India, West Bengal: youth have brittle bones from arsenic poisoning, army stops staffing

Arsenic affected patients from West Bengal. Photo: SOES

Bone deformities due to arsenic poisoning of groundwater are common among the youth in Bengal, the Indian army has found. Less than 100 youths among the 2,000 who turned up for an army recruitment drive in February 2012, passed the physical test.

“We had 200 vacancies, but we could not even fill even 50% of the posts,” said group captain TK Singha, chief public relations officer, ministry of defence. “Most of the students failed the basic medical test because of defects in bone structure,” said an officer. “This was not visible by the naked eye, nor did it affect normal life.” [...] “We found out most of the candidates came from arsenic affected regions of Bengal, and drink water from hand pumps”.

Arsenic contamination of groundwater in West Bengal was detected more than 30 years ago, according Sudarshan Niyogi, professor of chemical engineering at IIT-Kharagpur.

“Arsenic can affect any organ, including bones, causing deformity, brittleness and degeneration”.

For more on arsenic poisoning in West Bengal see the web site of the School of Environmental Studies (SOES), Jadavpur University.

Source: Hindustan Times, 18 Mat 2012

Bangladesh: natural sediment may shield groundwater from arsenic

Contamination of deep groundwater with arsenic from shallower sources may not be as serious as feared — if pumping deep water is limited to domestic use, a study has found.

Exposure to arsenic-contaminated groundwater has been linked to almost one in every five deaths in Bangladesh, and some 100,000 deep wells have been constructed to pump deeper, cleaner water. Recent modelling studies have suggested that these cleaner water sources are also being contaminated — from shallower water seeping down to replenish deeper wells.

But a study published in Nature Geoscience [doi: 10.1038/ngeo1283] found that natural adsorption of arsenic by sediment — sand in the aquifers — reduces contamination risk in most areas.

The study was conducted as part of the Columbia University Superfund Research Program on the “Health Effects and Geochemistry of Arsenic and Manganese“.

Read more [Syful Islam, SciDev.Net, 10 Oct 2011]

South Asia: is universal WASH access in reach?

Communications Director for Water Advocates John Sauer reports on a three-week field trip to Bangladesh and West Bengal visiting WASH field projects.

Five to ten years ago many villagers did not have safe drinking water or a sanitary latrine — the situation on the ground has improved. In Bangladesh, deaths caused by diarrhea have decreased significantly in the past several years.

Many folks I spoke with attribute the substantial drop in death rates to the increase in the amount of safe drinking water. In most villages I visited families had their own tube well, though some did share a well with a few other families. Before this rapid expansion of a water source close to the home, many families collected water from the ubiquitous unprotected ponds of Bangladesh and West Bengal. According to Water For People country coordinator Rajashi Mukherjee, “The ponds are absolute death traps; hygiene is the last thing you can associate with them.” Fortunately, with the proliferation of tube wells, most people can now avoid collecting water from unsanitary ponds.

This progress underscores the solvability of the problem when there is a convergence of partners — communities, local government, local NGOs and international donors and NGOs. The tube well example is interesting because it shows how scale can happen when an idea catches on and the private sector (mostly small businesses) gets involved. Nearly 8 million tube wells were sunk in recent years. Roughly 1 million were paid for and installed by the UN, government and other NGOs and 7 million by families/communities themselves by hiring private contractors. The scale of this push for clean water shows how progress was made when stakeholders perceived the need for clean water and took action into their own hands.

Nevertheless, diarrhoeal disease mortality remains high in both Bangladesh (70,000) and India (over 450,000).

One of the unfortunate and unforeseen side effects of the installation of the millions of tube wells is that a fair proportion of the wells are infected with naturally-occurring arsenic. Many programs have emerged to test and mark the wells, but large-scale solutions to rectify the problem are not yet in place. I did see several arsenic removal technologies of varying cost, but the very expensive options would be hard to bring to scale without large donor support. There were also other less expensive arsenic removal technologies that are still being tested that might hold promise in the future.

Overall the successful programs that I did see dealing with arsenic removal came about through contributions from the community level, local government and outside donor support.

