The National Water Policy promulgated in January 1999 presents a firm plan for the following five years, an indicative plan for the next five years and a perspective plan up to 2025. The Plan will be reviewed and updated every five years, set in the context of development indicators for the coming 50 years.

Engineers have reacted sharply to the Draft Development Strategy (DDS) on the use of surface and groundwater prepared by a foreign consultant under a nine-million dollar project of the National Water Resources Management. The voluminous report recommending the use of groundwater, together with water stored on land after monsoon and soil moisture to meet the country’s demands, negates dependence on the Ganges and other rivers except the Brahmanputra.

The report prepared by Mott-Halcrow says, "Groundwater together with water stored on the land after monsoon and soil moisture is expected to be adequate to meet all seasonal demands within areas overlying the resource." The demands also include "full irrigation on all suitable land, except for parts of the south-western and small areas in the northwest, southeast and eastern hill regions."

The report advocated continued monitoring. Commissioned in March 1991 and completed in August 2000, the report recently made a strong plea for harnessing groundwater. "Nevertheless, seasonally lower water levels mean that more force-mode pumping will be required," said the report. Among other recommendations, the DDS observed that all potential demands for groundwater from water supply, the environment, fisheries, forestry and agriculture can be met even in a dry year.

The Bangladesh Water and Power Engineering Association cautioned that recommendations in the DDS, like the use of groundwater, abundant reliance on international river water and gradual abolition of the Water Development Board are damaging to national interests. It urged the government not to accept the report, saying recommendations for utilizing groundwater below 300 metres would have a severe environmental impact. Besides, the observations on use of international river water, if taken for granted, would hurt Bangladesh’s share of water. resolution.

The association demanded that the recommendation on the dissolution of WDB should not be accepted and a task force be formed with Bangladeshi experts to harness water resources. It decided to form a 12-member committee with Chief Engineer, Khaleda Shariar Kabir as convenor to review the DDS and prepare specific recommendations. A national workshop would be held to review the DDS.

SOURCE: The Daily Star (February 3, 2001).

Bangladesh and the Netherlands have signed a "Twinning Arrangement" on water management. The agreement will support the process of policy formulation, planning and institutional reform in the Bangladesh water sector. Under the agreement, there will be an "informal exchange of views, training seminars for specific target groups, and short term missions for training-on-the-job in planning, investigation and research. The expenditure would be borne by both countries".

A press briefing organized by "BROTEE" - an NGO, and the Dhaka Community Hospital at the National Press Club March 16, 2001 observed that due to lack of coordination between the implementing agencies and donors, no improvement in arsenic mitigation activities could be achieved. They also said that some of the western marketing companies, aided and abetted by some donor agencies, were taking full advantage of the situation and were out to create a market for their arsenic filtration devices. As many of these devices were not up to mark, this is something that needs to be taken seriously. So far also, no effective programme for providing "Medicare" to the arsenic affected patients have been taken up. Emphasizing the need for a nationwide clean drinking water policy, they said that excessive Fluoride in the drinking water had also become of concern.

Describing the arsenic contamination of water as a national crisis, the BIAN chief said the World Bank own statistics say 20 million people are at risk and 75 to 80 million people are potentially at risk.. Murshid also raised a three-point demand that included a ban on the sinking of all new shallow tubewells, with immediate effect, plus the formulation of a regulatory framework for drinking water and strict accountability and transparency of all international and domestic water agents.

The Bangladesh International Action Network (BIAN), a UK-based non-political organisation set up recently will seek justice from both domestic and international courts for the people of Bangladesh dying from arsenic poisoning. The Chairperson of BIAN, Councillor Kumar Murshid of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and the Regeneration Advisor to the Mayor of London, speaking at a press conference said that BIAN has launched a major international campaign against arsenic poisoning in Bangladesh. "Today a fundamental human right of the people - the right to water and therefore to life - is at stake."

The government must formulate a National Water Policy for defining clean water safety standards, taking into account not only the problem of arsenic but also of other contaminants in the water like lead, etc. It must commission a single body to coordinate the arsenic mitigation efforts made by all the partners. This body should establish clear priorities, especially in vital areas such as research; testing; prevention; and mitigation. It must also ensure strict transparency and accountability in all practices and especially in resource allocation. This authority must also provide an accessible, up-to-date, information database.

Rainwater harvesting has emerged as a viable alternative source of drinking water for arsenic-affected people of Bangladesh, reports BSS. This probability came out in an experience sharing workshop on "Rainwater Harvesting An Action Research Project", held here at Rajshahi May 15^th.

In a desperate bid to find out an alternative to arsenic-contaminated water, NGO Forum for DWSS, in collaboration with Watsan Partnership Project (WPP) and SDC, initiated rainwater harvesting in Charghat and Bagha taking Swallows Thanapara Development Society, Sachetan and Samata Nari Kalyan Sangstha as implementing partners. So far, they have fielded 51 plants out of the targeted 100. Presently all plants are placed at well to do families for collecting rainwater from CI sheet houses. This is workable for six months from May to October, in full swing and in case early rain occurs, it may be useful in March and April, too....

Referring to the treatment of arsenicosis patients, [Dr. Shukuruddin Mridha] said, we have no developed treatment. Sometimes vitamins A and C are given to the affected people. Under the highly-structured research project, they have identified 178 patients of second and third stages....

