UNU Update: Arsenic workshop in Bangladesh

Experts seek
solution to
Bangladesh's
arsenic
'catastrophe'

An estimated 35 million Bangladeshis are drinking well water with unacceptable levels of arsenic, according to research submitted to an international workshop jointly organized by UN University and Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.

The three-day workshop on Technologies for Arsenic Removal from Drinking Water was held in Dhaka in May and attracted nearly 125 local and visiting experts from the United States, Britain, Japan, Australia, Netherlands, Canada, Nepal and India.

"Arsenic contamination is a modern-day catastrophe of Bangladesh," said deputy Local Government Minister Saber Hossain Chowdhury, who opened the workshop. "Fifty-nine out of 64 districts are now arsenic affected."

Dr. Zafar Adeel, of UNU, said that the key elements of any contamination mitigation strategy included information dissemination and transparency, participation of civil society, improved nutrition, alternative livelihoods, scientific research, drinking water standards, water resource management, treatment techologies and coordination between governments.