Arsenic in Drinking Water
Article: Arsenic in Drinking Water
Author: A. Mushtaque & R. Chowdhury
In Bangladesh, a lot of people were poisoned from drinking water containing arsenic. In the early 1970s, the government, along with the help of UNICEF, began a project to bring clean water to villages. A tubewell, a hand-operated pump that sucks water through a pump from an underground aquifer, lessened the burden of women, who no longer had to walk long distances for water. Tubewells also reduced dependance on neighbors and provided pathogen-free water to drink. It was a miracle. By the 1990s, 95% of Bangladesh's population had access to clean water, thanks to the country's more than 10 million tubewells. The reason why the arsenic problem was so bad in Bangladesh was that they also consumed arsenic through another source: rice. Their rice was watered with pumped underground water. However, it seems to have gotten better. The long-term solution to this could be deep tubewells that extract water from aquifers 200 meters or farther underground. The risk of arsenic in deep aquifers is low, but geologists need to be sure of it before we do anything. If we are going to build deep tubewells, we have to refine our drilling strategy so that deeper aquifers are not poisoned by arsenic-bearing water tricking down from shallow aquifers.
This article surprised me. I didn't know that there was arsenic in the U.S too. We are so lucky to be living in America. Some people take clean water for granted here, but in developing countries, clean water is considered a luxury and is not easily accessible like it is in the U.S. However, it seems like it's becoming more and more accessible now, which is a good thing. We should be testing the water quality of all the water sources around the world to ensure that they're not contaminated before we drink from them. To fix the lack of access to clean water for some countries, we should fundraise and donate money to charities that could provide that for them. In order to build a better planet, we need to start with giving people around the world access to basic necessities like food, water, and education. We are all equal, and we all deserve the right to those.
Author: A. Mushtaque & R. Chowdhury
- Water from pump is poisoned
- In the 1970s and 80s, Bangladesh government and UNICEF started project to bring clean water to villages
- A lot of children died from diarrhea from drinking contaminated surface water
- Tubewell is a simple, hardy, hand-operated pump that sucks water through a pump from an underground aquifer
- A tubewell lessen the burden of women, who no longer have to walk long distances for water; also reduced dependance on neighbors and provided pathogen-free water to drink
- In the early 1990s, 95% of Bangladesh's population had access to safe water, most of it came from the country's more than 10 million tubewells
- Water supply was deemed safe because it wasn't tested for arsenic
- 30% of Bangladesh's tubewells are known to have more than 50 micrograms of arsenic per liter of water, with 5 to 10% containing more than 6 times that amount
- More than 50 micrograms per liter is dangerous
- Bangladeshians also consume arsenic through a second source: rice; rice fields are watered with pumped underground water
- Arsenic water also occurs in countries like India, Nepal, Vietnam. China, Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Taiwan, Mongolia, and the U.S
- The first sign of poisoning may appear as long as 10 years after someone starts drinking arsenic water
- The first sign of poisoning is the appearance of black spots on the upper chest, arms, back (melanosis)
- High concentrations of arsenic results in diarrhea and abdominal pain
- In the second stage, white spots appear and mix with black spots; legs swell, palms and soles crack/bleed; sores can become infected and make working/walking difficult
- In the third stage, kidneys or liver may give way and after 20 years, cancers show up
- Extent of poisoning depends on dosage and duration of exposure, arsenic interactions with other elements, and age/sex of individual
- Overuse of groundwater lowers the water tables, allowing air to reach the contaminated clay and release arsenic
- Long-term solution can be deep tubewells that extract water from aquifers 200 meters or farther underground
- Most of Bangladesh consists of 2 overlying freshwater aquifers, a shallow one separated from a deeper one by clay
- Risk of arsenic in deep aquifers is low, but geologists need to be sure
- Drilling process needs to be refined so that deeper aquifers are not poisoned by arsenic-bearing water trickling down the shallow aquifers
In Bangladesh, a lot of people were poisoned from drinking water containing arsenic. In the early 1970s, the government, along with the help of UNICEF, began a project to bring clean water to villages. A tubewell, a hand-operated pump that sucks water through a pump from an underground aquifer, lessened the burden of women, who no longer had to walk long distances for water. Tubewells also reduced dependance on neighbors and provided pathogen-free water to drink. It was a miracle. By the 1990s, 95% of Bangladesh's population had access to clean water, thanks to the country's more than 10 million tubewells. The reason why the arsenic problem was so bad in Bangladesh was that they also consumed arsenic through another source: rice. Their rice was watered with pumped underground water. However, it seems to have gotten better. The long-term solution to this could be deep tubewells that extract water from aquifers 200 meters or farther underground. The risk of arsenic in deep aquifers is low, but geologists need to be sure of it before we do anything. If we are going to build deep tubewells, we have to refine our drilling strategy so that deeper aquifers are not poisoned by arsenic-bearing water tricking down from shallow aquifers.
This article surprised me. I didn't know that there was arsenic in the U.S too. We are so lucky to be living in America. Some people take clean water for granted here, but in developing countries, clean water is considered a luxury and is not easily accessible like it is in the U.S. However, it seems like it's becoming more and more accessible now, which is a good thing. We should be testing the water quality of all the water sources around the world to ensure that they're not contaminated before we drink from them. To fix the lack of access to clean water for some countries, we should fundraise and donate money to charities that could provide that for them. In order to build a better planet, we need to start with giving people around the world access to basic necessities like food, water, and education. We are all equal, and we all deserve the right to those.