Arsenic poisoning of Bangladesh groundwater

Ross Nickson, John McArthur, William Burgess, Kazi Matin Ahmed, Peter Ravenscroft and Mizanur Rahmanñ
Additional contact information
Ross Nickson: Geological Sciences, University College London
John McArthur: Geological Sciences, University College London
William Burgess: Geological Sciences, University College London
Kazi Matin Ahmed: University of Dhaka
Peter Ravenscroft: Mott MacDonald International Ltd
Mizanur Rahmanñ: GWCII, Bangladesh Water Development Board

Nature, 1998, vol. 395, issue 6700, 338-338

Abstract: Abstract In Bangladesh and West Bengal, alluvial Ganges aquifers used for public water supply are polluted with naturally occurring arsenic, which adversely affects the health of millions of people. Here we show that the arsenic derives from the reductive dissolution of arsenic-rich iron oxyhydroxides, which in turn are derived from weathering of base-metal sulphides. This finding means it should now be possible, by sedimentological study of the Ganges alluvial sediments, to guide the placement of new water wells so they will be free of arsenic.

Date: 1998
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DOI: 10.1038/26387

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