The Bangladesh Observer
July 4, 2004
 
Editorial
 
A Growing Epidemic Of Arsenic Poisoning
The arsenic crisis that first came to light about 20 years ago, is still the focus 
of attention of scientists and researchers around the world. It is now estimated 
that tens of millions of people have been poisoned by drinking the contaminated water. 
Now scientists in the United Kingdom say they have made a significant step forward in 
understanding why the drinking water in Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal 
is contaminated with arsenic.  In an article in the journal Nature, the researchers say 
their findings may lead to new ways of eliminating it from drinking water. If that proves 
to be true, nobody will be happier than the staff of this paper who have been a pioneer 
in the spread of information on the subject.  

Arsenic as we know, gets into groundwater by natural processes, but these are still 
poorly understood.  However researchers at Manchester University have shown that 
certain kinds of bacteria are involved, stripping arsenic from earth and depositing 
it in water which will later be drawn up in wells and drunk.  As Jonathan Lloyd, 
the head of the research team said, "Now we understand a little bit more the processes 
that are taking place, we can for instance predict at-risk wells a little bit more 
accurately. Maybe we can come up with strategies for controlling the water flow a 
little better, to try and prevent these problems taking place." 

Where there are lots of these bacteria, there is liable to be a high arsenic 
concentration some time later. One finding which may be key is that the bacteria 
are most effective when there is little oxygen present in the water and when there 
is lots of carbon.  So it might be possible to reduce the amount of arsenic getting 
into groundwater by pumping air through it. But though in theory it may be possible 
to monitor water for signs of bacterial activity, in practice the idea remains unproven 
and would be difficult to implement over such a large region. 

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) there are at least 100,000 cases of 
skin lesions caused by the arsenic, and the country is now bracing itself for 
outbreaks of cancer over the next decade as the individual dose of the poison 
progressively rises.  It is estimated that one in ten cases of cancer will be caused by arsenic. 

Following the success of a pilot project at Pakunda under Jamtali union of Sonargaon 
upazila in Narayanganj district, undertaken by the Bangladesh Rural Advancement 
Committee (BRAC) in collaboration with the Department of Public Health Engineering, 
UNICEF and Rural Development Academy, Bogra, called the "Pakunda Multipurpose Rural 
Water Supply Project" in 2001, the International Development Association (IDA) has 
provided about 40 million US dollars grant to implement an arsenic and pathogen 
free safe water supply project at small towns and in rural areas.  The Local Government 
Division (LGD) will implement the 55 million US dollars Bangladesh Water Supply 
Programme Project (BWSPP) by 2010. The Bangladesh government will finance the project 
with 5.8 million US dollars while the balance amount would be provided by other sources. 

The World Bank and ERD sources said the project would contribute to Bangladesh''s 
efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in respect of water supply and 
sanitation by 2015. Under the project, piped water supply and sanitation services 
would be developed at villages, growth centres and medium-size towns, and non-piped 
arsenic mitigation activities taken for arsenic affected villages. This is a positive 
move because the current trend around the world of drinking water from underground 
sources is growing and with it a global epidemic of arsenic poisoning is now underway.