The largest identified man-made

environmental catastrophe

Royal Geographical SocietyWednesday August 27th 2007

Richard WilsonMallinckrodt Research Professor of Physics

Harvard University

http://arsenic.wshttp://phys4.harvard.edu/~wilson/arsenic_project_introduction.html

World Bank, UNICEF

and British Geological Survey noted that there were cholora epidemics from drinking

contaminated surface watersso they urged simple tubewells to tap ground atwer.

10,000,000 dug before arsenic was measured

systematically a Man madeMan made

environmental catastrophe

Also Arsenic in tube wells in South East Asia,

30,000,000 exposed in Bangladesh

above (old) US EPA standardof 50 ppb

Before it is over, 300,000 to

1,000,00 will be seriously affected A catastrophe that makes

Chernobyl look small!others in:

West BengalNepal

ThailandVietnamPakistan

How does the world help ?

Arsenic is a common elemet all over the world

Why is it made available in the water? That varies.Why did one not look?

10,000,000 tube wells dug before anyomne seriously

looked for arsenic

Who is to blame?World Bank

UNICEFBritish Geological

Survey

The whole world toxicological community

Arsenic known to be acutely poisonous for 3

milleniaNot realized to be

dangerous at chronic (low repeated) doses

Dr F owler of Edinurgh recommended it for stomach upsets 1788

BUT

Hutchinson 1888 overdoses of Fowler’s solution

1895 arsenic in vineyards1903 manchester beer epidemic

1920 Air pollution from smelters1920s angiosarcoma in farmers

IGNORED

Rats and mice did not get cancer!

In 1998 we demanded three simultaneous actions.

(1) Understanding the causes of the catastrophe;

(a) why was arsenic present;(b) why was it in drinking water?;

and(c) why did no one recognize what was

happening in time to avert the catastrophe?(2) What is the effect on humans of

drinking the water?(3) How can one rapidly bring pure

water to the population?and crucially important.

(4) How can the world avoid such catastrophes in the future from

arsenic or some presently unknown cause?

::

2007 - NINE years later..(if in OECD it would have

been solved)(1) In Bangladesh a reducing

environment reduces iron oxide and liberates arsenic.

No recipe yet for avoiding the problem.

(2) studies, mostly outside Bangladesh show many problems of arsenic and

confirm there is no cure

1998 (DCH conference)urged immediate action:

(1) Measure every wellGreen for OK

Red for don’t useEncourage well switching

(2) Purify Water at House levelwith simple equipment

(3) Encourage deep wells (below clay layer)

(4) Encourage solutions that lead to the long term

Labelling wells was successful (partially)

30% of people switched wells but ~10 million people helped!

67% switched when a massive education campaign (Columbia-U.Dhaka)

Some wells badly labeledPerhaps status of wells changed

MY CONCLUSION BETTER EDUCATION CAMPAIGN NEEDED

on switching

MONEY is not the problemMONEY in the right place is

a problemWorld Bank,Kuwait Fund

give money ONLY through governments and

Government of Bangladesh is hesitant

1998 The Bangladesh Arsenic Mitigation Water

Supply Project (BAMWSP) 1998 World Bank $50

million (1%) loan 2001 BAMWSP had disbursed only US$2

million2000 Kuwait fund Director told GoB (through me) to

apply for similar loan from the KUWAIT

No application made

DEEP TUBE WELLSFree from arsenic, but GoB worried

about contaminationIslam and Uddin 2002:

Basis of GoB policy stated in 2004

I Arsenic safe aquifers must be protected from future contamination at any cost.

II - Research should be undertaken before any decision is taken to withdraw large amount of

water from the presently arsenic safe Late Pleistocene-early Holocene aquifer.

III Till definite data are available about the recharge of these aquifers they should not be

allowed for exploitation. In arsenic affected areas, no new tube wells be

installed even in the presently arsenic safe aquifer to protect the presently safe water resources.

Tube wells should be considered as the last option. In case no other alternative water supply

options .... in very limited areas deep tube wells

may be considered.

DEEP TUBE WELLS (contd)

But Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) installed deep tube wells.

2005: 80,000 deep tube wells for 1,500,000 people. One must applaud this success and regret that it is

only happening slowly. 2006 DPHE produced an excellent report,

(available on the arsenic.ws website) including maps and a data base.

Professor Katim Ahmed will tell us about their work.

It goes a long way toward addressing concerns of the waverers and deserves wide circulation.

Tubewell culture was spurred by sanitation of surface waters. It is natural to assume that any return to surface water would be

accompanied by an emphasis on sanitation. That did not occur.

The government report on surface waters by Faruque et al. in 2003 and the “National

Policy” barely discussed it.

The International Center for Diarhoehal Disease Research (ICDDR’B) was located in

DhakaWhy did they not take a leadership role?

