Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Kathmandu (Agenzia Fides) - Aid organizations are distributing water filters to some 37,000 households in the Terai plains of southern Nepal who are being slowly poisoned by drinking arsenic-contaminated water. According to a soon to be published report by the government and the UN, 1.8 percent of the country's wells have arsenic contamination exceeding the Nepal standard of 50 parts per billion (ppb). An additional 5.6 percent exceed the World Health Organization (WHO) standard of 10 ppb, for a total of 84,411 contaminated wells. Arsenic, which causes health problems like skin discoloration (melanosis), hardening of the skin (keratosis) and cancer, can contaminate groundwater naturally and through human activities such as mining. It can also come from pesticides and fertilizers that contain arsenic. Arsenic-contaminated water is a major problem in Bangladesh and West Bengal State in India. It has also turned up in some drinking water sources in Cambodia and Myanmar. Ninety percent of people in the Terai rely on groundwater for drinking water, according to UNICEF and government officials. Of the 20 districts in the Terai, the worst affected is Nawalparasi, where 26.0 percent of shallow wells failed to meet the WHO standard. One challenge has been ensuring safe drinking water - free from bacteria and arsenic. One of the filters being distributed, the Kanchan Arsenic Filter (KAF), was designed at the University of Calgary, and then developed and improved by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), ENPHO and the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Support Programme of Nepal. Through a slow sand filtration system, bacteria are removed from the water. The addition of rusty nails introduces ferric hydroxide (iron rust), which absorbs arsenic onto its surface. The arsenic-loaded iron particles are then filtered out through the sand. According to UNICEF, 27,000 children in Nepal died before their fifth birthday in 2008, 4.8 percent of which were because of diarrhea. A major diarrhoea outbreak during the rainy season of 2009 led to 59,000 people falling ill in the mid and far western regions of Nepal and claimed more than 300 lives. Some 24,000 households have already been assisted, mostly with filters and also with improved dug wells. ENPHO, the Nepal Red Cross, UNICEF and UN Habitat are now working to assist the remaining 13,000 affected households. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 7/9/2010)
