Well Water Arsenic Mitigation in Bangladesh: Benefits Outweighing Risks of Sharing Private Environmental Data.

Chapter 32 - Arsenic mitigation in Bangladesh: Progress of the UNICEF-DPHE Arsenic Mitigation Project 2002

Arsenic mitigation in Bangladesh: An analysis of institutional stakeholders' opinions

Since 2000, nearly 5 million wells in Bangladesh have been tested for arsenic. Results of this survey are presented, and it is estimated that approximately 20% of tube wells nationwide contain arsenic above the drinking water limit of 50 parts per billion, with approximately 20 million people at risk of consuming water above this limit. Three case studies in arsenic mitigation are presented, which indicate that substantial progress has been made in raising awareness about arsenic. Substantial differences were found in tubewell surveys made in 2001 and 2005, with 17% of tubewells painted green in 2001 showing arsenic above 50 ppb in 2005, and 12% of tubewells painted red in 2001 showing 50 ppb arsenic or less in 2005. In 38% of households having red tubewells, household water was found to contain 50 ppb arsenic or less, indicating substantial behaviour change. In two upazilas where safe alternatives (primarily safe shallow tubewells and newly installed deep tubewells) are available, 52% and 75% of people at risk were found to have arsenic-safe water in the household, indicating that they have changed their drinking water sources. In a third upazila where safe alternatives are scarce, less than 10% of people at risk were found to have safe water in the home. The greatest challenges remain in areas where contamination is high but installation of new safe water points is constrained for technical reasons (e.g. unsuitability of the deep aquifer).

The arsenic contamination of groundwater in Bangladesh, first detected in 1993, remains a significant public health crisis, affecting millions of people. Despite decades of mitigation efforts, including interventions from the government, international agencies, and NGOs, arsenic contamination persists, particularly in rural areas. The crisis, which has led to chronic arsenic poisoning and various health issues, calls for more effective, sustainable solutions. This paper reviews the current state of arsenic contamination in Bangladesh, highlighting the complex hydrogeological conditions and the demographic impact of this issue. The approach focuses on the use of accessible arsenic testing kits, responsible utilization of deep arsenic-free aquifers, and affordable, locally manufactured water treatment technologies. This strategy aims to empower local stakeholders and provide self-reliant, scalable solutions to mitigate arsenic exposure, promoting health and sustainability in rural communities. The proposed solutions are designed to be adaptable to other arsenic-affected regions in South Asia, offering a model for addressing the arsenic crisis in resource-constrained environments.

Summarizing the recommendation of arsenic research during Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) era in Bangladesh-future directions for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Increase in Diarrheal Disease Associated with Arsenic Mitigation in Bangladesh

Numerous parts of the developing world are afflicted by pollution and poison from both man-made and natural sources. Efforts to mitigate these environmental contaminants are often inherently political, and it is difficult to discern if those efforts reach all intended beneficiaries. We argue that as spatial precision increases, it is likely that donors lose control of foreign aid. Using geo-spatial data, we find evidence in Bangladesh that efforts to mitigate groundwater arsenic are generally directed to broad areas with higher levels of contamination. However, within those areas, we find that mitigation measures supported by foreign aid only reduce arsenic when they are located near (politically important) exporting firms. We argue that this supports a political economy rationale wherein donors may be able to target their assistance at a mezzo level, while powerful socio-economic interests are able to capture and direct resources at a micro level, potentially exacerbating intra-country inequality.

Policy Response and Arsenic Mitigation in Bangladesh

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Enhancing arsenic mitigation in Bangladesh: Findings from institutional, psychological, and technical investigations

