GIS Application for Monitoring Groundwater Arsenic Contamination in Bangladesh

Abstract

Bangladesh is a nation of over 125 million population with a geographical area of 1,48,393 km2 and located on the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna Delta. The major part of the country is now severely affected by mass poisoning from arsenic in groundwater. The latest statistics on the arsenic contamination in groundwater indicates that 59 out of 64 districts, about 80% of the total area of Bangladesh and about 40 million people are at risk. Presently about 116 million people depend on water from tube-wells for drinking, cooking, washing and bathing and about 60 million people are drinking and using arsenic contaminated groundwater. Arsenic level now ranges from 0 ppm to 0.98 ppm and the maximum permissible level of arsenic in Bangladesh drinking water is 0.05 ppm. Average values of different tubewells data on thana census blocks have been used in this study. A spatial and temporal distribution of Groundwater Arsenic Contamination Intensity (GACI) has been developed using Geographical Information System (GIS) in order to assist decision making process in some critical areas, particularly to protect human health. The digitized thana boundary maps with longitude-latitude coordinates storing information in the form of metadata has also been developed to visualize GACI information in thana census blocks of Bangladesh. The MapBasic Professional 4.5 has used for developing user-interface design and MapInfo Professional 4.5 for the visualization of spatial information. The user-interface GIS approach can help policy makers deciding proper groundwater utilization and taking necessary steps to supplying safe drinking water to the domestic and industrial areas.