Effectiveness of Different Approaches to Arsenic Mitigation over 18 Years in Araihazar, Bangladesh: Implications for National Policy

About
20 million rural Bangladeshis continue to drink well water
containing >50 μg/L arsenic (As). This analysis argues for
reprioritizing
interventions on the basis of a survey of wells serving a population
of 380,000 conducted one decade after a previous round of testing
overseen by the government. The available data indicate that testing
alone reduced the exposed population in the area in the short term
by about 130,000 by identifying the subset of low As wells that could
be shared at a total cost of 150 m) wells and a single piped-water
supply system by the government reduced exposure of little more than
7000 inhabitants at a cost of US$150 per person whose exposure was
reduced. The findings make a strong case for long-term funding of
free well testing on a massive scale with piped water or groundwater
treatment only as a last resort.