Arsenic crisis today: strategy for tomorrow

This document presents ideas and concepts for ways to cope with the arsenic crisis first highlighted by the presence of arsenic in groundwater extracted from the alluvial aquifer underlying West Bengal and Bangladesh. The focus is on Bangladesh, but the findings may be applied to any other part of the world. The information in this document is targeted to the general public, policy makers and practitioners in the field. The problems are indeed very complex and span a number of sectors and stakeholders; a simplified approach for describing these issues is taken here.<B>Emergency measures:</B>raising public awareness should be the starting point for any approach to deal with the arsenic problemgroundwater treatment technologies that are cheap, efficient and easy to use should be applied at a large scale as an interim or mid-term solutionimmediate measures must be taken to protect the health of those living in areas with arsenic-contaminated waterimproving nutrition and fighting undernourishment has to be a central element of the fight against the arsenic crisisparticipation of the civil society has to be a key element of designing, planning and implementing remediation strategiesintra-governmental coordination is a must for effective implementationinformation dissemination and transparency play a key role in effectiveness of remedial strategies while building the confidence of stakeholders, particularly general public<B>Long-term policy alternatives:</B>an overall health policy to deal with currently-identified patients as well as those potentially at riskfood security and improving nutritional quality of the food should be a high priorityalternative livelihoods should be provided for those who are directly impacted by arsenic contamination as well as their immediate familieswater resource management on a regional or national scale is essential to fully exploit the abundant water resources available in Bangladeshscientific research has to be emphasised to reduce uncertainty, with due consideration to local conditionsdrinking water standard has to be re-evaluated in view of the scientific researchcoordination, management and dissemination of information should be undertaken through well-defined mechanisms