New! Sign up for our free email newsletter.
Science News
from research organizations

Methods will reverse arsenic danger in Bangladesh water supply

Date:
October 13, 2014
Source:
KTH The Royal Institute of Technology
Summary:
Arsenic poisoning is widespread in Bangladesh, where ground water is contaminated by runoff from the Himalayas. Now researchers have developed two simple and cheap methods that well drillers can use to tap arsenic-safe drinking water.
Share:
FULL STORY

Arsenic poisoning is widespread in Bangladesh, where ground water is contaminated by runoff from the Himalayas. Now researchers have developed two simple and cheap methods that well drillers can use to tap arsenic-safe drinking water.

The secret to finding safe water lies in the color of sediment obtained from well boring, says Prosun Bhattacharya, Professor of Groundwater Chemistry at Stockholm's KTH Royal Institute of Technology and coordinator of the KTH International Groundwater Arsenic Research Group.

Led by Bhattacharya, an international arsenic mitigation research team found that the color of sediment obtained through borings correlates to the concentration of the element in the well water.

They created a simple chart of four colors, based on the local well driller's sediment color perception and Munsell color system, which drillers can use to identify safe layers -- and also avoid unsafe layers -- when they install drinking water wells.

"When innovating this method, we took into account three important aspects -- namely the local water driller's knowledge and role, the cost to drill for water and access to water with low amounts of arsenic," Bhattacharya says.

The findings of the study were published by the Sustainable Arsenic Mitigation (SASMIT) project, which is led by the KTH International Groundwater Arsenic Research Group.

The method could potentially protect millions of people now at risk of exposure to arsenic. With no color or aroma, arsenic is difficult to detect before well installation. Arsenic contamination is widespread in South Asia, where arsenic-laden minerals are washed downstream from the Himalayas into the Ganges-Brahmaputra river basin, as well as the Mekong, Red and Irrawaddy river systems.

The scale of exposure to arsenic in Bangladesh has been referred to as the biggest mass poisoning in history. But the catastrophe is actually an unintended consequence of a successful drive to increase access to fresh drinking water. Millions of tubewells drilled during 1970s and 80s saved people from water-borne diseases contracted from drinking surface water. But by the 1990s, the water from many of these wells was found to contain unacceptable levels of arsenic.

As an alternative safe drinking water option, "deep tube wells" extending as deep as 250 metres serve many communities, but they are often cost-prohibitive. In the process of their work, the SASMIT researchers also found safe drinking water at a depth of just 120 metres. This innovation makes it possible to install "Intermediate deep tube wells" to tap good drinking water with safe levels of arsenic and manganese as well. And these can be built at about half the cost of a conventional deep well.

Besides the research advances, the SASMIT project also installed 300 new wells which are currently supplying safe drinking water to more than 24,000 people.

The SASMIT research consortium is supported by Sida and includes Bhattacharya, Gunnar Jacks (professor emeritus with the Department of Sustainable Development at KTH) Mohammed Hossain (National coordinator of the SASMIT project from NGO Forum for Public Health in Bangladesh and a doctoral researcher at KTH), Professors K. Matin Ahmed and M. Aziz Hasan (University of Dhaka, Bangladesh) and Mattias von Brömssen (Department head at Ramböll in Sweden).


Story Source:

Materials provided by KTH The Royal Institute of Technology. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. Mohammed Hossain, Prosun Bhattacharya, Shaun K. Frape, Gunnar Jacks, M. Mainul Islam, M. Moklesur Rahman, Mattias von Brömssen, M. Aziz Hasan, Kazi Matin Ahmed. Sediment color tool for targeting arsenic-safe aquifers for the installation of shallow drinking water tubewells. Science of The Total Environment, 2014; 493: 615 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.05.064

Cite This Page:

KTH The Royal Institute of Technology. "Methods will reverse arsenic danger in Bangladesh water supply." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 13 October 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141013090239.htm>.
KTH The Royal Institute of Technology. (2014, October 13). Methods will reverse arsenic danger in Bangladesh water supply. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 28, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141013090239.htm
KTH The Royal Institute of Technology. "Methods will reverse arsenic danger in Bangladesh water supply." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141013090239.htm (accessed March 28, 2024).

Explore More

from ScienceDaily

RELATED STORIES