Arsenic mobility and groundwater extraction in Bangladesh

Science

Volumn 298, Issue 5598, 2002, Pages 1602-1606

  Harvey, Charles F ^a   Swartz, Christopher H ^a,e   Badruzzaman, A B M ^b   Keon Blute, Nicole ^a   Yu, Winston ^a   Ali, M Ashraf ^b   Jay, Jenny ^a   Beckie, Roger ^c   Niedan, Volker ^a   Brabander, Daniel ^a,f   Oates, Peter M ^a   Ashfaque, Khandaker N ^a   Islam, Shafiqul ^d   Hemond, Harold F ^a   Ahmed, M Feroze ^b  

^a Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge   (United States)

^b BANGLADESH UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY   (Bangladesh)

^c UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA   (Canada)

^d University of Cincinnati   (United States)

^e SILENT SPRING INSTITUTE   (United States)

^f UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS BOSTON   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARSENIC; CHEMICAL ANALYSIS; DEGRADATION; INDUSTRIAL POISONS; METHANE; MOLASSES; NITRATES;

BIOGECHEMICAL PROCESSES; IRRIGATION PUMPING;

GROUNDWATER;

ARSENIC; CARBON; CARBON 14; GROUND WATER; METHANE; MOLASSES; NITRATE; WELL WATER;

AQUIFER; ARSENIC; GROUNDWATER POLLUTION; ORGANIC CARBON; POLLUTANT TRANSPORT; WELL WATER;

AQUIFER; ARTICLE; BANGLADESH; INTOXICATION; PRIORITY JOURNAL; WATER ANALYSIS; WATER QUALITY;

ADSORPTION; AGRICULTURE; ARSENIC; BANGLADESH; CARBON; CARBON RADIOISOTOPES; CARBONATES; FERRIC COMPOUNDS; GEOLOGIC SEDIMENTS; HYDROGEN-ION CONCENTRATION; IRON; METHANE; MOLASSES; NITRATES; OXIDATION-REDUCTION; PRECIPITATION; SEASONS; SULFATES; WATER; WATER SUPPLY;

BANGLADESH;

EID: 18744392013     PISSN: 00368075     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1126/science.1076978     Document Type: Article

References (21)

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18. No rivers flow from the area during the dry season, so pumped groundwater that is not evaporated or transferred into rice fields or ponds must re-infiltrate back into the aquifer. Thus, the drawdown (the net change in aquifer storage) during this period is controlled by the rate of evapotranspiration and transfer of groundwater with rice fields and ponds. The drawdown due to evapotranspiration, estimated by applying the Penman-Monteith equation to local meteorological data collected by the Bangladesh Water Development Board, is consistent with this water budget, increasing from 1.1 cm/day in January to 2.2 cm/day in March. Although no regional gradient is evident from the measured hydraulic heads, strong lateral flows controlled by the position of irrigation wells and recharge areas may create complex pathways for invading water. Applying Darcy's law to interpolated hydraulic heads and hydraulic conductivity estimated from pump tests gives an average lateral component to groundwater velocity of 1.7 cm/day, similar to the vertical component.
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21. Supported by NSF grant EAR-0001098, NSF graduate fellowships, a grant from the Alliance for Global Sustainability, and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences grant P30ES02109.