Skip to main content
European Commission logo print header

Article Category

News
Content archived on 2023-03-02

Article available in the following languages:

Water treatment technology to clean up arsenic problem in southern Asia

Researchers from Queen's University Belfast, Ireland, have developed a low-cost, eco-friendly and easy-to-use groundwater treatment technology that addresses the problem of widespread arsenic poisoning in southern Asia. The development came out of a project called TiPOT (Techn...

Researchers from Queen's University Belfast, Ireland, have developed a low-cost, eco-friendly and easy-to-use groundwater treatment technology that addresses the problem of widespread arsenic poisoning in southern Asia. The development came out of a project called TiPOT (Technology for in-situ treatment of groundwater for potable and irrigation purposes), which is part of the EU-funded Asia Pro Eco Programme. A 2007 report estimated that over 70 million people in eastern India and Bangladesh are regularly exposed to high levels of arsenic in drinking water and staple agricultural products such as rice. Worldwide, an estimated 137 million people in 7 countries are affected. Arsenicosis, or chronic arsenic poisoning from drinking water, can result in myriad symptoms and diseases including skin cancer, lung cancer, cancer of the kidney and bladder, jaundice, cirrhosis, peripheral vascular disease, Raynaud's syndrome, blackfoot disease (a type of gangrene), anaemia and a thickening of the skin. World Health Organization guidelines set the maximum level of arsenic in drinking water at 10 parts per billion; in Bangladesh these levels are in some places in excess of one part per thousand. Attempts to address the problem have until now been unsuccessful. The problem of arsenic poisoning from contaminated groundwater is particularly acute in the Bengal Delta because the wells that were dug in the 1970s to address the problem of other water-supply contaminants tapped into naturally occurring arsenic deposits. While infant mortality decreased significantly at the time, the population began to experience arsenic poisoning on a large scale. Dr Bhaskar Sen Gupta of Queen's University and his team have developed a technology based on 'recharging a part of the groundwater, after aeration, into a subterranean aquifer (permeable rock) able to hold water'. The resulting increased levels of oxygen in the groundwater allow soil micro organisms, iron and manganese to reduce the level of dissolved arsenic significantly. The researchers and their international partners have developed a trial plant that uses chemical-free groundwater treatment technology in Kasimpore, near Calcutta in India. The treated water will be available to local rural communities for their drinking and farming needs. The Kasimpore plant will be maintained and operated by local village technicians. TiPOT has from its inception sought to establish sustainable partnerships, and to 'establish best practices [...] in the context of social, economic and cultural background of the people'. It has worked closely with village councils and local financial institutions that monitor the water supply and distribution and provide small loans to farmers. Six more water treatment plants applying the new technology are planned in West Bengal, using funds from the World Bank and from the British Council's DELPHE award (to Indian partners BESU and IEMS). TiPOT includes partners from India, Ireland, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands and is part of the EU's Asia Pro Eco Programme, which is dedicated in part to improving environmental performance in Asian economic sectors by exchanging technologies and practices. TiPOT seeks to vastly improve the quality of life and enterprise opportunities for the millions of marginalised people affected by arsenicosis.

Countries

India

Related articles