PARENT SESSION
PMA15 - Fate & Transport of Arsenic in the Environment
8:00 AM to 6:30 PM - Monday, November 12, 2001
Exhibit Hall A
(PM219) Ground Water Arsenic Pollution in Bangladesh: Natural or Manmade Disasters?
Salequzzaman, Md. 1,2, Chowdhury, Mahbub3, 1 2 3
ABSTRACT- Bangladesh groundwater is now suffering seriously from Arsenic (As) Pollution, which is the largest mass poisoning in its history. The original source of this As pollution is very much contradictory among the scientists. Experts are dividing for inventing the exact root of the problem, but it is generally believed that excessive and unplanned exploitation of ground water for irrigation is the main reason in Bangladesh. The scientific assumption is ground water As contamination happened by the oxidation of subsoil fall of ground water level. However, maximum scientists, experts and the specialists opine that real source of As contamination is the geological formation, although no comprehensive investigations or study is conducted yet in Bangladesh. However, there are several theories has been invented for the origin of groundwater As Pollution in Bangladesh. In Pyrite Oxidation theory, scientists revealed that As bearing eroded materials were carried down to the river until it was deposited in Bangladesh and it was a type of iron oxide. These iron oxide compounds were then deposited with the sediments. Along with the iron oxide minerals, the sediments contained organic carbon like plant materials, that used up underground oxygen. Removal of oxygen from these compounds meant they broke apart and As and iron were released to the groundwater. In another theory, it is blamed that high concentration of peat at sub-soil level is responsible for arsenic contamination in the ground water of Bangladesh. But in the case of Environmental Degradation theory, As contamination is anthropogenic in Bangladesh. According to the above circumstances, the paper will discusses the real sources of As pollution in ground water of Bangladesh.
Key words: Arsenic pollution, Pyrite oxidation, Anthropogenic, Environmental degradation