Arsenic in Drinking Water
- Too many children were dying of diarrhea from drinking surface water contaminated with bacteria.
- 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.
- Neural problems appear in the hands and legs, and the kidneys and liver start to malfunction.
- Drinking water with high levels of arsenic can also lead to neurological and cardiovascular complications.
- It lessened the burden on women, who no longer had to trek long distances with their pots and pails; it reduced the dependence on better-off neighbors; and most important, it provided pathogen-free water to drink.
- The sediment layer is as much as 20 kilometers deep. Most of the poisoned aquifers are shallow, however, from 10 to 70 meters deep, and lie to the south and southeast of the country.
- The major cause of death, however, is internal cancers, especially of the bladder, kidney, liver and lung.
- Human activity is aggravating the arsenic problem. Nowadays a rival hypothesis, that of reduction, has gained currency.
- The pond sand filter—a sand based system installed on the bank to remove mud and pathogens—aims to revive the use of such ponds.
- Unfortunately, the bacterial load is so high that although the filter reduces it by two orders of magnitude, the water still contains some contaminants.
Summary:
In Bangladesh, many children were dying being poisoned by drinking water that are contaminated with bacteria. A woman named Pinjra Begum collect drinking water for her family but she was poisons by the beautiful water she had faithfully pumped.The Bangladesh government said that they would bring clean water to the nations villages. 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. Neural problems appear in the hands and legs, and the kidneys and liver start to malfunction. BRAC trained about 160 village women to test tube well water using field kits. They tested more than 50,000 tubewells, painting red those that gave more than 50 micrograms and green those that gave less. Some villagers turn out to be poisoned. The researchers at Columbia University recently estimated that approximately $290 million will fund an integrated five year testing.
In Bangladesh, many children were dying being poisoned by drinking water that are contaminated with bacteria. A woman named Pinjra Begum collect drinking water for her family but she was poisons by the beautiful water she had faithfully pumped.The Bangladesh government said that they would bring clean water to the nations villages. 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. Neural problems appear in the hands and legs, and the kidneys and liver start to malfunction. BRAC trained about 160 village women to test tube well water using field kits. They tested more than 50,000 tubewells, painting red those that gave more than 50 micrograms and green those that gave less. Some villagers turn out to be poisoned. The researchers at Columbia University recently estimated that approximately $290 million will fund an integrated five year testing.