Public Health Strategies for Western Bangladesh That Address Arsenic, Manganese, Uranium, and Other Toxic Elements in Drinking Water
| Autor: | Ahmad Zaki Yusuf, Erika J. Mitchell, Lawrence J. Mastera, Mohammad Yusuf Siddiq, D. S. Westerman, Richard Ortega, Bibudhendra Sarkar, Thomas Bacquart, Richard K. Dunn, Seth H. Frisbie, Donald M. Maynard |
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| Rok vydání: | 2009 |
| Předmět: |
medicine.medical_specialty
Health Toxicology and Mutagenesis chemistry.chemical_element Water supply Manganese Mass Spectrometry Interviews as Topic uranium Selenium Water Supply Metals Heavy Environmental health Bangladeshis Environmental monitoring medicine Humans Arsenic Boron Bangladesh business.industry Research chronic arsenic poisoning Public health drinking water arsenic Public Health Environmental and Occupational Health Hydrogen-Ion Concentration Uranium chemistry Environmental chemistry Chronic arsenic poisoning Geographic Information Systems manganese Environmental science Public Health business Water Pollutants Chemical Environmental Monitoring |
| Zdroj: | Environmental Health Perspectives |
| ISSN: | 1552-9924 0091-6765 |
| DOI: | 10.1289/ehp.11886 |
| Popis: | Background More than 60,000,000 Bangladeshis are drinking water with unsafe concentrations of one or more elements. Objectives Our aims in this study were to evaluate and improve the drinking water testing and treatment plans for western Bangladesh. Methods We sampled groundwater from four neighborhoods in western Bangladesh to determine the distributions of arsenic, boron, barium, chromium, iron, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, lead, antimony, selenium, uranium, and zinc, and to determine pH. Results The percentages of tube wells that had concentrations exceeding World Health Organization (WHO) health-based drinking water guidelines were 78% for Mn, 48% for U, 33% for As, 1% for Pb, 1% for Ni, and 1% for Cr. Individual tube wells often had unsafe concentrations of both Mn and As or both Mn and U. They seldom had unsafe concentrations of both As and U. Conclusions These results suggest that the ongoing program of identifying safe drinking water supplies by testing every tube well for As only will not ensure safe concentrations of Mn, U, Pb, Ni, Cr, and possibly other elements. To maximize efficiency, drinking water testing in Bangladesh should be completed in three steps: 1) all tube wells must be sampled and tested for As; 2) if a sample meets the WHO guideline for As, then it should be retested for Mn and U; 3) if a sample meets the WHO guidelines for As, Mn, and U, then it should be retested for B, Ba, Cr, Mo, Ni, and Pb. All safe tube wells should be considered for use as public drinking water supplies. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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