----- forwarded message ----- Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 15:06:48 -0400 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Bangladesh Faces Deadly Danger in Its Water
Bangladesh Faces Deadly Danger in Its Water Thu September 11, 2003 08:04 AM ET By Anis Ahmed KOYLA (Reuters) - Wells that Bangladesh dug decades ago to save lives by giving people clean drinking water have instead put millions at risk from one of the world's most deadly poisons -- arsenic. The reality of Bangladesh's dangerous water is all too apparent in the village of Koyla, southwest of Dhaka, where head master Abdur Rouf says about 100 of his 400 pupils suffer from arsenic poisoning. "My heart bleeds when I see my students walking slowly to their death," Rouf told Reuters. Rouf tells of one of his former pupils, Tuhin Ara, who was married five years ago to a well-off farmer at the age of 22. A little later she was sent back to her parents after her in-laws found she had developed black spots on her body. "The spots were the first signs of arsenic poisoning, or arsenicosis. Tuhin was my student; she was bright and did well in school exams," Rouf said. She died a year and a half later. The trouble began when Bangladeshis dug tube wells for drinking water, shunning surface water sources that carried water-borne diseases such as diarrhea and dysentery. Tube wells are nothing more than a pipe sunk into the ground that allows people to pump up ground water . Millions of the wells have been sunk across the country, one of the world's wettest. But unfortunately for Bangladesh, thanks to complicated geological reasons, much of its sediment contains unusually high concentrations of naturally occurring arsenic. The problem only became apparent early in the 1990s. Today, officials say arsenic contamination is found in 59 of the country's 64 districts. About half of them are classified as arsenic "hot spots." "Bangladesh's tremendous success in supplying drinking water from tube wells over the last several decades has been greatly impaired by the arsenic contamination," said Tajul Islam, a director at the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, the country's biggest non-governmental group. "It's a big shock to the people and a major health challenge," he told Reuters. 30 MILLION AT RISK In Koyla, Rouf said virtually all of the 500 tube wells in the village of 3,500 had been marked red and sealed off because of arsenic contamination, forcing villagers to seek water from a few murky ponds also used for bathing and washing cattle. The ponds may dry up during a dry spell, leaving people with no option but to draw water from the unsafe wells. Water containing more than 50 parts per billion of arsenic is unsafe to drink, global health experts say. It causes black spots on the body, hardens skin into nodules, often on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet, which can lead to gangrene, cancer and death. But even that safety limit is contested by some experts. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says it is much too high and has set a standard of just 10 parts per billion. Yet in some parts of Bangladesh, including Koyla, arsenic levels range from 70 to 100 parts per billion. Tests on 60,000 people by Dhaka Community Hospital, a pioneering arsenic research center, found 10,500 suffered arsenic poisoning. Jabed Yousuf, the hospital's director of arsenic research, estimated 30 million Bangladeshis -- of a population of more than 130 million -- are at risk for arsenic-related diseases. But there is no quick fix. "This is an alarming situation facing the country and its people. But we hardly have anything at this stage to halt the spread of the problem," Yousuf said. "NO REMEDY YET" The World Bank and government departments launched a $32-million project in 1998 to stir awareness of the dangers of using contaminated water to drink and cook with. Kits to purify and filter water have been distributed but they don't do the trick, health officials say. Surface water can be boiled and made safe for drinking but few poor people can afford cooking fuel and firewood is scarce. "We have no remedy yet to this problem, except for drinking non-arsenic water," Yousuf said. In Koyla, 12-year-old Abu Sayeed points to decaying skin on his feet which he and his parents say is an early sign of arsenic poisoning. He says he is scared. "No one knows what will happen to me," he said. "I feel sad." (Additional reporting by Serajul Islam Quadir) http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=ourWorldNews&storyID=3426636 Deborah Elaine Barrie 4 Catherine Street Smiths Falls, On Canada K7A 3Z8 (613)284-8259 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.noccawood.ca subscribe to list service at website