Dr. Abul Hussam, a member of the Bangladeshi-American Inc and a researcher on Arsenic, said Bangladesh Arsenic Mitigation Water Supply Project (BAMWSP), with financial assistance from UK Department of International Development (DFID), has tested several technologies for the development of household level arsenic filters. This two-phase work was carried out by WS-Atkins (UK-based consulting firm) in Bangladesh. The following filter technologies were tested in the second phase:

1. Alcan Enhanced Activated Alumina (Alcan) - Foreign (UK- based) company.

2. BUET Activated Alumina (BUET) - Bangladesh Univeristy of Engineering and

Technology

3. DPHE/Danida Two Bucket System (DPHE/Danida) - Department of Public Health

(GOV) and Danish NGO

4. Garnet Home Made Filter (Garnet) - Dhaka, Bangladesh

5. Sono 3-Kolshi Method (Sono) - Kushtia, Bangladesh

6. Steven's Institute of Technology (Stevens) - NJ, USA

7. Tetrahedron Ion Exchange Resin Filter (Tetrahedron) - Maryland, USA

In phase II studies, only Alcan, BUET, and Sono were able to remove arsenic below 0.05 mg/L 100 percent of the time. User preference scores for these three technologies are 71, 42, and 60, respectively. Total user scores in the field also show similar trends. Sono has the lowest operating cost (Taka 325 compared to 25,000 for Alcan). Thorough scientific validation of the

technologies exists only for Sono through peer reviewed scientific publications including that of waste disposal leaching studies. The Sono 3-Kolshi is the only locally developed method using all local materials and without chemicals. Thousands of 3-Kolshi systems are now being used in

Bangladesh and propagated by several NGO's

This addendum should be seen as a replacement for the results presented in Sections 3.68 to 3.74 of the Phase II Report for this project and page 10 of the Executive Summary (both DFID, March, 2001). The Phase II report presented the results from one month’s testing. This addendum presents the results after the second month’s testing.

After two months of constant use of the technologies, one technology had started to show signs of break through. This was the Alcan, where arsenic concentrations in treated waters were beginning to increase to above the Bangladesh Guideline Standard of 0.05 mg/L (see Figure Ad.1). None of the other technologies showed signs of breakthrough, although the DPHE/Danida 2 bucket system had failed to achieve the Bangladesh Guideline Standard throughout the test period.

Break through for the Alcan was achieved after approximately 80,000 litres of water had passed through the system. Break through enables a full cost for water from each technology to be calculated as a cost per litre of water. The Alcan is the only technology where this can now be done:

Table Ad.1: Flow Rates and Volumes put through Technologies during Break through Testing

The Stevens Technology for Arsenic Removal (STAR) along with three other technologies have been approved for nation-wide use by the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) of the Bangladesh Arsenic Mitigation Water Supply Project (BAMWSP). The Stevens University of Technology USA has taken up an initiative to set up Arsenic Mitigation centres in 5 areas of Bangladesh.

Dr Xiaoguang Meng and Dr George Korfiatis, both professors of the Centre for Environmental Engineering of Stevens Institute of Technology, New Jersey, USA, developed the technology in 1997.

NGO Earth Identity Project (EIP) is implementing the STAR technology in Gulbahar, Kachua and Matlab thanas in Chandpur and Companyganj in Sylhet for the last one year. There are over 3,500 people under their projects. Gulbahar is the first "Arsenic Free Model-1" for NGO EIP. The NGO EIP brought the whole village under the safe water drinking project. The Stevens Institute of Technology directly supervises the programmes. Water samples are regularly analysed at the Centre for Environmental Engineering of the Institute.

Dr Meng said the STAR technology, which was based on ion, removed arsenic effectively along with all other heavy metals like lead, iron and chromium, microbes and hazardous materials from drinking water. He said the STAR technology was cheap, user friendly and effective. STAR costs Tk 550 for filter units and Tk 200 yearly for medicine for one

family of seven persons.

Dr Meng also said there was higher phosphate concentration in Bangladesh's ground water which made the removal of arsenic difficult. He said the STAR technology was so designed that the chemicals used in it specially targeted the water of Bangladesh. This technology brought down the level of arsenic in water to below WHO permissible levels. He said STAR technology was in use in the USA for the past 10 years.

Mr. Harold J. Ravash, President of the Stevens University, and Ms. Nasrin R. Karim have signed a memorandum of understanding regarding this project. According to the MOU, the Stevens Institute would distribute 1,000 gallon of water among the people of the arsenic affected areas from each centre. Under the projetcs are 3500 people. Gulbaha is the first "Arsenic Free Model-1" for NGO EIP. The whole

village has been brought under the safe drinking water project.

Adda is a remote village of Comilla located at its Barua Upazila. By 1998, one of the sons of Adda, an Associate Professor of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) Mohammad Delwar (now abroad) found an alarming rate of 179 to 450 PPB of arsenic content in village tubewells, while the contamination begins counted from 50 PPB. With assistance of the [The BUET-UNU arsenic mitigation] project, 16 filters have been installed in 16 families of Adda. A red bucket, one packet of chemicals supplied by BUET-UNU project, heaps of cow dung and

sands and two simple plastic taps are required to filter the water free from arsenic....

