The world arsenic Catastrophe: Helping the Overwhelmed

1. The world arsenic Catastrophe:Helping the Overwhelmed American Chemical Society Thursday March 30th 2006 Richard Wilson Mallinckrodt Research Professor of Physics Harvard University http://arsenic.ws http://phys4.harvard.edu/~wilson/arsenic_project_introduction.html

2. 30,000,000 exposed in Bangladeshabove US EPA standardA catastrophe that makes Chernobyl look small!others in: West BenglalNepalThailandVietnamPakistanHow does the world help Bangladesh?

3. 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 upand(3) get funds direct to villagers (avoid sticky fingers as much as possible)

4. My recommendation to the Government of BangladeshFind 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.

5. 1998 (DCH conference)urged immediate action:(1) Measure every wellGreen for OKRed 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

8. Labelling wells was partially successful30% 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 changedMY CONCLUSION BETTER EDUCATION CAMPAIGN NEEDEDon switching

9. Uncritical use of Arsenic Removal Systems (ARS) May even be counterproductive.

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. Bangladesh Policy Use surface water when possibleRainwater CollectionImproved (sanitary) DugwellsPond Sand FiltersRiver Sand FiltersWe must avoid bacteriaand know we have avoided bacteriaKey is measurementMeasurement Cheapest if a large number supplied from one unit

15. January 2000If you ask villagers to put up with your measurements of water (Harvey)and epidemiological studies (Christiani) you have to do something for themSo 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 bacteriaThen we got Ashok Khosla (New Delhi) to send his (JAL-TARA) measuring kit which they used.

17. 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.

19. Dhaka Community Hospital(experts in community health)has been installingSanitary surface “dugwells”where >80% tubewells contaminatedWHO standards;Covered; Originally limed, (note that BRAC and Grameen Bank did not follow these standards)now chlorinated (every 3 months)(now) measured regularlyMore recently pumped to tank and pipelineto give running waterVERY POPULARCapital cost $6/person

23. 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)

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

25. 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

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

27. My recommendation to the Government of BangladeshFind 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.

28. The whole job can be done for ONLY $300 million!$1 each AmericanWorld Bank provided a $50 million 1% loan that Jim Wolfensohn expected to be spent with 18 monthsand Kuwait Fund can help when asked by governments

29. Meanwhile please support the public foundation of your choiceDugwell Foundationhttp://www.dugwellfoundationusa.org(Meera Smith)Arsenic Foundationhttp://arsenicfoundation.com(Richard Wilson)