Bangladesh: A County Filled with Water but so Little Safe to Drink
Tubewells, Tubewells, and More Tubewells
In the 1970s, Bangladesh faced high infant mortality rates due to severe surface water contamination caused by population density and poor sanitation. The infant mortality rate was 15.1% and under-five mortality was 24.7%. Supported by international agencies, Bangladesh’s government installed around four million tubewells to access better quality groundwater. As a result, by 1996 the mortality rates halved for both infants and children under five. However, a new problem was created.
One Problem Resolved, a New One Discovered
The tubewells that were dug accessed groundwater with extremely high concentrations of arsenic, a poisonous substance that when consumed in high concentrations leads to a whole host of health consequences and is often deadly. Dr. Allan Smith, a world leading arsenic expert from the University of California, describes the crisis as “The largest mass chemical poisoning of a population”. When asked to compare it to the infamous chemical crisis of Bhopal and Chernobyl, Smith argues that they “pale into insignificance”, as those catastrophes dealt with thousands of deaths while the crisis in Bangladesh is dealing with hundreds of thousands. The issue is so widespread that an estimated fifty-seven million people in Bangladesh, about half of their population, are at risk of cancer because of contaminated well water. Likewise, an estimated 43,000 deaths annually in Bangladesh are attributed to arsenic poisoning. Along with the health consequences, socially there is stigmatization around contracting illness from arsenic, resulting in an abundance of consequences. Regrettably, had there been more government implementation of action from nonprofits, the drastic effects of this issue could have been greatly ameliorated by now.
By looking at a selection of films, articles, and photographs that all expose the hardship arsenic patients go through on a daily basis, it becomes clear that pre-existing social and economic disparities have assisted in the creation of one of the largest environmental crises in Bangladesh's history. Exemplifying slow violence and environmental injustice, arsenic contamination in Bangladesh has produced detrimental health and social consequences for predominantly impoverished, rural communities. Increased filtration and purification efforts must be provided by NGOs and Bangladesh’s government to fulfill the people of Bangladesh’s fundamental right to access safe drinking water.
