Arsenic free water a distant dream for villagers

Arsenic free water a distant dream for villagers

Tangail, BANGLADESH, March 30 - Sixty-five-year-old Hajura Begum of this remote area - a three-hour drive from Dhaka –is confused over the discovery of high concentrations of arsenic in her tubewell. Begum, like hundreds of other people in her village was happy when the officials had installed these tubewells 20 years ago for drinking water.A few years ago, when the officials told her not to drink the tubewell water, she was very upset. "First they tell us we should drink this water and then now they say its poisonous," says the frail lady clearly depicting the level of poverty in which she lives in. "How can they expect us to follow what they want?," she questions.

Waters of a great number of tubewells in all 11 upazilas in this district have been found contaminated with the deadly arsenic. Local Department of Public Health and Engineering (DPHE) conducted a study a few years ago finding that 420 tubewells are arsenic contaminated.

The affected areas are Delduar, Nagarpur, Mirzapur, Shakipur, Basail, Gopalpur, Ghatail, Madhupur and Tangail Sadar Upazila. DPHE checked the water of tubewells in these areas and sealed off all the 420 tubewells.

Looking at a larger scenario, it was during the 1970s that efforts to bring safe drinking water to Bangladesh’s rural population led to distributing tubewell water to 97 per cent of the population. However, after undrinkable levels of arsenic were detected in 1993 and then confirmed in 1995 the population was told not to drink the tubewell water."It is estimated that nearly half of the total tubewells here are contaminated with undrinkable limits of arsenic," said Shahid Mohan, co-ordinator of Pratikka – a NGO working in the rural sector. Tubewells are the main source of potable water in 59 out of 64 districts here.He adds that it will take many years before the situation will be under control. "We are working continuously but it is a tough task to bring safe water to the people," he says.

Bangladesh was where arsenic contamination in underground water was first detected in this region. An estimated 20 million of 125 million people are assumed to be drinking contaminated water - the largest mass poisoning in history. Contamination is mainly in the southwest, middle, and northeast parts of the country. The problem is big. The poor people are suffering the most and they need alternative sources of safe drinking water fast.

They do know they should not drink the water but have no alternative source. For instance, 40-year-old Shahib Uddin says that the officials have just told him to drink boiled water from the ponds.

"How can we do that?," he says. Uddin, whose family lives in Gopalpur Upazila says that a few of his neighbors have already developed symptoms of arsenic related diseases. "We just do not have enough money to buy fuel to boil the water," he adds.

Many people in this areas, he says, are collecting water from ponds and other water bodies now after being panicky due to arsenic menace. Meanwhile, DPHE had also taken up a program to set up 1,000 feet deep tubewells in arsenic affected areas.

"But poor people can not afford the higher cost of installation of such tubewells," says 28-year-old Fazlul Hoque of Mizrapur village. "The authorities concerned should spend the required amount of money for this purpose to protect poor people from arsenic contamination," he says.