Arsenic in drinking water: not just a problem for Bangladesh

Abstract

Abstract. For more than a decade it has been known that shallow tube wells in Bangladesh are frequently contaminated with arsenic concentrations at a level that is harmful to human health. By now it is becoming clear that a disaster of an unheard magnitude is going on: the World Health Organization fears that in the near future 1 in every 10 adult deaths in Bangladesh will be caused by arsenic-related cancers. Other studies show that problems with arsenic in groundwater/drinking water occur in many more countries worldwide, such as in the USA and China. In Europe the focus on arsenic problems is confined to countries with high arsenic levels in their groundwater, such as Romania, Hungary and Italy. In most other European countries, the naturally occurring arsenic concentrations are lower than the drinking water standard of 10 μg L−1. However, from the literature review presented in this paper, it may also be concluded that using the European standard, health risks cannot be excluded. It is therefore recommended that the current arsenic standard be reconsidered.

Groundwater arsenic contamination in Brahmaputra river basin: a water quality assessment in Golaghat (Assam), India

“…It was revealed that the residents of the area had been chronically exposed to high levels (above the permissible limit of the WHO/BIS) of As (67% of the total 222 samples collected) and Fe (77% of the total 222 samples collected), in comparison with the highly As-exposed populations of the adjoining regions like West Bengal, India (Mukherjee et al 2006;Nickson et al 2007) and Bangladesh Halem et al 2009). Again, the study also revealed that around 35.1% of the water sources of tubewells have an As contamination of more than the 0.05 ppm, which is higher (11.2%) than the previous report by Nickson et al (2007).…”

“…In Bangladesh, 28-77 million people drink arsenic-contaminated water without having alternative resources. Chronic consumption of such toxic water, in the future, may lead to, according to the estimate of the World Health Organization (WHO), 1 in every 10 adult deaths caused by arsenic-related cancer (Ahmad et al 2003;Halem et al 2009, SOS-Arsenic, downloaded from http://www.sos-arsenic.net on 28 Feb 2010). Again, the permissible limit for As in drinking water, according to the WHO, is 0.01 ppm, which is similar to the specification laid down by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS;BIS 1991;WHO 1993;Nickson et al 2007); however, in India, according to the BIS (1991), the maximum permissible limit in the absence of an alternate source is 0.05 ppm.…”

Effects of nitrogen and phosphorus on arsenite accumulation, oxidation, and toxicity in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

“…Its concentration in aquatic environment ranges from <0.1 to 100 g/L, with up to 850,000 g/L arsenic in mine drainages (Smedley and Kinniburgh, 2005). The World Health Organization estimated in 2001 that about 130 million people worldwide are exposed to groundwater with arsenic concentration above 50 g/L, including Bangladesh, India, China, and USA (van Halem et al, 2009). As compared to trace metals, the speciation of arsenic is more complicated.…”

Dissolved arsenic in the shallow alluvial aquifers in North Brahmaputra Plain, India: a case study in and around lower Jia Bharali River basin

“…It was revealed that the residents of the area had been chronically exposed to high levels (above the permissible limit of the WHO/BIS) of As and Fe in comparison with the highly As-exposed populations of the adjoining regions like West Bengal, India (Mukherjee et al 2006;Nickson et al 2007) and Bangladesh Halem et al 2009). This area is mainly within the quaternary alluvial basin (Ground Water Information Booklet 2008) bounded by the Himalayan Mountains.…”