BackgroundMillions of households throughout Bangladesh have been exposed to high levels of arsenic (As) causing various deadly diseases by drinking groundwater from shallow tubewells for the past 30 years. Well testing has been the most effective form of mitigation because it has induced massive switching from tubewells that are high (>50 µg/L) in As to neighboring wells that are low in As. A recent study has shown, however, that shallow low-As wells are more likely to be contaminated with the fecal indicator E. coli than shallow high-As wells, suggesting that well switching might lead to an increase in diarrheal disease.MethodsApproximately 60,000 episodes of childhood diarrhea were collected monthly by community health workers between 2000 and 2006 in 142 villages of Matlab, Bangladesh. In this cross-sectional study, associations between childhood diarrhea and As levels in tubewell water were evaluated using logistic regression models.ResultsAdjusting for wealth, population density, and flood control by multivariate logistic regression, the model indicates an 11% (95% confidence intervals (CIs) of 4–19%) increase in the likelihood of diarrhea in children drinking from shallow wells with 10–50 µg/L As compared to shallow wells with >50 µg/L As. The same model indicates a 26% (95%CI: 9–42%) increase in diarrhea for children drinking from shallow wells with ≤10 µg/L As compared to shallow wells with >50 µg/L As.ConclusionChildren drinking water from shallow low As wells had a higher prevalence of diarrhea than children drinking water from high As wells. This suggests that the health benefits of reducing As exposure may to some extent be countered by an increase in childhood diarrhea.

Rural families in Bangladesh, one of the poorest countries in the world, face financial risks from major illness both from the cost of medical care and from the loss of income associated with reduced labor supply and productivity. Chronic exposure to arsenic in drinking water has often been associated with the development of skin cancers and internal cancers, especially of the bladder, liver, and lungs, and a wide variety of other health conditions, such as diabetes, respiratory problems, cardiovascular diseases, hyperpigmentation, hypopigmentation, and keratosis, a condition in which painful nodules grow on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. Most of the economic work on arsenic contamination in Bangladesh has had an epidemiological focus that has tried to effectively monetize a dose response relation using either a cost of illness or a willingness to pay approach.

This study focuses on the institutional stakeholders and elicits their opinions on various aspects of available As mitigation measures and identifies their preferences for and conflicts concerning specific mitigation measures. The results of this research give a better understanding of the factors hindering successful implementation of As mitigation1 INTRODUCTIONIt has been estimated that between 25-57 million people are potentially at risk of impaired health due to direct As exposure through drinking water exceeding the Bangladesh guideline value of 50 μg/L (Kinniburgh et al. 2003; Ahmed et al. 2004; BAMWASP 2007). People in Bangladesh are primarily directly exposed to As through the food ingestion pathway, that is mainly through the consumption of contaminated drinking water and large amounts of rice and other foods (Khan et al. 2009). Prolonged As exposure via dietary intake causes a wide spectrum of health effects including skin lesions, melanosis, hyperkeratosis, jaundice, vascular diseases and cancer of various organs or tissues such as skin, liver, lung and bladder (Smith et al. 2000; Yu et al. 2003; Tchounwou et al. 2004; Parvez et al. 2006; Rahman et al. 2007). Arsenic contamination of shallow tubewells (STWs) poses significant challenges to the water, health, agriculture and financial sectors of Bangladesh because As contamination is a complex multifaceted problem which makes mitigation a complex and expensive process. To tackle the problem, several As mitigation technological options have been introduced in Bangladesh, including deep tubewellseffective, economically viable and socially acceptable options to combat As exposure.

Arsenic contamination of shallow groundwater in Bangladesh is a major public health problem; the main response to date has been installing alternative water supplies. A survey of the functional status of a statistically representative sample of water supplies was undertaken in 2005 to assess whether these provide a sustainable water supply to arsenic-affected communities. A questionnaire was administered in communities containing a total 1060 water supplies. Eight percent of water supplies could not be located and only 64% of those located were working at the time of the survey. When weighted for the numbers of different technologies across the country, the results indicate 76% of alternative water supplies would be working. Water supplies working at the time of the survey often broke down. Community contributions were found to be important in determining whether a water supply would be functional. Recommendations are made for revisions of the current mitigation strategy.

The discovery of arsenic contamination of groundwater in many nations including Bangladesh shows that this is a global problem. Because of the delayed health effects, poor reporting, and low levels of awareness in some communities, the extent of the adverse health problems caused by arsenic in drinking-water is at alarming level in Bangladesh. Also, allocating resources such as tube wells efficiently and effectively to mitigate arsenic hazard is a challenging task in Bangladesh. To allocate resources based on different arsenic hazard parameters, we have developed a Decision Support System that enables the user to observe the effect of allocation policy both in tabular and spatial format using statistical models. We have also developed an algorithm for optimal allocation of resources. Finally, we have analyzed and demonstrated the efficacy of our algorithm graphically.