Health Implications of Drinking Water Salinity in Coastal Areas of Bangladesh.

Rishika Chakraborty,Mohammad Zahirul Islam,Khalid M Khan,Md Alfazal Khan,Ali Ahmed,Daniel T Dibaba

doi:10.3390/ijerph16193746

Abstract

Coastal areas in South Asian countries are particularly vulnerable to elevated water salinity. Drinking water salinity has been found to be associated with cardiovascular diseases (CVD), diarrhea, and abdominal pain. Our study aimed to find if excess drinking water salinity was associated with increased hospital visits with an array of health effects in coastal sub-districts of Bangladesh. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 157 participants from three coastal sub-districts. A face-to-face interview was conducted to collect salinity exposure and hospital visit data. Water samples were collected from both drinking and other household water sources for the measurement of salinity and total dissolved solids (TDS). CVD, diarrhea, and abdominal pain related hospital visits were found to be significantly associated with high water salinity and TDS. Households exposed to high salinity demonstrated a higher frequency of hospital visits than the low salinity-exposed households. People exposed to high salinity seemed to lack awareness regarding salinity-inducing health effects. Water salinity is a public health concern that will continue to rise due to climate change. Therefore, raising awareness about the health risks of water salinity is essential for the government to frame policies and mitigation strategies to control this emerging threat.

Highlights

Water salinity has been identified as an increasing public health concern affecting thousands of households every year
Our study reported increased hospital visits for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in people from high salinity areas, which is consistent with several previous studies that reported a positive association between drinking is consistent with several previous studies that reported a positive association between drinking water salinity and hypertension, which is one of the strongest risk factors for CVD
We have reported associations between elevated drinking water salinity and increased frequency of hospital visits for CVD, diarrhea, and abdominal pain, which increased with increasing quartiles of water salinity

Summary

Introduction

Water salinity has been identified as an increasing public health concern affecting thousands of households every year. Salinity intrusion occurs significantly in coastal areas of Asian countries, such as Bangladesh, China, and Vietnam, but has been reported in California, Brazil, and the Netherlands [1]. Exposure to a high level of saline via drinking water in coastal populations has led to increased cardiovascular and other diseases. Climate change, which leads to sea level rise and exacerbates cyclones and storm surges, is one of the primary drivers of water salinity [2]. The geomorphology of Bangladesh has always made the country vulnerable to natural hazards such as storm surges, cyclones, inundation, and seawater intrusion. The southern coastal regions of Bangladesh are only 1m to 3m above mean sea level [3], which has resulted in seawater contamination

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