11 percent of population at risk of arsenic contamination

The government has taken initiatives to install a total of 10,65,000 arsenic-free water sources in rural areas of the country by 2025 under different projects.

Local Government and Rural Development and Cooperatives Minister Md Tajul Islam told the Jatiya Sangsad (JS) on Tuesday.

The minister was replying to a question from a treasury bench member Morshed Alam of Noakhali-2 constituency in the House with Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair.

The minister also told the parliament that the Directorate of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) has been implementing various projects in rural areas across the country.

Apart from deep tube-wells, the government will also supply water through pipeline, arrange rain water preservation, digging of ponds, rehabilitation of ponds, installation of solar-run pond sand filter, he said.

These initiatives will reduce 5-6 percent of arsenic risk by 2025 for those who are at present in arsenic risk, he added.

In a survey conducted in 2019, the Statistic Bureau of Bangladesh (BBS) and UNICEF found that 11 percent of the total population is at arsenic risk.