The world arsenic The world arsenic Catastrophe:Catastrophe:

Helping the OverwhelmedHelping the Overwhelmed

American Chemical SocietyThursday March 30th 2006

Richard WilsonMallinckrodt Research Professor of Physics

Harvard University

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

30,000,000 exposed in Bangladesh

above US EPA standard

A catastrophe that makes Chernobyl look small!

others in: West Benglal

NepalThailandVietnamPakistan

How does the world help Bangladesh?

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)

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.

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 partially successful

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

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)