The Daily Star:   Volume 3 Number 880      Wed. February 27, 2002 

       Editorial

      It's not just arsenic that demands our concern

      Harmful metals and chemicals in water challenge safe water policy




      IT'S not just arsenic anymore in the groundwater. A recent survey 
      indicates that a variety of metals and chemicals are in the groundwater 
      and in dangerous quantities. They include uranium, cadmium, antimony, 
      boron, chromium and a host of other elements. The safe looking water that 
      gurgles out of the tubewells may have a cross and skull mark on many of 
      the droplets. 

      British Geological Society and the Department of Public Health Engineering 
      (DPHE) had carried out a survey in 1998-1999 and the results are now being 
      made public. But what is being told is not good news. This isn't just in 
      terms of what is naturally present in the water but also about our ability 
      to develop a safe water policy. 

      The study suggests that the presence of the harmful chemicals and metals 
      are quite extensive and it was found in all 31 districts where the survey 
      was carried out. This study took 3534 samples and is considered nationally 
      representative.

      The substances found in the tested water can cause almost every ailment in 
      the book and a number of them have carcinogenic elements as well. Others 
      may cause massive multiple organ damage and hypertension too. Impotence 
      and infertility as a result of exposure to such elements are also 
      possible. It's not just a localized health problem but points to a fresh 
      set of environmental health problem with long term implications 
      nationally. International agencies have already declared that they will 
      have to expand their testing parameters from the present seven harmful 
      chemicals to look out for and incorporate some of those found in the 
      latest survey.
 
      One of the issues that emerge out of this survey is the bare fact of 
      person-soil relationship. The idea of endless exploitation of nature 
      without any responsibility is a myth, which we can no longer follow. We 
      have seen how the arsenic crisis hit us and completely disrupted the 
      much-lauded safe water supply programme. While it is true that arsenic and 
      these elements occur naturally, it's all the more reason for us to 
      remember that nature hasn't given a blank cheque on its exploitation. The 
      latest report has added to our concern.

      We need to have a policy and actions that are built around the realities 
      of environment, health and the need to have a balanced natural resources 
      utilization policy. The survey in question is a reality check that must 
      lie at the top of our list of concerns.