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Our Correspondent Chanpainawabganj district civil surgeon's office has to date identified 845 of its population suffering from arsenic poisoning. The residents of Chanpainawabganj town itself being the most vulnerable in the district, civil surgeon Md Shah Abdul Ahad told bdnews24.com.
"A total of 845 persons have been identified so far as arsenicosis patients and they are being provided with medical treatment, as necessary," the civil surgeon said.
"The presence of arsenic above the safety threshold has been ascertained in the water pumped out of the hand tubewells of 115 localities out of the total 128 municipal units."
Water levels of groundwater aquifers are falling fast, which is causing the concentration of arsenic to intensify.
Though the civil surgeon's office has no statistics on the deaths due to arsenic posioning, eight members of a single family were reported by locals to have died of arsenicosis in Uparajarampur.
Relative Kalu Mandal (70) told bdnews24.com: "Eight in our family died over the past few years from arsenic poisoning. I've been suffering from the disease for the last 20 years."
Kariman (50), a resident of Paramanikpara claimed most of the 35 families in their locality have been affected by various arsenic-related ailments, including herself.
Devashish Dey, of Christian Commission for Development in Bangladesh, said one Durgapur resident needed to have both legs amputated due to advanced arsenic poisoning.
"People in the area have been drinking arsenic contaminated water for a long time, as there still is no alternative for them," Dey said.
Executive engineer of the district public health and engineering (DPHE) department, Md Saifur Rahman said arsenic has been found in varying levels in the groundwater of the district—38 percent of tubewells were found affected in the Sadar upazila, 17 percent in Shibganj, three percent in Nachol and in Bholahat.
"In the municipal area alone, a massive 63 percent of the tubewells have been found affected, that is, with water containing arsenic at harmful levels," he said.
On the causes of such large-scale groundwater contamination, engineer Saifur said: "It's been caused due to excessive withdrawal of groundwater for many years. We have to switch to using surface water more to avoid further disaster."
Engineer Nazrul Islam, of Chanpainawabganj municipal water supply division, said: "After testing water samples of 20 deep tubewells sunk under an arsenic mitigation project, 14 were found to be highly contaminated with arsenic."
With a view to supplying arsenic free water in the municipal area, the 'Bangladesh Water Supply Programme' was designed to provide potable water in Chapainnawabganj town.
"But the programme has failed to take off as ECNEC is not giving it the green signal," Nazrul said.
Admitting the dearth of drinkable water in the town, mayor Ataur Rahman told bdnews24.com: "Though fifty odd surveys and studies have so far been carried out by many government and non-government organisations, including World Bank, none resulted in any effective measures to date."
"I have approached different donors from different countries for help in this regard, but to no avail," said the mayor.
DPHE boss Saifur Rahman said: "The DPHE is supplying 400 tubewells for the supply of safe water in the Sadar and Shibganj upazilas. UNICEF and the government will jointly sink another 800 tubewells in Nachol, Gomastapur and Bholahat upazilas."
"The World Bank is expected to fund the installation of two pumps to supply Chanpainawabganj town with safe water, spending around one crore taka."
But the engineer could not say when the townspeople would be ensured a safe water supply.
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