Impact of arsenic contamination in groundwater on poverty and choice of mitigation technology for rural communities in Bangladesh

Discovery of the presence of arsenic in the drinking water in Bangladesh has been a cause of red alert in the public health arena. With a per capita income of US$482 (BER, 2006), dealing with this crisis is a major challenge for the government of Bangladesh, donor communities and the NGOs working in Bangladesh. Ever since the discovery of arsenic in the drinking water in Bangladesh by WHO in 1993, the arsenic problem has been great challenge for social planner to bring the people out of danger creates from continuous drinking of arsenic contamination water. Policy makers, doctors, scientists, geologists, engineers are engaged to find out the feasible treatment options for the affected people and technologies to avert such a disaster. At the same time, policy makers are engaged in the debate to determine the best feasible option to reduce the risk.. Similarly, social workers and NGOs began activities to rehabilitate people, provide technological solutions at low cost and also made people aware against the disaster. However, heterogeneity of the people in terms of their choices for mitigation measures, income/wealth, information, health, poverty, social status and religion, often makes it difficult to find an efficient solution. It is, at the same time, important to know which particular technological solution is more desirable from the social point of view and which solution of least desirable so that the expenditure made by government, NGOs, and also others national and international agencies bring in a socially acceptable outcome and help the millions. This study seeks to answer these questions. 

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