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Arsenic Mobility and Groundwater Extraction in Bangladesh
Charles F. Harvey,1Christopher H. Swartz,1*A. B. M. Badruzzaman,2Nicole Keon-Blute,1Winston Yu,1M. Ashraf Ali,2Jenny Jay,1Roger Beckie,3Volker Niedan,1Daniel Brabander,1Peter M. Oates,1Khandaker N. Ashfaque,1Shafiqul Islam,4Harold F. Hemond,1M. Feroze Ahmed2
High levels of arsenic in well water are causing
widespread poisoning in Bangladesh. In a typical aquifer in southern
Bangladesh,chemical data imply that arsenic mobilization is associated
withrecent inflow of carbon. High concentrations of radiocarbon-youngmethane indicate that young carbon has driven recent biogeochemicalprocesses, and irrigation pumping is sufficient to have drawnwater to
the depth where dissolved arsenic is at a maximum. Theresults of field
injection of molasses, nitrate, and low-arsenicwater show that organic
carbon or its degradation products mayquickly mobilize arsenic,
oxidants may lower arsenic concentrations,and sorption of arsenic is
limited by saturation of aquifer materials.
1 Ralph M. Parsons Laboratory, Department of
Civil & Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Cambridge, MA 01239, USA.
2 Bangladesh University of Engineering and
Technology, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh.
3 Department of
Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of British Columbia, BC V6T 1Z1,
Canada.
4 Department of Civil and Environmental
Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA.
*
Present address: Silent Spring Institute, Newton, MA 02458, USA.
Present address: Environmental, Coastal and Ocean
Sciences Department, University of Massachusetts, Boston, MA 02125, USA.
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Comment on "Arsenic Mobility and Groundwater Extraction in Bangladesh" (I).
P. K. Aggarwal, A. R. Basu, and K. M. Kulkarni (2003)
Science
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Comment on "Arsenic Mobility and Groundwater Extraction in Bangladesh" (II).
A. van Geen, Y. Zheng, M. Stute, and K. M. Ahmed (2003)
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300, 584c
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Response to Comments on "Arsenic Mobility and Groundwater Extraction in Bangladesh".
C. F. Harvey, C. Swartz, A. B. M. Badruzzaman, N. Keon-Blute, W. Yu, M. A. Ali, J. Jay, R. Beckie, V. Niedan, D. Brabander, et al. (2003)
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300, 584d
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