Comments on: Arsenic in Bangladesh Water, Then and Now http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2009/04/09/arsenic-in-bangladesh-water-then-and-now/ Tapping experts in climate, geology, oceanography, ecology, sustainable development, global health, energy, food and water, State of the Planet captures stories of how the Earth works and how we can sustainably make our lives better. Mon, 20 May 2013 11:16:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Bill McIntosh http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2009/04/09/arsenic-in-bangladesh-water-then-and-now/comment-page-1/#comment-177 Bill McIntosh Mon, 22 Feb 2010 07:11:53 +0000 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=256#comment-177 An uninformed statement and view.
Bangladesh can be a very dry place for months on end, and there is only one Monsoon – which sometimes fails.
Attempts at stagnant stored and untreated rainwater will set the population back 50 years.
The arsenic “rich” groundwater where it cannot be avoided for drinking purposes can be treated by simple means to remove most arsenic. Simple testing and colour-coding can segregate high from low levels of contamination.
And this is being done.

]]> By: Dr J G Ray http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2009/04/09/arsenic-in-bangladesh-water-then-and-now/comment-page-1/#comment-176 Dr J G Ray Fri, 24 Apr 2009 17:32:08 +0000 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=256#comment-176 The problem of arsenic poisoning could be avoided if the nation had definite norms on ground water exploitations and consumptions. Moreover, since Bangladesh is a country with sufficient precipitations, national planning for rural rainwater harvesting instead of ground water exploration schemes, should avoid such problems.

Even, at present, national or international agencies if can promote rainwater harvesting schemes and pollution abatement programmes for the surface waters, the arsenic problems can be effectively controlled. Since rural rainwater harvesting does not require huge economic investment, the problem can be solved easily. People need to be trained to do that. However, the question is whether the national leaders of that country and the affluent global communities world over, have the political will to consider the poor people there as their own bretherns.

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