Besides the arsenic problem, greatly improving sanitation and hygiene will be essential to further reduce WASH-related disease and sickness and improve the quality of life for the people of Bangladesh and West Bengal. The governments in both countries have made promoting sanitation a priority. Unfortunately, many challenges exist on the ground related to education about sanitary toilets and appropriate hygiene. There was limited use of “infotainment,” (using entertainment, such as television shows to pass key health and hygiene messages), even though some “infotainment” pilot projects appeared effective. Also there were an insufficient number of community health and hygiene promoters. The result is that people are not constructing or maintaining toilets or practicing good hygiene (such as washing their hands with soap). I did visit several communities that had achieved 100% WASH coverage. The trend in those communities was strong local leadership, active community health and hygiene workers and effective leadership from so-called “child brigades” to pressure the community into action. One idea being floated is to employ these local leaders as a cadre of “barefoot consultants” hired by other villages and local NGOs to greatly scale up these successes.

What particularly impressed Sauer was a successful school sanitation project.

In one of the schools I visited, the children had been involved in the design of their own toilets. The girls demanded a separate changing room where they could have privacy and an adjacent incinerator for safe disposal of sanitary pads during menstruation. Before these programs were in place many of the children missed school, walking home to use the toilet. Girls in particular would often miss three to four days a month of school, sometimes even missing exams.

Despite the “multitude of WASH problems”, Sauer remains optimistic.

Sanitary products are available everywhere, at reasonable prices and are accessible to almost everyone, except for the extremely poor and vulnerable. (I actually saw some very good examples of how motivated communities found ways to help out the poorest members of their communities). Communities transform with access to WASH–health improves, new job opportunities arise and more children finish school. I hope that donors take notice of this transformation and work with the people of Bangladesh and West Bengal to put this issue to rest once and for all.

Related web sites:

• Water Advocates
• Water for People

Source: John Sauer, Huffington Post, 29 Jun 2010

Bangladesh: 77m poisoned by arsenic in drinking water

Up to 77 million people in Bangladesh have been exposed to toxic levels of arsenic from drinking water in recent decades, according to a Lancet study [1].

The research assessed nearly 12,000 people in a district of the capital Dhaka for over a period of 10 years.

More than 20% [407] of deaths among those assessed were caused by the naturally occurring poisonous element, it found [attributed to (>10 μg/L) in drinking water].

The World Health Organization said the exposure was “the largest mass poisoning of a population in history”.

It began after hand-pumped wells were installed in the 1970s to tap groundwater from.

Scientists say even small amounts of arsenic over a long period can cause cancer of the bladder, kidney, lung or skin.

Bangladesh was chosen for the study because nearly 90% of the population uses groundwater as its primary source of fresh water.

[1] Argos, M. … [et al.] (2010). Arsenic exposure from drinking water, and all-cause and chronic-disease mortalities in Bangladesh (HEALS): a prospective cohort study. The Lancet, Early Online Publication, 19 June 2010. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60481-3. Free download after registration.

Related news: Arsenic: MIT scientists pinpoint origin of contamination in drinking water in Bangladesh, Source Weekly, 22 Jan 2010

Source: BBC, 19 Jun 2010

In 2006, the British House of Lords, dismissed a case brought against the British Geological Survey (BGS) for being negligent in not testing for arsenic during a water evaluation in Bangladesh in 1992. If the legal action had been successful it could have cost the British taxpayer millions of pounds in compensation. It would also have set a precedent in making development aid more accountable. [Source Weekly, 17 Jul 2010]

India, West Bengal: Govt to provide safe drinking water to arsenic-affected area by 2011

The West Bengal government would complete 338 schemes to supply safe drinking water to the arsenic-affected areas in the state by 2011 with a total cost of Rs 974.42 crore (US$ 216 million), Housing and Public Health Engineering Minister Gautam Deb said.

The minister said about 292 schemes would be completed within December 2010 while the remaining schemes by March 2011.

These projects would benefit about 65,85,446 people in districts like Purulia, Nadia, Murshidabad and Hooghly where crisis of drinking water was acute due to the presence of arsenic, he said.

