The Hindu : National : CSE finds arsenic contamination in Gangetic region

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 06, 2004

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National

CSE finds arsenic contamination in Gangetic region

By Aarti Dhar

NEW DELHI, OCT. 5. The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) today claimed that it had detected high levels of arsenic in the ground water westward along the Gangetic plains, with the Ballia district in Uttar Pradesh being particularly affected.

While the Ballia administration denied this and even sent a legal notice to the CSE saying it was working against "national interest," the CSE director, Sunita Narain, said she stood by the findings and wants immediate remedial action by the State Government, including better monitoring of ground water.

The laboratory analysis of hand-pump water and the hair and nails of people living in the villages of Ballia has shown levels of arsenic much higher than what is considered safe, Ms. Narain said.

Though there is no legal safe limit for arsenic in hair, toxicologists say between 80 to 250 parts per billion (ppb) is acceptable. The level of arsenic detected in human hair here was 4,800 ppb to 6,300 ppb.

The content of arsenic in ground water ranged between 15 ppb and 73 ppb, while the guidelines describe 10 ppb safe. Similarly, the acceptable level of arsenic in nails is between 430 ppb and 1,080 ppb but tests showed it was close to 2,480 ppb. The tests were conducted at the Delhi-based Shriram Institute of Industrial Research Laboratory.

Ms. Narain presented a UNICEF survey and studies conducted at Jadavpur University, which showed that, besides West Bengal, arsenic was found in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. According to the two studies, scientists believe that arsenic is present naturally and brought down from the Himalayas.

The CSE stumbled upon the possibility of the presence of arsenic in water when Dinanath, a resident of Ekwana Rajpur village in Ballia, came to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for cancer-detection tests. His sons and many other villagers were suffering from skin diseases related to arsenic poisoning.

When the CSE team checked his hand-pump, the arsenic level was found to be 73 ppb as against 10 ppb set by the Bureau of Indian Standards.

As of now, the Central Government says that arsenic contamination is found only in eight districts of West Bengal and Bihar (Bhojpur).

"The CSE believes that the case of Ballia highlights a matter of intense urgency to understand the extent of arsenic contamination in the country; and on this basis create a clear policy and action plan to ensure that people are not forced to drink arsenic contaminated water," Ms. Narain said.

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