Asia Times: Donors want arsenic pollution curbed faster


	May 26, 2000	atimes.com

India/Pakistan

Donors want arsenic pollution curbed faster
By Tabibul Islam

DHAKA - Despite generous foreign aid and expertise, Bangladesh has done little to tackle one of the world's biggest public health risks that threatens millions of people in the country, say those working on their own for the same goal.

The donors agree - and are now demanding speedier action to reduce the danger from the high levels of toxic arsenic in groundwater that is slowly poisoning those without a safe drinking water supply.

An international meet on arsenic pollution held here in mid-May and attended by key donors, pulled up the government and national political parties for not doing enough to tackle what they said was an environmental disaster bigger than the gas and nuclear radiation leaks in Bhopal and Chernobyl. ''We share the frustration at the slow pace of the work,'' World Bank country director for Bangladesh, Frederick Temple told the meeting. The bank has given Bangladesh some $50 million for tackling the problem. He was echoing the views of other speakers, who slammed the country's political leaders and public health authorities for not doing enough. In a declaration, the conference noted that progress in dealing with the crisis has been ''tragically slow'' and urged government and non-governmental agencies, donors and experts to act swiftly.

However, Mahfuz Anam, editor of Dhaka's English-language newspaper Daily Star felt that not much could be done until the country's political class took interest. ''It is a shame that political parties are indifferent to such a disaster,'' he said, urging lawmakers from all political parties to hold a discussion on the subject.

With an estimated 90 million of the more than 127 million Bangladeshis at risk, Bangladesh has the world's highest level of arsenic contamination of groundwater. Experts differ on the reasons for the presence of arsenic in groundwater, but agree it will slowly damage the immune system and disfigure millions of people unless they are provided with a safe drinking water supply. According to official figures, some 7,000 Bangladeshis are suffering from arsenic poisoning that causes fatigue, vomiting, diarrhoea, thickening and discolouration of the skin and even skin cancer. Health experts say that it takes eight to 10 years for the first signs of arsenecosis, as the disease is called, to show.

A survey by the Dhaka Community Hospital and the School of Environmental Studies of Jadavpur University of the neighboring Indian border state of West Bengal found high levels of arsenic in groundwater in 59 out of Bangladesh's 64 administrative districts. Arsenic groundwater pollution is also a big problem in parts of West Bengal along the India-Bangladesh border. Dipankar Chakravarty, director of the Indian environmental school, told the Dhaka conference that what the 239-day survey spread over five years had uncovered was ''only the tip of the iceberg''.

Another investigation, by the British Geological Survey and the Department of Public Health and Engineering, Bangladesh, found arsenic levels of more than 0.05 mg per liter in 249 sub-districts. The World Health Organization (WHO) prescribes a maximum safe level of 0.01 mg of arsenic per liter.

Health experts at the arsenic conference lamented that despite the huge sums of money spent so far and promises made at similar international meetings, little had been achieved. Kazi Quamruzzaman, chairman of the Dhaka Community Hospital Trust, pointed out that ''not a single penny'' of the millions of dollars spent so far in Bangladesh, was used for providing affected people with safe drinking water.

Others reminded the government of its promises made at similar conferences in 1997 and 1998, to take urgent steps to provide safe drinking water. The resident representative of the UN Children's Fund (Unicef), Shahida Azfar, described the challenge of tackling arsenic contamination as ''a race against time'' which could not be won without swift action today.

Some felt that instead of wasting time and money testing ground water, authorities should be doing more to provide safe water supply. ''It is time to focus on saving lives and providing water to the people. By the time we have finished testing every tubewell in the country, thousands and thousands of people will have fallen prey to arsenecosis,'' one expert said.

Mahmudur Rahman, coordinator of the Dhaka Community Hospital Trust, however, blamed the government, NGOs, the UN and other development agencies for not working together effectively to tackle the problem. ''We have urged the UN agencies, government and non-governmental organizations, and stakeholders to sit together to address the issue in a united manner,'' he said.

Experts at the conference, however, said the entire nation would have to wake up to the public health crisis. They advised authorities to reduce reliance on groundwater and harness surface water through suitable watershed management.

It would be cheaper and more effective to reduce surface water pollution than purifying arsenic contaminated groundwater, they said. Since the 1960s, people in the countryside in thid mainly rural nation have been encouraged to use hand pumps that lift groundwater.

Ironically, groundwater use was encouraged as an alternative to polluted surface water. About 4 million hand-operated pumps are working in the country, where 97 percent of people in villages are dependent on them for their daily water needs.

(Inter Press Service)

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