Name: Yuzhu Gong Due Date: 2015/12/24
Article Title: Arsenic in Drinking Water
Author/Source: Scientific American
Article Title: Arsenic in Drinking Water
Author/Source: Scientific American
A: List major ideas, concepts or key points - point by point
- Arsenic in drinking water could severely poison 50 million people worldwide.
- Pinjra Begum was poisoned by the beautiful water she had faithfully pumped.
- In the 1970s and 1980s the Bangladesh government, along with international aid agencies spearheaded by UNICEF, undertook an ambitious project to bring clean water to the nation’s villages.
- A tubewell became a prized possession: it lessened the burden on women, who no longer had to trek long distances with their pots and pails; it reduced the dependence on better-off neighbors; and most important, it provided pathogen-free water to drink.
- Today around 30 percent of Bangladesh’s tubewells are known to yield more than 50 micrograms of arsenic per liter of water, with 5 to 10 percent providing more than six times this amount.
- Another concern is that Bangladeshis may be ingesting arsenic through a second route: the grain they eat two or three times a day. In the dry months, rice fields are irrigated with pumped underground water.
- The arsenic content of local rice varies from 50 to 180 parts per billion, depending on the rice variety and on where it is grown.
- The mineral occurs in the water supply of communities in diverse countries.
- The patient may also suffer from conjunctivitis, bronchitis and, at very high concentrations of arsenic, diarrhea and abdominal pain.
- Health workers can offer ointments to relieve the pain of lesions and to prevent infection, and gangrenous limbs can be amputated, but chronic arsenic poisoning has no real remedy.
- Broadly, these options were water from ponds, rivers and wells treated to remove pathogens; rainwater; groundwater treated to remove arsenic; piped water; and water from very deep aquifers.
- The pond sand filter—a sandbased system installed on the bank to remove mud and pathogens—aims to revive the use of such ponds.
B: Summarize the author's main point or idea
Summary of Author's Main Points:
This article talks about the problem of arsenic in from underground water supply in places such as Bangladesh. 30% of Bangladesh tubewells are known to yield more than 50 micrograms of arsenic per liter of water with 5 to 10% providing more than six times the amount. The government specifies that 50 micrograms is a dangerous amount of arsenic. It means that 35 million people could be drinking water with a fatal amount of arsenic in them. Arsenic isn't a problem only in Bangladesh, but also in countries like the United States and China. There are three stages to the symptoms of arsenic poisoning. The first signs are black spots on the upper chest, back or arms. In the second stage, white spots mix with the black spots. In the third stage, kidneys and livers give way and in 20 years the person would get cancers. Solving the problem of arsenic permanently would take a lot of money and a lot of time. Monitoring for arsenic and other toxic chemicals in our waters must become routine in all regions of the world where people drink water.
Summary of Author's Main Points:
This article talks about the problem of arsenic in from underground water supply in places such as Bangladesh. 30% of Bangladesh tubewells are known to yield more than 50 micrograms of arsenic per liter of water with 5 to 10% providing more than six times the amount. The government specifies that 50 micrograms is a dangerous amount of arsenic. It means that 35 million people could be drinking water with a fatal amount of arsenic in them. Arsenic isn't a problem only in Bangladesh, but also in countries like the United States and China. There are three stages to the symptoms of arsenic poisoning. The first signs are black spots on the upper chest, back or arms. In the second stage, white spots mix with the black spots. In the third stage, kidneys and livers give way and in 20 years the person would get cancers. Solving the problem of arsenic permanently would take a lot of money and a lot of time. Monitoring for arsenic and other toxic chemicals in our waters must become routine in all regions of the world where people drink water.
C: Reaction to the article
My Own Thoughts on the Topic:
Even if the money can be found, choosing and implementing a permanent solution to the arsenic problem will take several years. In truth, even the poorest nations— perhaps especially the poorest—should check the quality of their water constantly. Ignoring this imperative is what landed Bangladesh in this predicament in the first place. Monitoring—not only for arsenic but also for manganese, fluoride, pesticides, other chemicals and pathogens—must become routine in all regions of the world where people drink water from underground.
My Own Thoughts on the Topic:
Even if the money can be found, choosing and implementing a permanent solution to the arsenic problem will take several years. In truth, even the poorest nations— perhaps especially the poorest—should check the quality of their water constantly. Ignoring this imperative is what landed Bangladesh in this predicament in the first place. Monitoring—not only for arsenic but also for manganese, fluoride, pesticides, other chemicals and pathogens—must become routine in all regions of the world where people drink water from underground.
