By: T.V. Padma
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Three simple tips concerning where to dig wells in arsenic affected areas and pump water for irrigation could go a long way in reducing exposure to unsafe levels of the element in affected areas of South and South-East Asia, a review suggests.
These are: wells should be dug as deep as possible in arsenic affected areas; into deep orange sands rather than grey sands or shallow orange sands; and every effort should be made to prevent pumping water for irrigation from deeper, low-arsenic aquifers.
The conclusions of the review by a team of US geologists based on a decade of field research in Asia were published last week (28 May) in Science. Over 100 million rural Asians are exposed to unsafe arsenic levels through untreated and contaminated drinking water.