”In the state Assembly we had promised that the government will provide arsenic-free drinking water to the people of the state. In keeping with that promise we would be able to provide safe drinking water to 95 per cent people of the affected areas,” he said.

Four new water supply schemes would be inaugurated soon in the state, he said adding on April nine Governor M K Narayanan would inaugurate two schemes–one in Itapara near Asansol and another in Krishnanagar.

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee would also inaugurate two water supply schemes–one in Jhalda, Purulia, on April 18 and another in Beldanga, Murshidabad, on April 21, 2010.

These two schemes were set up with a cost of Rs 8.11 crore (US$ 1.8 million) and Rs 13 crore (US$ 2.9 million) respectively, he said adding a total of 1,33,000 people would benefit from the schemes.

Source: UNI / NewKerala.com, 30 Mar 2010

India, Jharkhand, Bihar: arsenic alarm in villages, government promises safe water

Thousands of people living in over hundreds of villages in different districts of Bihar and Sahebganj district of Jharkhand in India are facing serious threat to their health due to alarmingly high quantity of arsenic present in the underground water. The state government of Bihar has decided to provide safe drinking water in 150 arsenic-affected villages and 200 fluoride-affected villages across the state.

Bihar is facing one of the gravest natural disasters in the form of arsenic contamination of ground water. In the first detailed study of ground water quality, the Department of Environment and Water Management, AN College, Patna, has already submitted Interim Reports to PHED and UNICEF about the alarming findings on arsenic poisoning cases in the districts of Patna, Bhojpur, Vaishali and Bhagalpur. The study was conducted from April 2004 to May 2006, the study area being confined to 10 kms, wide belt along the Ganga river as per the instructions of PHED and UNICEF.

Dr. Ashok K. Ghosh

According to Dr Ashok Ghosh, Principal Investigator of Project Arsenic, Department of EWM, AN College, these findings are just the tip of the iceberg, as more contaminated aquifers are waiting to be detected in the remaining parts of the State. The water quality testing was done initially by Field Test Kits and then confirmed by AAS or UV Spectrophotometric tests. Epidemiological studies indicate that drinking water having more than permissible arsenic levels of 10 parts per billion (ppb) increases the mortality rates as arsenic is a bio-accumulative toxin.

Persons suffering from arsenicosis have not yet responded to known treatment procedures. The high intake of arsenic, along with under nourishment and lack of medical help have worsened the lives of the population in the arsenic affected rural areas. Arsenic can also contaminate standing food crops if it is present in the soil and soil water.

As Bihar plains are highly fertile and its crops are marketed to many distant places, apart from being locally consumed, it becomes imperative to test the levels of arsenic in the food chain too. What is worrisome is that arsenic contaminated ground water tables have abrupt occurrences both over time and space. This explains why a public hand pump in village Ramnagar in Maner tested 30 ppb in the post monsoon period and more than 60 ppb in the month of May. Also arsenic manifestation exists at different levels in different areas.

In north-west Maner, arsenic contaminated hand pumps have a shallow depth between 60 to 80 feet [18-24 m] in the diara belt.

In Bhojpur, the depth of contaminated aquifers goes down to 150 feet [46 m] away from new diara land, while in Vaishali, arsenic is found in the shallow and middle aquifers at an average distance of 5 km away from the river bank. Regular monitoring of drinking water from hand pumps is immediately required as a part of the mitigation strategy. Patna, the first district to be covered, revealed pockets of high arsenic contamination, above the acceptable limit of 10 ppb, in 171 villages in Maner, Danapur, Sampatchak, Barh, Bakhtiarpur, Fatuha, Khusrupur, Phulwari, Mokama, Pandarak and Patna.

1,060 village hand pumps were arsenic contaminated. The highest AAS reading of arsenic level in Government hand pump water is 724 ppb. Sampatchak Block has low contamination levels of below 50 ppb. In Bhojpur, the highest AAS test readings are 1861 ppb and 1,064 ppb in Pandey tola, Barhara Block, a situation far more serious than the one represented by the much-touted village Ojhapatti of Shahpur Block.

