Over the past 30 years, tubewells have become a ubiquitous source of potable groundwater in South Asia. Considered safer than surface water, groundwater naturally contains minerals that may impact human health; however, few data exist on tubewell water mineral content or its association with human nutritional or health conditions. We surveyed iron concentration in tubewell water across a 435 km2, contiguous, rural area in northwestern Bangladesh to map and quantify levels of iron in drinking water. One tubewell was randomly sampled from each of 948 adjacent grid cells 675 m2 in size. Water sampling was standardized and iron concentration measured using a field-based colorimetric kit. The median (interquartile range) concentration of iron in tubewell water was 7.6 (1.6, 17.6) mg l−1. There was high geographic variation (range of 0–46.5 mg l−1), and iron in only 3% of surveyed tubewells fell below the WHO aesthetic cut-off of 0.3 mg l−1 suggesting elevated levels of iron throughout the area. Villagers accurately perceived groundwater iron concentration, based on a 4-point (‘none’, ‘a little’, ‘medium’, ‘a lot’) scale (p<0.001). Water source iron content can be readily quantified in population settings offering the potential to evaluate the health relevance of groundwater iron exposure in rural communities.
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Research Article|
April 13 2010
Elevated and variable groundwater iron in rural northwestern Bangladesh
Rebecca D. Merrill;
Rebecca D. Merrill
1Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
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Alain B. Labrique;
1Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
Tel.: +1 410-955-2061 Fax: +1 410-955-0196; E-mail: [email protected]
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Abu Ahmed Shamim;
Abu Ahmed Shamim
2The JiVitA Project, House 63, Road 3, Karanipara, Rangpur, Bangladesh
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Kerry Schulze;
Kerry Schulze
1Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
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Parul Christian;
Parul Christian
1Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
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Robert K. Merrill;
Robert K. Merrill
3Catheart Energy, Inc., 3811 Hogan Ct, Sugar Land, TX 77479, USA
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Keith P. West, Jr
Keith P. West, Jr
1Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
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J Water Health (2010) 8 (4): 818–825.
Article history
Received:
November 08 2009
Accepted:
February 02 2010
Citation
Rebecca D. Merrill, Alain B. Labrique, Abu Ahmed Shamim, Kerry Schulze, Parul Christian, Robert K. Merrill, Keith P. West; Elevated and variable groundwater iron in rural northwestern Bangladesh. J Water Health 1 December 2010; 8 (4): 818–825. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wh.2010.144
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