Arsenic in Drinking Water
By: A. Mushtaque R. Chowdhury
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- Arsenic in drinking water could severely poison 50 million people worldwide
- Strategies being tested in Bangladesh might help prevent the problem
- In the 1970s and 1980s the Bangladesh government, along with international aid agencies spearheaded by UNICEF, undertook an ambitious project to bring clean water to the nation’s villages
- Too many children were dying of diarrhea from drinking surface water contaminated with bacteria
- By the early 1990s 95 percent of Bangladesh’s population had access to “safe” water, virtually all of it through the country’s more than 10 million tubewells
- Everybody neglected to check the water for arsenic
- As early as 1983, dermatologist Kshitish C. Saha of the School of Tropical Medicine in neighboring Kolkata (Calcutta), India, had identified the skin lesions on some patients as arising from arsenic poisoning from minerals to the water from tubewells
- Environmental scientist Dipankar Chakraborti of Jadavpur University in Kolkata established that many aquifers in West Bengal were severely contaminated with arsenic
- Yet the British Geological Survey (BGS) conducted an extensive test of Bangladesh’s water supply in 1993 and pronounced it safe, not having tested for arsenic
- Today around 30 percent of Bangladesh’s tubewells are known to yield more than 50 micrograms of arsenic per liter of water, with 5 to 10 percent providing more than six times this amount
- 35 million people almost one quarter of the population are drinking potentially fatal levels of arsenic
- Another concern is that Bangladeshis may be ingesting arsenic through a second route: the grain they eat two or three times a day which is irrigated with pumped underground water
- The mineral occurs in the water supply of communities in diverse countries, such as India, Nepal, Vietnam, China, Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Taiwan, Mongolia and the U.S
- The first sign of poisoning, which may appear as long as 10 years after someone starts drinking arsenic-laden water, is black spots on the upper chest, back and arms, known as melanosis
- Palms of the hands or soles of the feet become hard and lose sensation (keratosis).
- The patient may also suffer from conjunctivitis, bronchitis and, at very high concentrations of arsenic, diarrhea and abdominal pain
- In the second stage, white spots appear mixed up with the black (leucomelanosis), legs swell, and the palms and soles crack and bleed (hyperkeratosis)
- When sores become infected, they make working/walking difficult
- In the third stage the sores turn gangrenous, kidneys or liver may give way, and in around 20 years, cancers show up
- The extent of poisoning depends on the dose and duration of exposure, interactions of the arsenic with other dietary elements, and the age and sex of the individual
- Overuse of groundwater, mainly for irrigation, lowers the water tables, allowing air to reach the contaminated clay and release the arsenic
- The long-term solution might instead lie in deep tubewells, which extract water from aquifers 200 meters or farther underground
- The drilling process needs to be refined so that the deeper aquifers are not poisoned by arsenic-bearing water trickling down from the shallow aquifers through the boreholes themselves
- In truth, even the poorest nations perhaps especially the poorest should check the quality of their water constantly
- Monitoring not only for arsenic but also for manganese, fluoride, pesticides, other chemicals and pathogens must become routine in all regions of the world where people drink water from underground
Many civilians in Bangladesh are thought to be drinking "safe" water from the 10 million tubewells. However, due to the lack of inspection and regular monitoring, many people in Bangladesh are suffering from arsenic that was in their drinking water from the tubewells. From then on, an environmental scientist Dipankar Chakraborti of Jadavpur University in Kolkata established that many aquifers in West Bengal were severely contaminated with arsenic. This eventually became problematic. as 35 million people almost one quarter of the population are drinking potentially fatal levels of arsenic that are over in 50 micrograms. Another concern is that Bangladeshis may be ingesting arsenic through a second route: the grain they eat two or three times a day which is irrigated with pumped underground water and could have some sort of connection there. The mineral occurs in the water supply of communities in diverse countries, such as India, Nepal, Vietnam, China, Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Taiwan, Mongolia and the U.S. Having that said, arsenic in drinking water could severely poison 50 million people worldwide. There are 3 stages of arsenic. With each one worsens over time from black spots to swelling and sores to eventually cancer. Not all of these typically happen because it depends on the dose and duration of exposure, interactions of the arsenic with other dietary elements, and the age and sex of the individual. Actions have been taken such as to change the drilling process so that deeper aquifers don't get poisoned. The most important part of all is that the quality of the water should be checked constantly and not only checking for arsenic but other potential harm like manganese, fluoride, pesticides, other chemicals and pathogens has to be a routine in all regions of the world where people drink water from underground. By doing so, other places would not fall down like in Bangladesh and that also Bangladesh would have finally learned their lesson.
I'm so surprised at the fact that water may have contained arsenic. Just like everyone else who enjoys their drinking water I find ourselves doing that same habit in thinking that we take things for granted. Water may seem so easily available to us but in other places that situation is different. In some parts of the world have access to water but some don't. Not only that but they are dying from drinking something that is necessary to our survival as human beings and that is really sad. I think this kind of relates to the inconvenient truth because we wait for something to happen and how the small things don't really seem like its a big deal with climate change. Similarly, like water, we just drink and drink and not think about anything. Water isn't unlimited nor is either all clean to consume. In many places, water is very dirty and contaminated with lots of bad chemicals because of the lack of recognition and valuing it like it is something precious of our own. In Bangladesh, NOBODY ever checked or see what was happening to their water supply and later on it led to their deaths. We need to step it up and help each other out and that goes for those who don't have what we have.