Out of the 6,292 hand pumps tested, 47.70 per cent were arsenic contaminated hand pumps. In Barhara, 62.84 per cent in Udwantnagar 59.39 per cent, in Shahpur 40.41 per cent, in Behea 37.17 per cent, in Koilwar, 29.20 per cent, and in Ara 25.88 per cent of Block level hand pumps were arsenic contaminated. In Vaishali, all the blocks covered within 10 km along the Ganga banks, has low level arsenic contamination at present.

In Bhagalpur district most affected areas are Kahalgaon, Pirpainti, Sabaur and Sultanganj. A detailed study has been presented on groundwater metal contents of Sahebgunj district in Jharkhand, with special reference to arsenic. Both tubewell and well waters have been studied separately with greater emphasis on tubewell waters. Groundwater of all the nine blocks of Sahebgunj district have been surveyed for iron, manganese, calcium, magnesium, copper and zinc in addition to arsenic. Groundwater of three blocks of Sahebgunj, namely, Sahebgunj, Rajmahal and Udhawa have been found to be alarmingly contaminated with arsenic present at or above 10 ppb.

Rivers flowing through the coal fields of Jharkhand have been reported to carry arsenic responsible for arsenic poisoning in downstream areas of West Bengal. The coal fields of Bachara and Piprawar areas of Jharkhand have contaminated the waters of the Damodar and its tributary, the Safi. According to author, arsenic contamination arises mainly due to the dumping of waste from the coal mines along the river bed. Coals of the area mentioned contains sufficient amount of arsenic.

Arsenic upto 608 parts per billion (ppb) was detected against the permissible limit of 10 ppb in some villages of Kahalgaon block in Bhagalpur district in 2005. Work was carried out by Dr Sunil Chaudhary of TM Bhagalpur University.

A detailed work was carried out by Dr Ashok Ghosh, Professor-in-charge, department of environment and water management, AN College, Patna, in the arsenic affected areas of Bihar. He found that out of 27,061 hand pumps, 7,218 pumps tested had arsenic contaminated water greater than 10 ppb (26.67 per cent). Highest arsenic value recorded was 1,861 ppb. Study also revealed that 87 per cent of the trivalent arsenic was found in the groundwater of Bihar.

The study by Bihar’s Public Health and Engineering Department (PHED) reveals that the average arsenic content in drinking water in the 12 districts is 500 parts per billion (ppb). Patna is among the affected areas.

According to Dr Ghosh, a total of 16 Bihar districts (57 blocks) are affected by high level of arsenic in the groundwater. Worst-affected districts are Bhojpur, Buxar, Vaishali, Bhagalpur, Samstipur, Khagaria, Katihar, Chapra, Munger and Dharbanga.

A very alarming recent finding by the research group is the detection of high arsenic content (more than 50 ppb) in the water of River Jaminia — flowing parallel to River Ganga in Bhagalpur district of Bihar. This river merges with Ganga and water from this river is being supplied to urban Bhagalpur without any treatment, alarmed Dr Ghosh.

Alarmed by the severity of arsenic’s impact on human body in these villages, the team also collected samples of hair and nail of affected persons for detail medical examination to ascertain the level of damage, said Principal Investigators Dr Ashok Kumar Ghosh and Nupur Bose of AN College Patna. The findings indicated that a wider area, including the fertile irrigational lands, was under the grip of arsenic.

According to another research report done by Dipanka Chakraborti in Semria Ojha Patti village in the Middle Ganga Plain, Bihar, where tube wells replaced dug wells about 20 years ago, analyses of the arsenic content of 206 tube wells (95 per cent of the total) showed that 56.8 per cent exceeded arsenic concentrations of 50 micro g/L, with 19.9 per cent greater than 300 micro g/L, the concentration predicting overt arsenical skin lesions.

[References used in this article are included in a blog post by the author, Nitish Priyadarshi]

Source: Nitish Priyadarshi, The Pioneer, 30 Dec 2009

The state government has decided to provide safe drinking water in 150 arsenic-affected villages and 200 fluoride-affected villages across the state.

“The government has identified these arsenic- and fluoride-affected villages to provide safe drinking water,” Bihar Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) Minister Ashwani Chaubey told IANS here.

Chaubey said the department was serious about providing safe drinking water to people in arsenic- and fluoride-affected villages.

