ARCHIVED MEDIA RELEASE
PA/1/2001 19 January 2001
Australia, India sign agreement on arsenic mitigation project
The Government of Australia, through the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), will assist India in a collaborative research project to remove arsenic from contaminated groundwater sources.
The project, estimated to cost Rs 2.7 crores (about A$1 million), will examine existing and new arsenic treatment and disposal technologies and recommend practical, cost-effective and ecologically sustainable approaches for pilot testing and implementation.
It will involve intensive collaboration between Australia Murdoch University and the Regional Research Laboratory, Bhubaneswar of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
Arsenic contamination of groundwater has emerged as a major health hazard in many parts of Gangetic West Bengal and neighbouring Bangladesh. It affects an estimated 5.3 million people in 8 of the 18 districts in West Bengal, according to a 1996 report by the Government of West Bengal.
Consumption of arsenic-laced water can cause health problems ranging from skin lesions, gastro-intestinal, renal and respiratory disorders and cancers. Deaths have occurred where high-levels of arsenic intake have occurred over sustained periods.
This Australian Government response to the serious risk to communities in West Bengal and Bangladesh forms part of a new Australian Mitigation Program established in 1999 through Australia’s overseas aid agency, AusAID. The Arsenic Mitigation Program provides funding totaling A$3 million (about Rs 8 crores) for arsenic mitigation activities in West Bengal and Bangladesh.
For further information on this project please contact Mr Kerry Groves, First Secretary, Development Cooperation on extn 561