qualitative research data: A reflection on the manual and technological approaches. Account Finance Gov Rev. 2021;27(1):1–16.
- Kanel SR, Das TK, Varma RS, Kurwadkar S, Chakraborty S, Joshi TP, et al. Arsenic contamination in groundwater: Geochemical basis of treatment technologies. ACS Environ Au. 2023;3(3):135–52.
- Domingo-Relloso A, Makhani K, Riffo-Campos AL, Tellez-Plaza M, Klein KO, Subedi P, et al. Arsenic exposure, blood DNA methylation, and cardiovascular disease. Circ Res. 2022;131(2):e51–69.
- Huang Z, Guo L, Chen X, Sun J, Ye Y, Sheng L, et al. Long-term chronic food-derived arsenic exposure induce the urinary system metabolic dysfunction in mice. Sci Total Environ. 2023;898:165499.
- Frisbie SH, Mitchell EJ. Arsenic in drinking water: An analysis of global drinking water regulations and recommendations for updates to protect public health. PLoS One. 2022;17(4):e0263505.
- Sinha D, Prasad P. Health effects inflicted by chronic low‐level arsenic contamination in groundwater: A global public health challenge. J Appl Toxicol. 2020;40(1):87–131.
- Sarkar SD, Swain P, Manna S, Samanta S, Majhi P, Bera A, et al. Arsenic contamination in food chain-a menace to food safety, human nutrition and health. J Environ Biol. 2022;43(3):339–49.
- Dudka I, Kossowska B, Senhadri H, Latajka R, Hajek J, Andrzejak R, et al. Metabonomic analysis of serum of workers occupationally exposed to arsenic, cadmium and lead for biomarker research: a preliminary study. Environ Int. 2014;68:71–81.
- Jenkins JA, Musgrove M, White SJO. Outlining potential biomarkers of exposure and effect to critical minerals: Nutritionally essential trace elements and the rare earth elements. Toxics. 2023;11(2):188.
- Essien EE, Said Abasse K, Côté A, Mohamed KS, Baig MMFA, Habib M, et al. Drinking-water nitrate and cancer risk: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Arch Environ Occup Health. 2022;77(1):51–67.
Copyright (c) 2025 Journal of Global Nutrition

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.