Reliability of a Commercial Kit To Test Groundwater for Arsenic in Bangladesh

A comparison of field and laboratory measurements of
arsenic in groundwater of Araihazar, Bangladesh, indicates
that the most widely used field kit correctly determined
the status of 88% of 799 wells relative to the local standard
of 50 μg/L As. Additional tests show that the inconsistencies,
mainly underestimates in the 50−100 μg/L As range,
can be avoided by increasing the reaction time from 20 to
40 min. Despite this limitation, the field data already
compiled for millions of wells by the Bangladesh Arsenic
Mitigation and Water Supply Project, in combination with
information on well location and depth, should prove to
be extremely useful to prioritize interventions in thousands
of affected villages.