Groundwater arsenic contamination on the Ganges Delta: biogeochemistry, hydrology, human perturbations, and human suffering on a large scale

Over the last several decades, much of population of Bangladesh and West Bengal switched their water supply from surface water to groundwater. Tragically, much of the region's groundwater is dangerously contaminated by arsenic, and consumption of this water has already created severe health effects. Here we consider how groundwater flow may affect arsenic biogeochemistry and we compare the vertical patterns of groundwater chemistry at our intensive study site with the average values :across the country. Detailed hydraulic data are presented from our field site that begins to characterize the groundwater flow system. (C) 2004 Published by Elsevier SAS on behalf of Academie des sciences.