A new and sustainable method to make water arsenic free was endorsed by several arsenic specialists here on May 17. Hamidur Rahman 30, a goldsmith of Rajarhat Upazila Sadar, displayed his method to the arsenic specialists here in a ceremony at Kurigram Press Club, which was chaired by its President Shahabuddin. During the demonstration, the specialists tested the water using NIPSOM and MERK methods and found no more arsenic in the sampled water which was contaminated up to 0.2 mg per liter and endorsed the technology. One and a half inches diameter PVC pipe, costing Taka 25, is used to purify at least 200 litres of arsenic-contaminated water. If three inches diameter PVC pipe is taken, about 2,000 litres of water may be purified

daily, Hamidur Rahman said. But he does not want to disclose the secret of the technology. He wants to do more research work to save the arsenic-affected people from home and abroad by using this sustainable and cheap technology. ( BSS)

Tucked away in a $ 8.2 billion State Department authorization bill was a Congress resolution concerning arsenic standards for drinking water in Bangladesh. It states: "Health effects of exposure to arsenic in both adults and children include skin lesions, skin cancer, and mortality from internal cancers. ... The Secretary of State should work with appropriate United States government agencies, national laboratories, universities in the United States, the government of Bangladesh, international financial institutions and organizations, and international donors to identify a long term solution to the arsenic-contaminated drinking water problem."

The sense we get from that meeting is that the Administration is content to work on this issue through the World Bank project, which is essentially focused on testing and marking contaminated wells. Since arsenic is in the water and water is not immobile in the waterbed, this hardly addresses the full need. The arsenic crisis was also raised in Dhaka during President Clinton's visit.

Among several initiatives, the collaboration of the US Geological Survey and the Geological Survey of Bangladesh is noteworthy. The goal of this work is to develop an understanding of the sources and sinks of arsenic in the sediment and integrate this result with sedimentology and hydrology. The US State Department has provided US $200,000 so far and a further $250,000 has been allocated.

Other US initiatives include a large component within the $11 million research program led by Columbia University (Columbia University has recently submitted a training grant application to the Fogarty Center of the US National Institutes of Health to obtain funds to provide multi-disciplinary training to Bangladeshi pre- and post-doctoral felllows interested in tackling the arsenic problem at Columbia University in public health, earth science and social sciences); research project at Sandia National Laboratories, in collaboration with the International Atomic Energy Agency, to analyze arsenic-contaminated shallow aquifer material in the hopes of unraveling geochemical controls on arsenic mobilization; three National Science Foundation reserach grants; and a Trade and Development Agency grant to develop a treatment system.

While the Caucus effort in the State Department authorization bill does not necessarily mean increased financial resources, nevertheless it has increased awareness of the arsenic problems in Bangladesh among Congressional Representatives and others.

SOURCE: Badrul Haque The Bangladeshi-American Foundation Inc.

Dr Dipankar Chakraborty reports:

1) Although we found and confirmed arsenic-rich pyrite in Gangetic West Bengal deltaic sediment and analysed 2,250 bore hole sediments from 87 bore holes and one core boring, we said from the start that the mechnaism of arsenic leaching from the source may not be simple. We also focused on the possible role microbes may play in arsenic leaching.

Dr Kishore Paknikar, Scientist, [Division of Microbial Sciences, MACS Agarkar, S. K. Agarkar Road, Pune-41 1004, India, who took part in the study for microbial analyses of our core boring samples reported in 1998 that " …very interestingly, core samples are likely to have thermophilic iron sulfide oxidising bacteria (growing at 70 degrees C) which can oxidise pyrite material.."

(This paper will be published at the conference on "Arsenic Exposure and Health Effects" of the 2001 San Diego Conference).

2) A survey carried out in 10 villages of 8 districts from December 1998 to January 1999 found many people to be suffering from arsenical skin lesions. During a previous survey it was discovered that groundwater in Bogra contained arsenic between 0.01-0.05 mg/litre. As such it was not expected there would be anyone suffering from arsenicosis but during this survey, it was discovered that in the village of Ulipur, arsenic contamination was as high as 1.5 mg/litre. In addition, out of 89 persons examined, 20 were found to be suffering from arsenic-poisoning.

Information was also received about other villages in the district where patients could be found as for example, village Rameswarpur in Satchua thana. Considering this information it would be wise if the whole of Bogra is thoroughly surveyed.

An earlier survey of Jamalpur district showed the arsenic in groundwater to be above 0.05 mg/litre. At that time no patients were found. During this survey, village Izrapur in Sarisabari thana has turned out to be one of the worst affected villages so far encountered throughout Bangladesh. All the residents of this village were examined and out of 145 people, 73 have arsenical lesions (50.3%). Of the 48 children below the age of 11 years examined, 8 are suffering from arsenic-poisoning. (16.6%). After testing the water it was discovered that the level of arsenic was 1.63 mg/litre. A deep tubewell has been installed and it has been found safe for drinking purposes.

