Would You like a Lemon or Arsenic with that Water?

Would you like a Lemon or Arsenic with that water?

Ever wonder how clean the water is that you drink each and every day? How about how pure the water is that is in everyday food? Most people, if not all, never think twice about what goes in their mouth; however, in Vietnam, doing just that could mean death.

It was found, in a study conducted by Lenny Winkel, that about seven million people living in the Red River Delta area of Vietnam have been using water that is contaminated with several toxic elements, including the very poisonous Arsenic. The Vietnam aquifer, the main water source for wells and water pumps, was reported in 2001 to have high toxic contamination due to the amount of water taken from naturally uncontaminated aquifers. Aquifers are underground beds of water. Arsenic contaminated aquifers were literally being pushed into uncontaminated aquifers as a result of over 100 years of water removal and usage. There have been other areas that have this same problem; however, no other areas have it as severe as the Red River Delta Area. Considering the Red River Delta area’s very high population, 16.6 million people, it is clear that majorities of the people do not have access to a public water supply and must therefore use their own private wells. With this in mind, it is of utmost importance that contaminated wells are identified in order to preserve human health and eliminate the use of contaminated water.

Considering that the Red River Delta area is a large piece of land, 14,000 km², the most sufficient way to test the wells in the area for high arsenic, and other toxic concentrations, was to use a random sample strategy. A random sample strategy is conducted by separating test subjects individually or into groups, randomly selecting a set amount of test subjects, and collecting data from those subjects. In this study, the land was mapped out on a grid with 25 km² squares then one randomly selected well from each individual square was tested for arsenic and other toxic concentrations. Arsenic was the first priority in this study because arsenic is the most poisonous element; other chemicals that were tested for presence were manganese, a chemical that can cause child development problems, selenium, and barium. 512 private wells were tested on three different trials for this study to ensure legitimacy, or to plainly state it, to reassure all the data collected was similar. The data collected needs to have similar results in order to make a correct assumption or conclusion about the data. The figures below portray the locations of each well tested, as well (pun) as the concentration of toxins in each well.

As for this study, the results were that of the 512 wells tested, 65% of them exceeded the World Health Organization’s toxic contamination guideline, a guideline that defines what is and isn’t acceptably clean water. With these kind of results, it was concluded that about seven million people of the Red River Delta area were being exposed to contaminated water, which is especially concerning because most of that water is used for drinking. Several long term threats to the people’s lives are due to the effects of the contaminated water, not to mention the irreversible damage to the aquifers. It is possible to find a solution to this problem though, such as methods that would involve less water usage. However, despite the benefit of using less water and creating less leakage of contaminated water into uncontaminated aquifers, the setback is that people need water. The best method to fix this problem would be to spread out the people who live in the Red River Delta area so that different aquifers are being used rather than just a single aquifer. No matter what the method, something must be done to resolve this problem; otherwise, effects could spread to other areas of the world, and on bigger scales.

As for the U.S., it might be a good idea to second guess how clean our drinking water is, because it is easy to overlook something that seems so small but could mean the difference between life and death. As for you, the next time you fill up a glass of water for yourself, or for anyone else, just imagine the devastation it could bring if the water were contaminated, and the effects it would have on you, the person drinking it, and everyone involved with you.

Reference:

Winkel, Lenny. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. “Arsenic pollution of groundwater in Vietnam exacerbated by deep aquifer exploitation for more than a century”. 18 MAR 2011. Web. 18 JAN 2011. http://www.pnas.org/content/108/4/1246.full?sid=0a4dd065-d702-4c69-b7a9-9eec6428b15f