Abstract:
Abstract: The concentration of arsenic in water, sediment, and resident hair in the Ie Seu’um geothermal manifestation area has been analyzed using the Atomic Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption
Spectrophotometry (GF-AAS) method. Sediment and hair samples were prepared by wet digestion
using an acid solution. The measurement results were validated by linearity, Limit of Detection
(LoD), Limit of Quantification (LoQ), Relative Standard Deviation (%RSD), and %Recovery. The
validation test showed that this method is very linear, sensitive, accurate, and precise with a correlation coefficient of 0.9999, LoD of 0.009 µg/L, LoQ of 0.027 µg/L, recovery values of 89.117–101.027%
for hair samples and 88.337–105.175% for sediment samples, and RSD of 1.067%. The sample test
results showed that the hot springs contained the highest arsenic with levels of 166.73 ± 0.0081 µg/L
(IS1). In comparison, the water samples with the lowest arsenic levels were in the rivers that had
not been in direct contact with the hot water (IS2) flow, which is 0.80 ± 0.0036 µg/L. All the river
water samples that had been in contact with hot water were boreholes, and the resident boreholes
located around hot water streams/rivers contaminated with arsenic were above the threshold. Only
the river water that had not been in contact with hot water, refill water, and borehole waters outside
the hot water flow were detected to be below the threshold level. All the sediment samples showed
arsenic contamination, with levels ranging from 2.56–6.86 mg/kg, and it was still within the normal
limits recommended by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Arsenic
exposures in communities living around the Ie Seu’um geothermal area, Mesjid Raya Sub-District,
Aceh Besar District, Aceh Province, were very high, where 9 out of 10 respondents were positive for
arsenic with levels ranging from 54.59–164.57 mg/kg, which was already above the threshold set by
the researchers.
Keywords: arsenic analysis; human hair; atomic absorption spectrophotometry; Ie Seu’um geothermal
manifestation; Indonesia
