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In the 1970s and 1980s the Bangladesh government, along with international aid agencies spearheaded by

UNICEF, undertook an ambitious project to bring clean water to the nations villages.

Too many children were dying of diarrhea from drinking surface water contaminated with bacteria.

The arsenic,which occurs in more recent, shallow deposits of clay, dissolves in underground water by processes

that remain disputed

Arsenic is also in communities of India, Nepal, Vietnam, China, Argentina, U.S

ARSENIC FLOWS from a tubewell in Bilkada village in Bangladesh. Farmer Abdul Rahman, whose foot was

amputated after cancer caused by the contaminated water, looks on as a neighbor pumps.

Arsenic in drinking water constitutes the largest case of mass poisoning in history

Arsenic is found in aquifers, usually underlying river deltas,

First sign of poisoning is black spots on the upper chest, back and arms, known as melanosis.

Patient may suffer conjunctivitis, bronchitis and diarrhea and abdominal pain

In second stage, white spots appear mixed up with black, legs swell and palms and soles crack and bleed

Sore, which are highly characteristic of arsenic poisoning are painful and can become infected

In the third stage, kidneys and livers malfunction and give way. In 20 years, cancer shows up

Drinking 500 micrograms of arsenic per liter of water led to skin cancer in one out of 10 individuals.

Major cause of death is internal cancers, especially of the bladder, kidney, liver and lung.

U.S National Research Council concluded in 1999 that the combined cancer risk from ingesting more than 50

micrograms of arsenic per liter of water could lead to one in 100 people dying of cancer.

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Drinking water with high levels of arsenic can lead to neurological and cardiovascular complications.

One treatment, chelation requires the patient to ingest a chemical that binds to arsenic and aids its excretion

The source of-and the solution to Bangladesh's arsenic problem lies underground.

Most of poisoned aquifers are shallow from 10 to 70 meters deep and lie to the south of the country.

BGS notes that around 18,000 years ago, when sea level dropped by 100 meters, rivers cut deep channels into

existing sediment.

Valleys filled up with gray clay that hold the posion

Bangladesh government created the Bangladesh Arsenic Mitigation and Water Supply Project in 1998 to which

effort the World Bank provided a loan of $32.5 million

B. summary The article talks about the toxicity arsenic creates in underground water supply and how it affects people when they drink it. That kind of water is found in many countries but the articles focus was Bangladesh, which contain a dangerous amount of arsenic in their water. To free the chemicals aquifers should be deeper than 200 meters. Drinking a water that has a high level of arsenic will lead to liver and kidney problem or at the worst cancer. Some of the ways to have a safer drinking water are pond sand filters and three- pitcher filters. And it requires more than $290 million for a five year testing and monitoring of arsenic all over Bangladesh, but the fact that it cant afford money like that on their own make it harder to find a solution.

c. Reaction

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I felt like I knew what is going on even if I have no idea about what is going on. Money is the issue for everything as Ive been noticing in a lot of articles lately. And the government doesnt want to risk spending that kind of money on the peoples health, Im sure there are things more important but than helping countries that are in war or something like that I think we should also lend a hand to countries that cant get the proper drinking water. So What? Arsenic is one of the toxic chemicals that are found in water and it is found in the drinking water of Bangladesh in an excessive amount Says Who? A. Mushtaque R. Chowdhury What does it remind me of..? UNICEF and other concerning bodies, why wont they take a measure to make the peoples life better What Now? The people should be educated on how to survive their situation and cope with it better.