1 Arsenic Contamination in Drinking Water in Kachua Upazila of Chandpur District: Problems and Programs for its Remedy.

The paper aims at understanding the arsenic contamination of drinking water in Bangladesh and attempts to show the extent and depth of this catastrophe. About 57 million people (out of the total population of 140 million) are in the grip of arsenic contamination from shallow tube wells originally installed for overcoming the shortage of drinking water. The nature and extent of arsenic contamination in rural villages, where about 76% people are living depending on the supply of tube well water from shallow aquifers, which have been known to be arsenic contaminated, seem severe. According to the latest survey information of the government and non-government organizations about 53 districts out of 64 in Bangladesh are marked as arsenic contaminated areas, whose total land area is about 87390 sq. km. It is revealed that, up to 57 million people in Bangladesh alone more than the number worldwide infected with HIV virus are at risk of debilitating diseases or death from long term affects of drinking arsenic contaminated water. Hence, a treatment process and programs to remove arsenic from water along with other available local options should be encouraged which will ensure mitigation of arsenic problems. All possible options have to be adopted to save the life of the people in the affected areas for sustainable rural community living environment