In village Seladi of Shenbag Thana in the district of Noakhali, 72 water samples were tested for arsenic and all were found to be above 0.05 mg/litre. 23 tubewells had arsenic above 1.0 mg/litre and 18 had arsenic between 0.7 and 1.0 mg/litre. Out of 31 people examined, 13 (41.9%) had arsenical lesions. Of the 13 children examined, 4 were found to have arsenical skin lesions (30.7%). In village Chattarpaya in the same thana, 42 water samples were tested out of which 32 had arsenic above 1.0 mg/litre. This is possibly the largest concentration of contaminated tubewells to be found anywhere in the world. Up to now the highest concentration of arsenic in tubewells was found in village Chaterpaya with a concentration of 4.7 mg/litre. From Senbag thana, 538 water samples were tested and 517 were found to be contaminated with arsenic above 0.05 mg/litre.

Village Uttar Dehergati in Babugoni Thana in the district of Barisal was also surveyed. The villagers were not even aware the skin lesions were caused by consuming arsenic in the drinking water. Of the 133 people examined, 61 (45.8%) had arsenical lesions. Out of 181 water samples tested, 10 contained arsenic above 1.0 mg/litre and 23 were in the range of 0.7-1.0 mg/litre. Only 20 samples met the WHO guideline of 0.01 mg/litre.

The district of Jhenaidah was known to be contaminated, but there was no information regarding patients. During this survey, 91 people from village Krishnachandrapur in Mahespur Thana were examined and 24 (26.31%) were found with arsenical skin lesions. A deep tubewell at a depth of 160.6 metres has been installed in the thana but this too is contaminated with 0.11 mg/litre of arsenic.

Arsenic is a silent killer. Undetectable in its early stages, arsenic poisoning takes between 8 to 14 years to show its impact on people’s health. Its effect is dependent on the amount of arsenic ingested, the nutritional status of the person and his immune response. Up to a point, arsenic-poisoning may be reversed by the simple expedience of drinking arsenic-free water. The effects of arsenic-poisoning vary from skin pigmentation, development of warts, diarrheoa, and ulcers during the initial stages but in severe cases, arsenic-poisoning can cause liver and renal deficiencies, or cancer, all of which can lead to death.

To date, several thousands of patients with arsenic-related skin disease have been found. Available data on arsenic-related mortality is however scarce, but in the past few years, dozens of deaths due to arsenic-induced skin cancer have been reported. Because the majority of the country's tubewells were installed in the past two decades, it is likely that many more people will start developing symptoms in the coming years.

Concern for the people who have succumbed to these effects has brought forth several suggestions for treating victims. One such suggestion which may be worthy of consideration has been made by Dr W.K. (Tim) Journey of ACDI/VOCA, Washington, D.C. who suggested ICDDR,B investigate minerals in the zeolite family to see if ingesting an appropriate amount would result in leaching of arsenic from the patient’s body.

Since arsenic is not sequestered in the bones like many heavy metals, it should, in theory, be more susceptible to leaching than for example, lead or strontium. The trick would be to find the right leaching agent – something the arsenic would bind with. The mechanism suggested would be that the arsenic in the blood would be exposed to zeolite in the gut during the process of digestion, where it might bind with the zeolite and be excreted with the faeces. Dr Journey however emphasised the word "might" since there is no experience with using a zeolite to leach arsenic from any animal, (at least not yet) and a specific zeolite with an affinity with arsenic needs to be identified and its side effects tested.

Leaching of arsenic might also be accompanied by leaching or blocking the absorption of other minerlas that are nutritionally beneficial. It would however, be quite easy for ICDDR,B to mount a clinical trial to investigate the potential benefits and risks and, in view of the crisis, and in view of the crisis, would be well worth undertaking.

As zeolites have been used to leach certain heavy metals from humans – for example, cesium was leached from children affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster using clinoptilolite, a common natural zeolite, Zeolites are also used to remove a variety of compounds and ions (mostly cations) from air and water. In 1998, a PhD dissertation at the University of South Florida reported on research that idenitfied a natural zeolite, chabazite, that adsorbed both arsenite and arsenate when modified by attaching iron Fe (superscript: ++) to the crystalline matrix.

"ARSENIC POISONING AND NATURAL ZEOLITES".

Complaints by doctors that patients with arsenic poisoning are not receiving the care and attention they deserve causes us to look at some different options. When we know that the human body excretes arsenic at a certain maximum rate that depends on the individual and that if arsenic is ingested at a greater rate that can be excreted by the kidneys, it will build up in the liver, spleen and blood, new options suggest themselves. Of course we also know that if one can exclude arsenic from the diet, all of the build-up will be excreted within days or weeks with the exception of that portion sequestered in the nails and hair. Therefore if the patient was to drink only arsenic-free water that would be likely to do the job –at least eventually – always provided that the victim has not yet reached the point of no return.

Experts have suggested that introducing zeolite into the diet could potentially accelerate the excretion of arsenic by creating another excretion mechanism in addition to the kidneys. As the blood supply to the small intestine is extremely ramified, and blood is exposed to the fluid inside the intestine, the zeolite would be able to "withdraw" the arsenic from the blood and bind it and it would then be excreted with the faeces, while the kidneys keep excreting arsenic. Arsenic is not sequestered in the bones like lead and some other heavy metals, so it should be more susceptible to leaching. If an effective therapy could be developed, some of the applications could be: 1. Purging of the arsenic body burden from patients that manifest visible symptoms; 2. Purging of patients suspected to have elevated arsenic in the body; 3. Users of a contaminated source take zeolite routinely to maintain a rate of excretion of arsenic that is greater than the intake of arsenic in the diet.

