Bangladesh local filter to combat arsenic tainted

water
15 January 2008

The Sono filter, a local innovation, offers hope to millions in Bangladesh who lack access to
safe drinking water. Arsenic contaminated groundwater exists in all but one of the country’s 64
districts, and adversely impacts the health of those who ingest it over long periods.

Dhaka: An innovative, locally designed arsenic filter, known as the Sono filter, now offers hope for
millions who lack access to safe drinking water in Bangladesh.

Occurring naturally in ground water in trace amounts, arsenic can have serious health implications for
those who ingest it over extended periods.

“We are enthusiastically watching this new filter,” said Mohammad Ibrahim, executive engineer for ground
water at the government’s Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) in the capital, Dhaka.

“However, it will take time for the government to decide on whether and how to get involved with it.”

Arsenic can be found to varying degrees in ground water in 63 of the country’s 64 districts, Ibrahim said,
estimating that some 16 percent of the country’s population - 23 million Bangladeshis - currently lacked
access to safe drinking water.

A long-standing problem

From about 1960-1975, due to contaminated water supplies, diarrhoea was the most dreaded disease in
Bangladesh, claiming the lives of over 100,000 children under five annually.

To address this, nearly 7.5 million tube-wells were installed throughout the country in the 1970s and
1980s by the DPHE and a string of non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

By 1990 over 95 percent of the population lived within 100 yards of a tube-well - up from a meagre 2
percent in 1970, according to the DPHE.

Today there are some 10 million tube wells in Bangladesh but many have become a source of anxiety:
Surveys conducted in the 1990s revealed that around 70 million people (out of Bangladesh’s population of
over 150 million) were at risk of arsenic poisoning from drinking water from these tube wells.

Today there are some 10 million tube wells in Bangladesh but many have become a source of
anxiety: Surveys conducted in the 1990s revealed that around 70 million people (out of
Bangladesh’s population of over 150 million) were at risk of arsenic poisoning from drinking
water from these tube wells.

Arsenic-contaminated ground water

The DPHE first detected arsenic-contaminated ground water in 1993 in several southern districts of
Bangladesh.

The latest government estimates suggest there is arsenic contamination in at least 155 sub-districts in 46
out of the country’s 64 districts.

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) acceptable level of arsenic in drinking water is 0.05 mg/L for
Bangladesh, while the standard for Europe and North America is 0.01 mg/L.

A 1998 British Geological Survey study of tube-wells in 61 districts in Bangladesh, revealed that 46
percent contained arsenic above 0.010 mg/L (milligrams per litre) and 27 percent above 0.050 mg/L.

It was estimated at the time that the number of people exposed to arsenic concentrations above 0.05
mg/L was 28-35 million and the number of those exposed to over 0.01 mg/L was 46-57 million.

Toxic effects

“Arsenic is a poison. The lethal dose for humans is 125 milligrammes. It is four times as poisonous as
mercury,” said Abdal Ahmed, an associate professor at Dhaka’s Mymensing Medical College.

Drinking arsenic-rich water over a long period can lead to arsenicosis, resulting in various health
conditions, including skin problems (such as changes in skin colour and hard patches on the palms and
soles of the feet), skin cancer, cancers of the bladder, kidney and lung; and diseases of the blood vessels
in the legs and feet.

Drinking arsenic-rich water over a long period can lead to arsenicosis, resulting in various
health conditions, including skin problems (such as changes in skin colour and hard patches on
the palms and soles of the feet), skin cancer, cancers of the bladder, kidney and lung; and
diseases of the blood vessels in the legs and feet.

Symptoms of chronic arsenic poisoning can take 5-15 years to reveal themselves depending upon the
amount of arsenic ingested.

According to a recent field study conducted jointly by the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee
(BRAC), and the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases and Research, Bangladesh, 25-77 million
people in Bangladesh are today ingesting dangerously high levels of arsenic in their drinking water.

Current options for providing safe drinking-water in Bangladesh, include: obtaining low-arsenic
groundwater by accessing safe shallow groundwater or deeper aquifers (deeper than 200 metres); rain
water harvesting; pond-sand-filtration; household chemical treatment; and piped water from safe or
treated sources.

However, only the Sono filter provides a truly sustainable solution to the problem.

The Sono filter

Invented in 2006, the Sono arsenic filter is a simple device that uses a “composite iron matrix” that can
be manufactured locally from cast iron turnings, along with readily available river sand, wood charcoal,
wet brick chips and two buckets.

The top bucket is filled with locally available coarse river sand and a composite iron matrix. The sand
filters coarse particles and controls the flow of the water, while the iron removes inorganic arsenic.

The water then flows into a second bucket where it again filters through coarse river sand, then through
wood charcoal to remove other contaminants, and finally through fine river sand and wet brick chips to
remove fine particles and stabilise water flow.

The filter’s humble housing in a stack of two buckets belies its power to change lives: It can remove 98
percent of the arsenic in water, as well as other organic, bacterial and mineral impurities.

Tested by the US National Academy of Engineering in 2006, the Sono filter meets WHO and Bangladesh
standards.

Patients drinking the filtered water for two years show reduced levels of arsenical melanosis (skin pigment
changes), with significant improvement in their health, said Abul Hussam, the Bangladeshi developer of
the filter, and an associate professor at George Mason University.

No new cases of arsenicosis were detected in Bangladesh where people were using the filters, even in the
worst contamination areas, Hussam said.

Each filter costs US$ 35 and produces 20-30 litres of clean water per hour for one to two families.

To date, some 32,500 filters have been distributed - two-thirds for free, with plans now under way to
deliver more than 10,000 to UNICEF and other NGOs.

“These filters can last for at least five years with simple maintenance and producing no toxic waste. We estimate that a
filters and continues to be used daily,” Hussam said.