The spatial pattern of risk from arsenic poisoning: a Bangladesh case study

Type Journal Article - Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part A
Title The spatial pattern of risk from arsenic poisoning: a Bangladesh case study
Author(s)
Volume 38
Issue 1
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2003
Page numbers 1-24
URL http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1081/ESE-120016590
Abstract
Arsenic poisoning in Bangladesh has been one of the biggest environmental health and social disasters of recent
times. About seventy million people in Bangladesh are exposed to toxic levels of arsenic (0.05 mg/L) in drinking
water. It is ironic that so many tubewells have been installed in recent times to provide drinking water that is safe
from water-borne diseases but that the water pumped is contaminated with toxic levels of arsenic. Along with the
clinical manifestations, some social problems have also emerged due to arsenic toxicity. Analysing the spatial risk
pattern of arsenic in groundwater is the main objective of this paper. Establishing the extent of arsenic exposure to
the people will facilitate an understanding of the health effects and estimating the population risk over the area.
This paper seeks to explore the spatial pattern of arsenic concentrations in groundwater for analyzing and mapping
‘problem regions’ or ‘risk zones’ for composite arsenic hazard information by using GIS-based data processing
and spatial analysis along with state-of-the-art decision-making techniques. Quantitative data along with spatial
information were employed and analyzed for this paper.

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