Arsenic: MIT scientists pinpoint origin of contamination in drinking water in Bangladesh

Updated - Friday 22 January 2010

Man-made ponds may be responsible for widespread arsenic contamination of ground water affecting millions of people in Bangladesh, a new study says [1]. Researchers in MIT’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering believe they have pinpointed a pathway by which arsenic may be contaminating the drinking water in Bangladesh, a phenomenon that has puzzled scientists, world health agencies and the Bangladeshi government for nearly 30 years.

The research suggests that human alteration to the landscape, the construction of villages with ponds, and the adoption of irrigated agriculture are responsible for the current pattern of arsenic concentration underground. Charles Harvey, the Doherty Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT and a team of environmental scientists and physicians are making plans for a multi-year study that would provide deep wells for two villages in Bangladesh whose inhabitants suffer from arsenic poisoning. There they would combine continual testing of the well water and hydrogeological modeling of the groundwater system with a study of how the clean water effects the villagers’ health, placing special emphasis on the neurological development of children.

[1] Neuman, R.B. … [et al.] (2009). Anthropogenic influences on groundwater arsenic concentrations in Bangladesh. Nature Geoscience. Published online: 15 Nov 2009 | doi:10.1038/ngeo685

Related news:

  • Bangladesh: government reaffirms promise to make drinking water arsenic-free by 2013, Source South Asia, 13 Feb 2009
  • Arsenic: using flocculant-disinfectant point-of-use water treatment to reduce exposure in rural Bangladesh, Source South Asia, 25 Mar 2009

Related web site: MIT - Harvey Lab - Arsenic in Bangladesh

Contact: Charles F. Harvey, Doherty Associate Professor, Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering, MIT, e-mail: charvey@mit.edu, web page

Source: BBC, 15 Nov 2009 ; ScienceDaily, 15 Nov 2009; MIT, 15 Nov 2009

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