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Arsenic poisoning of groundwater: a way to supply arsenic-free water to the community

Dr Richard Anstiss, Abdul Wakib Khan, Dr Chandra Arewgoda and Prof Mushfique Ahmed

The New Zealand-Bangladesh Bilateral Development Program

Arsenic contamination of groundwater has reached a state of calamity in Bangladesh. A large number of people in Bangladesh have been suffering, and many of them are dying from arsenicosis and related complications. Making use of arsenic adsorption on ferric oxyhydroxide and settling, we found it optimal to add modest quantities of pre-precipitated ferric oxyhydroxide in well-head treatment tanks to obtain efficient enough adsorption (As<0.05 ppm) to be of practical use by people using water regularly from the tanks (<100 litres). This simple low-cost procedure produces some arsenic-rich ferric oxyhydroxide, however the volume of drinkable water produced is substantial, and arsenic adsorption and settling are relatively fast. During the 1998-99 dry season we - members of the New Zealand-Bangladesh Bilateral Development Program - will be implementing a three year arsenic removal pilot program in Chapainawabganj, a severely arsenic contaminated district in northwest Bangladesh (where maximum arsenic concentrations can be as high as 2.4 ppm). It is hoped that with a combination of such water treatment and prudent well management integrated with a public health program, this large-scale crisis in Bangladesh can be tackled successfully.


 

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