According to him, there are 11 fluoride-affected and 13 arsenic-affected districts in Bihar.

The government is working on a ‘multi-village water supply project’ to supply safe drinking water to affected villages, he said.

The government would provide safe drinking water from the Ganga to villages affected by arsenic, an official in the department, said.

“First, the surface water (in the river) will be treated to remove harmful substances and then it will be supplied,” the official said. He said the treatment of groundwater containing arsenic was expensive and not sustainable.

The state government admitted early this year that high levels of arsenic have been found in the groundwater of different Bihar districts on either side of the Ganga river, posing a cancer threat, an official said.

Arsenic causes cancer of the intestines, liver, kidneys and bladder as well as gangrene.

People in several Bihar villages are suffering from bone deformation and a variety of skin problems.

Source: IANS, Hindustan Times, 15 Dec 2009

Bangladesh: ponds ’caused arsenic’ contamination, MIT study says

Man-made ponds may be responsible for widespread arsenic contamination of ground water affecting millions of people in Bangladesh, a new study says [1].

Rebecca Neumann hangs off the end of bamboo scaffolding built at the field site. Assisted by a man hired from a nearby village, she is connecting a tube that will run from the surface water in the rice field up to a higher point on the scaffolding. Photo: Sarah Jane White, MIT

Researchers in MIT’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering believe they have pinpointed a pathway by which arsenic may be contaminating the drinking water in Bangladesh, a phenomenon that has puzzled scientists, world health agencies and the Bangladeshi government for nearly 30 years.

The research suggests that human alteration to the landscape, the construction of villages with ponds, and the adoption of irrigated agriculture are responsible for the current pattern of arsenic concentration underground.

In 2002, a research team led by Charles Harvey, the Doherty Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT, had determined that microbial metabolism of organic carbon was mobilizing the arsenic off the soils and sediments, and that crop irrigation was almost certainly playing a role in the process. But the exact sources of the contaminated water have remained elusive, until now.

Around 25m people in the country have been exposed to arsenic through water. Experts have described the situation as the worst mass poisoning of a population in history.

Man-made ponds – often dug with the help of international aid agencies – were originally created to protects villagers from unclean water.

The arsenic enters water supplies from agricultural and industrial waste or from natural deposits in the ground.

A Bangladeshi farmer shows the effects of arsenic poisoning. Photo: BBC

Around two million people in Bangladesh suffer from arsenic poisoning. Chronic ingestion of small doses has been linked to cancer of the bladder, kidney, lung or skin, while large doses can kill immediately.

Arsenic contamination of ground water is a global problem and has occurred in other countries such as Argentina, Chile, China, India, Mexico, Taiwan, Thailand and the United States.

But the gravity of the contamination in Bangladesh is unprecedented. Millions of Bangladeshis knowingly poison themselves because there is often no alternative water source. Harvey estimates that the incidence of death from arsenic-induced cancer will rise to approximately 3,000 cases per year if consumption of contaminated water continues.

Scott Fendorf, a professor at Stanford University who studies arsenic content in soils and sediments along the Mekong River in Cambodia, says Harvey’s previous research, published in 2002, “transformed the scientific community’s outlook on the problem.”

The current work, he adds, has two big ramifications: “It shows that human modifications are impacting the arsenic content in the groundwater; and that while the rice cropping system appears to be buffering the arsenic, the ponds excavated to provide fill to build up the villages are having a negative impact on the release of arsenic.”

Harvard scientist and co-author of the study Rebecca Neumann said that arsenic contamination could be avoided by digging deeper drinking water wells below the ponds.

Charles F. Harvey. Photo: MIT

Harvey and a team of environmental scientists and physicians are making plans for a multi-year study that would provide deep wells for two villages in Bangladesh whose inhabitants suffer from arsenic poisoning. There they would combine continual testing of the well water and hydrogeological modeling of the groundwater system with a study of how the clean water effects the villagers’ health, placing special emphasis on the neurological development of children.

“There are all sorts of studies to show how arsenic hurts people. We’re trying to turn it around and show how removal of the arsenic will help them,” says Harvey.

