70 % of the total shallow tube-wells in Bangladesh were found contaminated by arsenic

Ahmed Faruque Hassan, IOL Bangladesh correspondent

DHAKA, February 10 (IslamOnline) - Nearly 70 percent of the total shallow tube-wells (SWT) in Bangladesh's five coastal districts has been found contaminated by arsenic, exposing more than four million people there to arsenic related diseases.

The first official detection in 1993 and subsequent confirmation after 1995 of high levels of Arsenic in numerous shallow and deep wells in various parts of the country has raised serious health concerns.

Recent investigations, though incomplete, confirm that the occurrence of Arsenic in groundwater is more widespread than assumed at first and that it already affects a large number of people.

The latest statistics available on the arsenic contamination in groundwater indicates that 59 districts, around 85% of the total area of Bangladesh and about 75 million people, are at risk. It is estimated that at least 1.2 million people are exposed to Arsenic poisoning with 24 millions potentially exposed.

The highest level of aquifer contamination was discovered in Noakhali, where 79.5 per cent of the tube-wells were sprouting arsenic mixed water. The discovery was made by the first ever extensive screening of STW in the coastlines, official sources in Dhaka said.

Barisal holds the second position with 78.7 per cent tube-wells extracting water with arsenic pollutants, followed by Laksmipur, Feni and Pirozpur, where arsenic has been found in 51.9 per cent, 51.6 per cent and 19.2 per cent tube wells.

The screening carried out by Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM) found the highest arsenic concentration level in 96.8 percent tube-wells in Barisal Sadar sub-district. Next comes the Begumganj sub-district, where 93.6 per cent tube0-wells were found pumping out arsenic contaminated water, the report said.

Concerned officials and voluntary organizations working in these arsenic affected areas said that the people there were facing acute problems due to inadequate arrangement for safe drinking water.

DAM in collaboration with the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) conducted the survey with Danish assistance as the implementer of socio-economic intervention of DPHE-Danida Arsenic Mitigation Component with the partnership of 14 local NGOs.

However, the already detected 140 arsenicosis victims of that area have been suggested to contact physicians at the local health complexes for their clinical diagnosis and curative measures.

A total of 2,116 deep tube-wells have so far been installed in the affected areas under the project till December 2002 to meet the huge demand for safe water there, report also said.

Meanwhile, UNICEF representative to Bangladesh Morten Giersing urged the authorities to test all tube wells across the country within next one year to tackle arsenic problem.

"Bangladesh was an exceptionally successful in providing safe water to people. But arsenic problem has spoiled that success. It's a dramatic problem but we need to scale it down because people suffer from horrific sickness once they become exposed to the disease," the UNICEF representative said while addressing a seminar on “Water and Sustainable Development” at National Press Club on Saturday, February 8 .

Media Network for Sustainable Development (MNSD) organized the seminar in association with UNICEF and UN Information Centro (UNIC) here to create awareness about significance of the year 2003 as International Year of Fresh Water. Minister for Bangladesh Water Resources L K Siddiqui inaugurated the seminar as chief guest.

Morten Giersing said arsenic test requires less than one dollar per tube-well. He said Kyoto conference of World Water Forum would introduce `water poverty index'. Some Bangladeshi children will also visit the conference as participant of the children's water forum. Safe water brings down child mortality rate, he said.

Morten said Bangladesh can achieve 100 percent sanitation coverage by 2015 if it takes appropriate steps. A high-level ministerial conference for Asian nations titled `AsiaSan-2003' will be held in Dhaka by September, he added.

The Water Resources Minister said many water related problems and issues in the developing countries are identical. Like Bangladesh, he said, the Chinese people are also facing some water related problems.

"The difference is, China has control over their water resource but we don't have that level of control," the minister said.

Siddiqui said flood, drought and over irrigation are annual problems.

"Sharing of water is a unique problem but we have to resolve the issue. Ganges river serve as a major source of fresh water for our people but unfortunately Ganges water is not pollution- free," the minister said. Mr LK Siddiqi has sought supports from international community to reduce pollution in the Ganges.

“Ganges water is the most polluted water in the world,” said the minister, seeking supports to devise strategy for sanitizing the waters coming down towards the Bay through Bangladesh territory.

 Engr Siddiqi also floated an idea of centralized water purifying and bottling system for fresh water supply for domestic usage. Supply of bottled fresh water could help reduce misuse of already scarce water and system loss in the traditional supply network, he felt.

Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) professor Dr Firoze Ahmed said presence of arsenic in tube-well water has caused a serious setback in Bangladesh’s impressive success in water supply that covered 97.3 per cent of rural population and 99.5 per cent of urban people.

But the sanitation coverage has leveled off in recent years due to absence of any definite program, he said, stressing the need for an integrated approach.

Achieving ‘Total Sanitation by 2015’, the target set by Bangladesh in line with UN Millennium Goals, will require increase of annual population coverage by 4 per cent and installation of additional 250 sanitary latrines each year in every unions.

“An estimated 550 million Taka will be required each year to achieve this target,” Dr Ahmed said.

Former director general of Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) Asaduzzaman Khan said learning to ‘live with flood’, as suggested by many, is not a good advice. Rather it would sound like a cruel joke with those who really live with flood, he felt.

Embankment is the oldest method for resisting floods and it is still widely used, although it has body merits and demerits. Embankment protects many areas from flood, but it also increases the areas of flood vulnerability, he said.

Scarcity of fresh water has become a global concern, as it is feared that two out of every three people will suffer from worse crisis of fresh water by 2025, if present rate of water use continues.

Although 70 per cent of the earth surface is covered by water, only 2.5 percent of it is fresh water. Again 70 percent of the scanty fresh water remains up the mountains in solidified form and the earth absorbs the rest, leaving less than one per cent for human usage.

United Nations estimates that acute scarcity of safe water and lack of proper sanitation claim the lives of some 6000 children everyday.