But like everything else there is a trick to it for the right leaching agent would have to be found, something that the arsenic would bind with. But as to date, no investigation along these lines has been undertaken it remains a theory. However, in 1998 a Ph.D. dissertation at the University of South Florida reported on research that identified a natural zeolite, chabazite, that adsorbed both arsenite and arsenate when modified by attaching iron (Fe ++)) to the crystalline matrix. As zeolites have been used to leach certain heavy metals from humans, for example, cesium was leached from children affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster by using clinoptilolite, a common natural zeolite, it could be worth a try. However leaching of arsenic could be accompanied by leaching or blocking the absorption by the body of other minerals that are nutritionally beneficial, a proper trial must be undertaken by a competent body.

What we now need is for a research body like perhaps, the ICDDR,B, to mount a clinical trial to investigate the potential benefits and risks associated with zeolite. Firstly, a specific zeolite with an affinity with arsenic needs to be urgently identified and its side effects tested. And we need to find a good source of zeolite that is not expensive. China is a major supplier of clinoptilolite and can probably supply it at a reasonable price but as the US Food and Drug Administration has not approved the clinical use of any zeolite for this purpose, researchers and health workers are hesitant to use this as a treatment, especially as there is not yet enough clinical or epidemiological experience with chronic arsenicosis to guide clinicians. However there is plenty of evidence to suggest that ingesting modest amounts of zeolite for a few days could do no harm.

We must also be mindful that however successful zeolite therapy may be, it will not "solve" the arsenic problem in Bangladesh. The most that could be expected would be an inexpensive way to accelerate the excretion of arsenic from a patient's body. If an effective, safe zeolite therapy could be developed, the benefit could be to relieve morbidity for those patients who do not have access to arsenic free drinking water or safe surface water and who are unlikely to get relief any other way. This would be far from being a perfect outcome, but it might be at least provide an affordable intervention that would relieve the worst effects of chronic arsenicosis while alternatives to the current drinking water supplies are under development.

Zeolite might also be a viable filtration tool also. All that is needed is to grind the zeolite into particles less than 50 mesh. Pack a high rate sand filter with the zeolite and pump the water through the filter. The filtration effects of zeolite improve as it packs and plugs. An analysis of the product water will give you a quick answer. If you are pumping from a well it is best to have a high rate sand filter prior to the zeolite filter. A factor to keep in mind with zeolite filters is that they work best in a pressurized system. Do the tube wells have adequate pump power to deal with the backpressure from the equivalent of a one-micron filter? Let the experts come forward with answers to these and other questions.

SOURCE: The Bangladesh Observer (March 11, 2001).

Another health concern is the continued use of aluminium sulphate for water treatment, especially if fluoride is present in the water as it can lead to a very dangerous condition - exposure to the alumino-fluoride complex. Aluminium intoxication itself leads to dementia, which is not exactly the same as that in Alzheimer's.

Aluminium is the third most common element in the Earth's crust. This simple fact has been used on a number of occasions to forward the claim that aluminium salts cannot pose an environmental hazard - if they were then all life on Earth would be impossible. In fact, even under normal environmental conditions the toxic effects of aluminium are responsible for enormous ecological damage and economic losses throughout the world. They are also implicated in a number of devastating human morbid conditions, as well as being a recognised complicating factors in renal dialysis.

That aluminium in public water supplies and various medicines can pose a threat to public health has been known for over 60 years (Betts, 1926) and as the main source of aluminium which is able to enter the blood is in drinking water., we should be concerned about the continued use of aluminium sulphate in arsenic mitigation programmes as, when aluminium sulphate is dissolved in water, if forms remarkably complex semi-solid hydroxides, releasing sulphuric acid as it dissolves. If enough aluminium sulphate is added to water, the acidity of the water may increase to such a level that these compounds are redissolved.

The process of flocculation using aluminium sulphate is not entirely stable, as changes in water quality can disturb the formation and management of the hydroxide sludge blanket. This may disintegrate suddenly, releasing large quantities of semi-solid aluminium hydroxide into the water supply. If this water is drunk, then hydrochloric acid released from specialised cells in the stomach immediately dissolves the hydroxide, forming an ionic solution of the chloride.

Yet another concern is the presence of fluoride in groundwater. Many experts already think there may be something else in the water that is causing the extreme reaction on people. As fluoride could be one, although without testing this hypothesis we cannot be sure, it should be investigated. However only a very small percentage of tubewells have been surveyed for fluoride but if this is a factor, it may be time to test for fluoride when testing for arsenic.

Fluorodosis is a skeletal disease caused by exposure to fluoride. A primary symptom of over exposure and the early stages of the disease is a mottling of the teeth, or places were the colour is different than the surrounding tooth tissue. The medical community has set a standard of having more than one tooth showing mottling to establish the early stage of fluorodosis. Later stages of the disease include serious skeletal degeneration, and deformity, including arthritis or similar symptoms. Certainly we would want to know what the presence of fluoride in the water could have on a people already struggling with the arsenic.

As there are numerous incidents of fluoride poisoning, including mass poisoning cases around the world, including some well documented cases in England and the United States, we would be wise to consider fluoride as a factor in the intensity of the reaction to arsenic-poisoning. This is an issue that has already been raised by DCH and others but little importance appears to have been attached to it.

