Identifying areas at risk for arsenic contamination
Dübendorf, 14.7.2008 - The contamination of groundwater with arsenic poses a risk to the health of millions of people, especially in the densely populated river deltas of Southeast Asia. To date, no method has been available for identifying high-risk areas without conducting costly sampling campaigns. Now, Eawag (Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology) has developed a model that allows vulnerable areas to be pinpointed using existing data on geology and soil properties. This has also enabled the researchers to detect high-risk areas in regions where groundwater studies had not previously been carried out, such as in Myanmar and on Sumatra.