Tubewell platform color : A low-cost and rapid screening tool for arsenic and manganese in drinking water

• Presence of high level of geogenic arsenic (As) in groundwater is one of the major and adverse drinking water quality problem all over the world, especially in Southeast Asia, where groundwater is the prominent drinking water source. Bangladesh is already considered as one of the most As affected territories, where As contamination in the groundwater is key environmental disasters. Recently besides As, presence of high level of manganese (Mn) in drinking water has also got attention due to its neurological effect on children. It becomes very essential to formulate a reliable safe drinking water management policy to reduce the health threat caused by drinking As and Mn contained groundwater. The development of a simple low cost technique for the determination of As and Mn in drinking water wells is an important step to formulate this policy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potentiality of tubewell platform color as low-cost, quick and convenient screening tool for As and Mn in drinking water wells (n=272) in a highly arsenic affected area on Matlab, Southeastern Bangladesh.The result shows strong correlation between the development of red color stain on tubewell platform and As enrichment in the corresponding tubewell water compared to WHO drinking water guideline (10 μg/L) as well as Bangladesh drinking water standard (BDWS) (50 μg/L), with certainty values of 98.7% and 98.3% respectively. The sensitivity and efficiency of red colored platforms to screen high As water in tubewells are 98% and 97% respectively at 10 μg/L, whereas at cut-off level of 50μg/L both sensitivity and efficiency values are 98%. This study suggests that red colored platform could be potentially used for primary identification of tubewells with elevated level of As and thus could prioritise sustainable As mitigation management in developing countries. Due to lack of tubewells with black colored platform in the study area, the use of platform color concept for screening of Mn enriched water in the wells have not been tested significantly, which requires further study.Acknowledgements: This study was carried out with support from the Liuuaeus-Palme Academic Exchange Programme supported by International Programs Office (IPK) and the KTH led joint collaborative action research project on Sustainable Arsenic Mitigation- SASMIT (Sid Contribution 750000854).

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap -- Geokemi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences -- Geochemistry (hsv//eng)

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