Although the toxicity of fluoride compounds varies with the form, some of the most deadly nerve gas agents the military uses are fluorine based. An example is sarin, somewhat like the gas released in the Japanese subways a few years back. Among its effects, fluorine likes to bind to calcium, which interferes with the ability of nerves to send signals, a way in which large exposures can cause death. In terms of toxicity, the US government considers fluoride to be significantly more toxic than lead, and somewhat less toxic than arsenic.

Since so many of our people are already vulnerable to arsenic poisoning, as well as iodine deficiency, it is totally unacceptable to discount exposure to any known toxins - and ones with devastating results - on people already under severe environmental challenge.

Sweden has agreed to extend financial assistance to carry out research aimed at helping Bangladesh tackle the problems arising out of arsenic contamination of ground water in the country, reports BSS. Swedish embassy to Bangladesh has signed an agreement with the ICDDR, B to support a two-year project and provide 3.5 million Swedish kronas (about Taka 2 crore).

The project, Arsenic in Tubewell Water and Health Consequences began on June 1. The project aims at performing epidemiological research in Matlab upazila of Chandpur where approximately 4,000 tubewells have been found to contain arsenic water. The research will be done on various health consequences, including occurrence of arsenic skin lesions, consequences for reproductive outcome, effect on adult mortality, modifications of effects of the nutritional status on people who are exposed to arsenic at different levels. The project will also provide help for developing water purifying methods and alternative water sources.

The ICDDR, B research project will be unique as it will be supported by background data and statistics that date from the early sixties. It would give some answers which would have an overall impact on the efforts that were aimed at mitigating the worst effects of arsenic contamination in

Bangladesh. The research will be implemented by the ICDDR, B in collaboration with the Swedish Linkoping University and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. The Bangladesh partner, BRAC, will carry out the arsenic mitigation activities.

There is certainly a genuine need to assess the impact of arsenic contaminated on soil and irrigation water in yields and quality of rice, wheat, selected vegetable crops and crop residues used for animal feed. As Bangladesh is struggling to mitigate arsenic toxicity in drinking water with nearly 80 million people feared to be exposed to the aquifer contamination, international experts on Sunday said the toxic element was also likely to affect the food chain, reports BSS.

"Arsenic not only can contaminate water, but also intoxicate soil and crops and consequently endanger the human and animal health," Dr Ravi Naidu of Commonwealth Scientific Research Organisation (CSIRO) told an expert group meeting in Dhaka recently. He added that rice, flour, potato and vegetables were among others crops to ingest arsenic as found in studies in other countries including the United States.

Some Bangladeshi agriculturists earlier said they detected arsenic on paddy husks but the toxic element could not be found in the grain. Agriculture Secretary Dr Shoaib Ahmed, chief engineer of Department of Public Health Engineering Quadiruzzaman and UNICEF representative Shahida

Azfar, among others, joined the two-day UNICEF sponsored expert conference titled "Arsenic, Nutrition and Food Chain."

The agriculture secretary said no extensive studies were yet to be carried out if the arsenic in aquifer had any affect on crops as all concerned still concentrated their attention on drinking water. He said such studies were urgently needed for finding solutions to maintain the crop quality and production level since Bangladesh now achieved self-sufficiency in food.

Professor John Duxbury of Cornell University said scientific evidences were increasing that arsenic could accumulate in crops with root crops like potatoes being more vulnerable to the toxicity. "If we remove arsenic from drinking water, we should (also) establish the other roots

(sources) of exposure including food that does not create a problem," he said calling for launching studies of arsenic toxicity in food chain in Bangladesh. He, however, added that until today many experts thought arsenic intake through food was not a major problem since the toxic

element would show its presence in crops by killing the plant itself before contaminating, particularly the rice grain.

Explaining the arsenic situation in Bangladesh, Colin Davis of UNICEF said the country was yet to look for arsenic patients under the existing health system though some 80 million of the country's 120 million people were feared to be exposed to arsenicosis. "Many of these 80 million

people are likely to be suffering from arsenicosis awaiting diagnosis," he said. Davis called the current process of testing tubewells to be "painfully slow" as less than 1.5 million of the estimated 5-10 million tubewells had so far been tested. On possible presence of arsenic in food chain, he said although "it might be painful, we need to know if arsenic was really affecting the crops."

Kayode Oyegbite, a public health expert of UNICEF, however, said the studies which so far found arsenic in crops were carried out in the other countries and therefore, Bangladesh need not be worried until scientific studies showed such outcome.

The speakers at a day-long seminar "Arsenic Pollution in Bangladesh" organised by Comilla Rotary Club held at Comilla Diabetic Hospital auditorium told that health and socio-economic problem from arsenic in drinking water have already worsened and have been assuming an alarming dimension with the passage of time. Identification of arsenic affected areas, appropriate alternative water supply options for drinking water supply in the affected areas, development of strategies and more investment programmes are needed to control arsenic problem in Bangladesh.... Till January 1999, a total of 30,209 water samples were tested by DPHE in 61 districts where 7,192 samples have shown arsenic concentration more than the allowable limit (0.05 mg/1)....

