Mitigating arsenic health impacts through Community Arsenic Mitigation Project (CAMP)

摘要

The area Khap Tola is a remote, backward and highly flood-prone area in North Bihar. Due to lack of awareness, scientific know-how, public health facilities and district administrations negligence, people are forced to drink contaminated water in the absence of any other clean drinking water source. The area has high arsenic contamination, maximum value being 397 ppb. A pilot was done to provide clean drinking water in the village. A systems approach was followed looking at the processes, starting from sample testing, making the community aware of the health impacts, community health camp in the village and finally exploring the possibility of dug wells as potential source to get arsenic-free drinking water. The interventions done will be discussed in the paper using a social exclusion model and the dimensions for arsenic mitigation. Further, the need for developing a sustainable model for mitigation by community involvement and their capacity building both in terms of local knowledge as well as health issues will be discussed.