Abstract
The World Health Organization has labeled the problem of arsenic contamination of groundwater in South Asia as “the largest mass poisoning in human history.” Various technical solutions to the problem fall into one of two broad categories: (i) cleaning contaminated water before human consumption and (ii) encouraging people to switch to less contaminated water sources. In this paper, we review research on the behavioral, social, political, and economic factors that determine the field-level effectiveness of the suite of technical solutions and the complexities that arise when scaling such solutions to reach large numbers of people. We highlight the conceptual links between arsenic-mitigation policy interventions and other development projects in Bangladesh and elsewhere, as analyzed by development economists, that can shed light on the key social and behavioral mechanisms at play. We conclude by identifying the most promising policy interventions to counter the arsenic crisis in Bangladesh. We support a national well-testing program combined with interventions that address the key market failures (affordability, coordination failures, and elite and political capture of public funds) that currently prevent more deep-well construction in Bangladesh.
Highlights
Much of the world’s disease burden is due to environmental threats (PrussUstun and Corvalan 2006)
Arsenic contamination of drinking water is one such important challenge, and this paper describes the scope of that problem, technical solutions that can reduce contamination, and the design of policies to encourage widespread adoption of a solution that could effectively address this public health threat
An estimated 45 million Bangladeshis consumed drinking water with arsenic concentration levels exceeding what is deemed dangerous to the human body according to a report published in 2009 (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and UNICEF 2011)
Summary
Much of the world’s disease burden is due to environmental threats (PrussUstun and Corvalan 2006). Arsenic contamination of drinking water is one such important challenge, and this paper describes the scope of that problem, technical solutions that can reduce contamination, and the design of policies to encourage widespread adoption of a solution that could effectively address this public health threat. Some of the initial attempts at arsenic mitigation focused on the technological aspects of arsenic removal These efforts can only be successful to the extent that the technology is widely implemented by policy makers and/or adopted and used by households drinking contaminated water.
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