The School of Environmental Studies (SOES), Jadavpur University, Calcutta, India and the Dhaka Community Hospital (DCH) of Bangladesh have been working on the arsenic contamination of groundwater in Bangladesh for the past 6 years. By June-July 1999, we had completed 24,000 (twenty-four thousand) water analyses for arsenic with FI-HG-AAS (our determination limit with 95% confidence is 3 m g/l) from all the 64 districts of Bangladesh. We have also analysed thousands of hair, nail, urine, skin scales from people living in the arsenic affected villages and screened 25,000 people for arsenical skin lesions. (15% of the 25,000 people screened have arsenical skin lesions).

Estimated information of all these patients with nature and magnitude of skin lesions were registered. Hair, nail, urine, skin-scale of about 35% of these patients were also analysed. We tried to establish the co-relation between arsenic in hair, nail, urine and concentration of arsenic in the drinking water. When skin-lesions are likely to appear on the body is dependent on many factors such as: (a) the concentration of arsenic in drinking water (b) how long the person has been drinking contaminated water (c) the quantity of contaminated water consumed per day (in many cases we found that families who drink a lot of water have arsenical skin lesions but those who drink less water have no such skin lesions) (d) the nutritional status of those drinking contaminated water also plays an important role.

We have hundreds of examples that show that poor people suffering from malnutrition have arsenical skin lesions but those with better nutrition do not have any skin lesions although they are drinking the same amount of water with the same concentration of arsenic.

From 13 years of screening of more than 100,000 people from West Bengal and Bangladesh we now have a list of 12,000 registered arsenic patients with skin lesions. We can now say that where there is more than 300 m g/l of arsenic in the drinking water, people may show arsenical skin lesions. (there are always some exceptions). However we have found a few patients with spotted melanosis who were drinking 90 m g/l (Kolsur village, Deganga Block, North 24-Parganas) of arsenic in the drinking water in West Bengal and 80 m g/l in Samta village, Sharsha Police Station of Jessore District of Bangladesh. However these are exceptions.

Children below the age of 11 normally do not have skin lesions but we have registered a few hundred patients aged below 11 years from West Bengal, India and Bangladesh, when arsenic in the drinking water is quite high, at around 700 m g/l or above. Children suffering from malnutrition also suffer from arsenical skin lesions even when the arsenic in the drinking water is lower than this. (around 400 m g/l).

A) Dr Dipankar Chakraborty strongly recommends dugwells as an option for safe water to combat the crisis related with arsenic contamination in the groundwater of West Bengal and Bangladesh.

But, Peter Ravenscroft, Chief Hydrogeologist of Mott MacDonald says although dugwells may be part of a mitigation strategy, they will be limited in application by the following factors:

1. The risk of bacterial contamination and need for disinfection and protection.
2. Thick clays and/or deep water tables make dugwells inoperable for at least a part of the year.
3. Some dugwells will almost certainly be shown to be contaminated.
4. A large increase in dugwell abstraction may be self-limiting due to either a falling water table and/or drawing up deeper, arsenic-contaminated groundwater.

He said that, at the end of the day, the suitability of dugwells will have to be resolved by empirical measurement and not by theory. As with all other methods, the safety of this form of supply can only be guaranteed by continuous monitoring. The use of dugwells should be considered as one of the options to be selected in accordance with local hydrological conditions, land use, and the cost and social acceptability of alternatives and with the full and informed participation of the prospective users. There is no single solution.

Regarding the age of contamination he says, "My earlier conclusions on the age of contamination were based on general geological reasoning. This interpretation has apparently been independently confirmed by isotopic dating by Dr Pradeep Aggarwal of IAEA Vienna, and his co-workers. They conclude that the contaminated waters have been in the ground for between a few tens and a few thousands of years. Those who suggest an exclusively recent (post-1975) origin would be well advised to examine the IAEA results and take the argument forward."

Regarding the status of the reduction/oxidation debate he said: "Criticism of the Nature and Applied Geochemistry papers largely focused on the small database, which was claimed to be unrepresentative, ,and also speculation on the possibility of fertiliser sources. McArthur et al have tried to address these and other criticisms in a paper in the current edition of Water Resources Research."

2. A report by Dr Arif Mohiuddin Sikder, Coordinator, Arsenic Research Group [BD] says the Arsenic Research Group is looking into the matter of the suitability of dugwells in arsenic prone areas. They are in the process of installing a few modified sanitary dugwells in the project area. Dr Sikder observed that people in rural areas do not use tubewell water for cooking and/or bathing if an alternative source is available. He adds that, it is noteworthy that people are not considering the depth of sediments and water containing a high amount of arsenic while debating the issue of dugwells. From earlier studies [BGS/DPHE] it has been presumed that the depth of contamination ranges fro 30 to 300 feet. Recent studies also reveal that vertical distribution of arsenic concentration with a peak at intermediate depths of 20-80 metres depth (Bhattacharya et al 1997; Bhattacharya and Jacks 2000).
3. It is also quite evident from the chemical analysis carried out by the Asia Arsenic Network [AAN] that the courser sequence [sands containing about 1-2 mg/Kg of As] below 30 feet thick clay sequence [clay layers contain about 19-11 mg/Kg of As] contains significantll less quantity of total arsenic. Nevertheless we prefer to opt for shallow boring prior to installing dugwells, so as to determine arsenic content in the sediments [both total and leachable] and to ascertain the appropriate lithology to install dugwells. Further more he says the geology is usually not alike throughout the whole area. As one of the largest deltas in the world the facies changes are very frequent in the Bengal Delta Plain. That is why the groundwater situation in Bangladesh varies both laterally and vertically from place to place. So it is not possible for anyone to make any assurances about the supply of safe water from any uniform depth throughout the country. The Arsenic Research Group is hoping to commence the provision of safe water to the target community at about the time this Fact Sheet goes into publication in March 2001.