[1] Neuman, R.B. … [et al.] (2009). Anthropogenic influences on groundwater arsenic concentrations in Bangladesh. Nature Geoscience. Published online: 15 November 2009 | doi:10.1038/ngeo685

Source: BBC, 15 Nov 2009 ; ScienceDaily, 15 Nov 2009; MIT, 15 Nov 2009

Nepal, Siraha District: forced to drink arsenic-contaminated water

Thousands of people [in Siraha District, south-eastern Nepal] are forced to drink arsenic-contaminated water after the Drinking Water Office [failed to] provide [an] alternative to tube-wells with high concentration of arsenic. Three years ago, the District Drinking Water and Sanitation Division Office Lahan had detected arsenic beyond national standards in the water of 1234 tube-wells in the district and proved the water unfit for drinking.

The office had conducted arsenic tests in tube wells of 29 VDCs and detected arsenic beyond 50 ppb (parts per billion) in 2.83 percent out of 46,625 tube-wells in the district. Arsenic has hit hard the Hanuman Nagar, Khirauna and Hakpara VDCs the most. More than 50 ppb arsenic has been detected in 35 public tube-wells in Khirauna VDC. According to Nepal’s National Drinking Water Quality Standard 2063, water containing more than 50 ppb arsenic is considered unsafe for drinking.

Bramha Dev Kamati, former chairman of Hanuman Nagar VDC said, “It has been more than two years since the drinking water office prohibited us to drink water from the tube-wells after detecting arsenic in them but the office has not provided any alternative of tube-wells to us.”

“Alarmed by the arsenic presence, the Red Cross has distributed 1,100 Kanchan filters to the people in the arsenic-affected VDCs free of cost,” said Raj Dev Yadav, chairperson Red Cross Siraha branch. He also said that they have been launching awareness programmes to make people conscious about arsenic.

Source: By: Bharat Jardhamagar, Kantipur / NGO Forum, 20 Sep 2009

India, Bihar: state government to supply arsenic-hit villages with treated water

High levels of arsenic in the groundwater pose the threat of cancer to people in many Bihar villages, but the state government has finally moved to bring safe drinking water from the River Ganga to some of these areas.
“Multi-village water supply projects” have been given the green signal in 200 arsenic-affected villages in three districts.

The projects will cover 130 arsenic-affected villages of Simri block in Buxar district, 45 villages of Bidupur block in Vaishali district, and 25 villages of Maner block in Patna district.

D. S. Mishra, an official in the Public Health Engineering Department, said the government would provide safe drinking water from the Ganga river to villages affected by arsenic. The treatment of groundwater containing arsenic was costly and not sustainable, he added.

[...] “In some affected villages, people have complained of weakening and bending of the bones and dreadful rashes and lumps on the skin,” a health expert said. [...] Harail Chapar, a village in Samastipur district, recorded the highest levels of arsenic – 2,100 parts per billion (ppb) – in groundwater, the official added. The World Health Organisation guideline for a safe limit is 10 ppb, while the Indian government’s guideline is 50 ppb.

The official said a survey conducted in the arsenic affected districts reveals that the deeper aquifers lying below 80 metres were free of arsenic.

Source: IANS / Gulf News, 23 May 2009

Nepal: Arsenic contamination

Water in over 20,000 tube wells across the Tarai has been found to have been containing more arsenic than the recommended for safe use. In tests conducted by Nepal Red Cross Society, water in 20,243 tube wells contained arsenic more than the standard fixed by thee government. According to Nepal National Drinking Water Quality Standard 2063, water containing more than 50 ppb arsenic is considered unsafe for drinking.

At a public awareness program organized here by Environment and Public Health Organization (ENPHO), UN-HABITAT, UNICEF, Nepal Red Cross Society and Department of Drinking Water on May 16, it was informed that over 350,000 people have been affected by arsenic. In Banke district, among 45,191 tube wells tested for arsenic content, nearly 1 percent is found to have been containing arsenic above the recommended amount.
Raju Shrestha, who has been conducting research on arsenic, said arsenic related disease start showing symptoms if somebody consumes water with high arsenic content regularly for two years.

Source: Republica; The Rising Nepal; Naya Patrika / NGO Forum, 18 May 2009