No strong guidance from the governmentSome NGOs installed dugwells ignoring WHO

guidelines for construction, and with no provision for subsequent supervision and maintenance

Dhaka Community Hospitaldug wells according to WHO

guidelines BUT were inconsistent about measurement and found in 2005 high levels in the monsoon.

Chakriborti had always chlorinatedBUT DCH only beegan in July

2006 On chlorination Faecal Coliform (FC) drops to zero - but

rises again after 21 days

>10 after 23 days and reached from 35 to 180+ in

the water samples of all dugwells at the end of the

month.

Fig 1: Faecal coliforms count in water samples of 10 dugwells (DW2, DW3, DW6, DW7, DW8, DW10, DW21, DW29, DW34,

and DW66) of Pabna district in the month of July.

No. of days after chlorination

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My recommendation to the Government of Bangladesh

Find out which (NGO) is doing a competent job(Discuss on web, conferences,

WHO etc)

Get money direct to them

Even if not economically the “best”

doing nothing is expensive especially in good will.

Three vital items

(1) Make sure measurements of arsenic and coliform bacteria are

regular and accurate

(2) work with local community - they must make

decisions and follow up and

(3) get funds direct to villagers (avoid sticky fingers

as much as possible)

Uncritical use of Arsenic Removal Systems (ARS)

May even be counterproductive.

AN OLD REMEDY

So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. And when they came to Marah they could not drink of the waters of Marah for they were bitter. And they murmered against Moses saying “What shall we drink?” and he cried unto the Lord; and the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters , the waters were made sweet”Exodus 15:22-5

• In West Bengal several hundred have been installed.

80% are not functional.• (6th report: Jadavpur University)

BUT they seem to work when there is “backup”

• Sengupta of Bengal College

• SONO filters near Kushtia•

DCH tests have not been as good as hoped

• Also NOT a long term solution

Deep wells have worked in Dhaka for a long time!

Badly installed wells could bring water down

from upper aquifer.

BUT 98% likely to work at least 20 years

Maybe for ever.

Long shot:Professor Charles Harvey

(MIT) thinksthe problem is pumping

water from anoxic region.Possible Solution:Pump concentrated

oxidants into the well. Works for a week;

tried with massive amounts of oxidants January 2006.

We will see.

Bangladesh Policy Use surface water when

possibleRainwater Collection

Improved (sanitary) DugwellsPond Sand FiltersRiver Sand Filters

We must avoid bacteriaand know we have avoided bacteria

Key is measurementMeasurement Cheapest if a large

number supplied from one unit

January 2000If you ask villagers to put up with your

measurements of water (Harvey)and epidemiological studies (Christiani)

you have to do something for them

So we gave DCH a $10,000 check for new water resources

(about $60,000 by now)January 2001 we gave them a kit

(University of Surrey) for measuring coliform bacteria

Then we got Ashok Khosla (New Delhi) to send his (JAL-TARA) measuring kit

which they used.

POND SAND FILTERfor several hundred people

• Originally built in 2001-2

• this was high in Coliform.

• It was rebuilt with more stages and by January 2004 low coliform were measured.

Dhaka Community Hospital(experts in community health)

has been installing Sanitary surface “dugwells”

where >80% tubewells contaminated WHO standards; Covered;

Originally limed, (note that BRAC and Grameen Bank did not follow

these standards)

now chlorinated (every 3 months)(now) measured regularly

More recently pumped to tank and pipeline

to give running waterVERY POPULAR

Capital cost $6/person

• 66 seemed OK in Pabna region.• (6 now abandoned)• Checked, limed, tested every 3

months for a year.• Low arsenic (LOD 3 ppb)• 0-10 coliform 0 fecal coliform• But questions were asked by Feroze

and others• 2005 tests on 10 wells looked bad. • Maybe they ONLY tested just after

liming. Now they claim chlorinating every 3 months OK (<10 fc structures/dl)

• Jabed Yousuf (DCH) is now in charge of getting measurements and should have been here but DHS did not give him a visa

• Why the long delay?

• Importance of discussing with villagers

• U Dhaka questionnaire shows

• People willing to pay 20 X as much for piped water as for arsenic free water

Enables larger systems to supply more villagers

(maintenance spread over more people)

Piped water system leads naturally to central system in

the long term

• I suggest piped water is an imporatant option to suggest to people independent of where the water comes from

My recommendation to the Government of Bangladesh

Find out which (NGO) is doing a competent job(Discuss on web, conferences,

WHO etc)

Get money direct to them

Even if not economically the “best”

doing nothing is expensive especially in good will.

The whole job can be done for

ONLY $300 million!$1 each American

World Bank provided a $50 million 1% loan that Jim Wolfensohn expected to be spent with 18 months

and Kuwait Fund can help

when asked by governments

Meanwhile please support the public foundation of

your choiceDugwell Foundation

http://www.dugwellfoundationusa.org

(Meera Smith)

Arsenic Foundationhttp://arsenicfoundation.com

(Richard Wilson)