In the wake of growing concern over environmental degradation as well as public health problems in the Bengal Basin, Gosh Research Associates International (GRAI), a non-profit organisation based in the United States sponsored an international symposium on "Bengal Basin Pollution" at Dhaka and Calcutta. The symposium began with a call for the government, NGOs and the people to protect river water and other open water bodies from pollution by industrial and agricultural wastes. The DPHE along with UNICEF and WHO, Bangladesh collaborated with GRAI in organising the symposium which was attended by a large number of scholars, researchers and experts, government officials, scientists, technicians and international development workers from developed and developing countries. The LGRD Minister, Zillur Rahman inaugurated the symposium saying the present government has mobilised local government bodies and people at grassroots level to combat problems like arsenic contamination in ground water.

The West Bengal Assembly has stepped up its efforts to fight against arsenic contamination in the area's drinking water, which some say is at epidemic proportions. Through a grant from UNICEF to the Public Health and Engineering Directorate (PHED) of West Bengal, Atlanta-based Apyron Technologies Inc. has been awarded a $45,000 contract to supply 18 arsenic treatment units (ATUs). The units will be used to treat the water supply for more than 4,500 villagers in the Maldah district beginning next month.

Experts at a recent UN meeting in Bangkok warned that arsenic is contaminating drinking water and threatening the health of millions of people in Asia. Thousands in Bangladesh, China and India are already suffering from arsenic poisoning. The forum, "Geology and Health: Solving the Arsenic Crisis" - convened by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), in collaboration with UNICEF and the World Health Organization - adopted a joint statement noting that in most cases, arsenic contamination is related to geological settings. The experts called for the establishment of a regional ESCAP center for the exchange of information and the prevention of arsenic poisoning in the affected countries. The 62 experts also called for detailed surveys, which "can provide important information to avoid contaminated water sources altogether"

SOURCE: ESCAP release May 9, 2001.

Arsenic has been found in groundwater in Nepal. The Departmet of Water Supply and Sewerage (DWSS) with the assistance from WHO/Nepal conducted a systematic study on possible arsenic contaminaton of groundwater in Jhapa, Morang and Sunsari districts in the year 1999.

British scientists 'failed to check for arsenic risk'

By Steve Connor and Fred Pearce

19 January 2001

Courtesy: The Independent News (United Kingdom)

British scientists failed to detect dangerous levels of arsenic in the supply of drinking water implicated in the biggest mass poisoning in history.

Two studies of groundwater quality in Bangladesh carried out by British hydrologists failed to monitor natural arsenic levels even though the testing was suggested in voluntary guidelines drawn up by the

World Health Organization.

The British Geological Survey (BGS), the UK's most prestigious hydrology centre, carried out the studies on behalf of the Bangladeshi government in the mid-1980s and early-1990s, more than six years before

arsenic was shown to be the cause of the mystery illnesses affecting millions of people.

John McArthur, the professor of geochemistry at University College London, said that if the BGS scientists had followed the WHO guidelines, much of the suffering and many of the deaths might have been avoided.

"If they had tested for arsenic they would have been able to press the panic button. They would have been believed and the world would have known about it long before it did," Professor McArthur said.

"If they had looked for arsenic they could have found it there is no question of that, and remedial action could have happened five or eight years before it did."

Millions of Bangladeshis are suffering from arsenic poisoning as a result of drinking contaminated water drawn from some of the 10 million new wells sunk over the past 25 years as part of an international

development programme aimed at providing clean drinking water.

Many of the residents of Bangladesh's 68,000 villages suffer from the early stages of poisoning, such as ulcerous skin growths. The final stages are gangrene and cancer and an estimated 20,000 people a year have died in the tragedy.

Professor McArthur is critical of the oversight that resulted in the BGS failing to find arsenic. "They did not find arsenic because they did not look for it, even though there were routine, well-established

techniques for doing so," he said. "They should have analyzed for all the trace elements in the WHO guidelines and that included arsenic."

Denis Peach, the manager of groundwater systems and water quality at the BGS, accepts that arsenic was one of the "many parameters" in the WHO's "Drinking Water Guidelines" in the early-1990s. Nevertheless, it was and remains common practice not to measure all the determinands [sic] on the list ... for reasons of cost and/or availability of

facilities," Dr Peach wrote in a statement. "Some judgement always needs to be made commensurate with the scale of the resources available and the perceived at the time likelihood of a problem. In retrospect, we and others made a mistake."

The BGS said that there was no reason why it should have tested for arsenic given that the scale of the problem did not emerge until the middle of 1997 onwards. Arsenic was not routinely measured by most

water-quality labs because it was not widely thought to be a problem in groundwater, other than in mining regions, it said.

However, Professor McArthur said there was no excuse for the BGS not to know about the WHO's guidelines on arsenic.

"If one really wanted to be charitable to the BGS, you'd excuse them for not finding it the first time, but failing to look a second time appears to be inexcusable."