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Integrated investigation of the arsenic episode in Bangladesh

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... The Ganges and its many primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary and further downward streams that form the northwestern and southwestern riverine parts of Bangladesh are shown in Fig. 6 and 7. Some of these rivers are the Baral, the Musa Khan, the Mahananda, the Tista, the Punarbhaba, the Talma, the Tangon, the Karatoa, the Bangali, the Ghaghat, the Dhepa. These streams supplied the founding and sustaining lifeblood of the wetland ecosystem of northwestern Bangladesh up to 1975 when India started to pirate the water of the Bangladesh Gangetic ecosystem by constructing the Farakka Barrage across the Ganges and many tricks the details of which have appeared in the previous works (Adel, 1999b;1999d;2002;2004a;2004b;2005;2007;2008a;2008b;2008c;Adel and Husain, 2008;Adel, 2009;2012a;2012b;2012c;2012d;2012e;2013a;2013b;2013c;2013d;2013f;2013g;2013h;2014a;2014c;Miah, 1996a;1996b;1996cMiah, 19951989). ...
... That the upstream water piracy makes Ganges basin people suffer from malnutrition, arsenic epidemic are additional causes for winter vulnerability (Adel, 1999b;2000b;2005;2013a;2013d). (Pierce and Smith, 1980) ...
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ABSTRACT Since the 80’s, the northwestern and the southwestern parts of the tropical Bangladesh located in the downstream Ganges basin have been having summer temperature above 109°F and winter temperature as low as 37°F. Every year people, particularly, the infants die from heat-and cold-related diseases and hospitals become packed-up with the victims of severe climatic condition. The objective of this research is to find the reason for the appearances of the extreme climate in certain parts of the country. Water bodies being reservoirs of heat, the condition of the rivers and other surface water resources has been examined. It is found that the continued water piracy at the upstream from the downstream Bangladesh Ganges discharge, the major source of water for the northwestern and southwestern parts, has depleted surface ater resources and sunken the down the groundwater table. About 60% evaporation of the massively extracted groundwater to make up for the surface water shortage goes to merely increase the relative humidity without causing rainfall. Summer time lingering high temperature and high humidity cause the severity of summer weather. In the absence of the virgin surface water bodies, there is little room for storing heat for wintertime warming. The entire Ganges basin loses at least 10 times the heat it used to store in the water abundant days. Summertime maximum temperature, HDDs and CDDs are negatively and wintertime minimum temperature is positive correlated with the decline of the Ganges’s discharge. Indian Government has to decommission her dams and barrages to mitigate the sufferings of the downstream people in Bangladesh. The greatest implication of this research is the accountability of the anthropogenic actions-caused depleting inland water bodies through storing, distribution via multi-channeling, irrigation, industrial and domestic use, for the occurrences of global heating vis-à-vis cooling and not CO2 and other greenhouse gases accumulation in space. Immediate international actions are needed to end the episode.
... Due to the piracy of the elixir water, many elements of the biotic system have been extinct and the rest are endangered. The ecocide effects in the Ganges basin include the loss of the surface 86 Upstream Water Piracy, the Strongest Weapon of Cornering a Downstream Nation water resources, destruction of the inland navigable routes, the depletion of the natural breeding and raising grounds of 109 species of Gangetic fishes and the natural wells for groundwater recharge, the alarmingly sinking of the groundwater table and its contamination with arsenic in the continued absence of the recharging surface water and the over-dependence on the groundwater, the sufferings of 75 million people from the risk of arsenicosis causing a 20% fatality, the break-off of family ties of arsenic patients, rising malnutrition among the people from the scarcity of fish, the cheapest sources of calcium and the indispensable animal protein, the loss of people's annual and seasonal livelihoods, the generation of extreme climate with an increased number of warmer summer days and colder winter days than before the beginning of the piracy in1975, scanty and erratic rainfalls, the loss of numerous biodiversity before the preparation of an inventory, coastal erosion, widespread inland advancement of saline water front, and the deterioration of the Ganges water quality (Miah, 1995(Miah, , 1996a(Miah, , 1996c(Miah, , 1996dMiah and Samad, 1996;Miah, 1997;Adel, 1999aAdel, , 1999bAdel, , 2000aAdel, , 2000bAdel, , 2001Adel, , 2002Adel, , 2003Adel, , 2004aAdel, , 2004bAdel, , 2005Adel, , 2008aAdel, , 2008bAdel, , 2012aAdel, , 2012bAdel, , 2013aAdel, , 2013bAdel, , 2013c, 2013d, 2013e) ...
... Molecular oxygen oxidizes Fe (II) and S2 (-II0 to stable ferrihydrite Fe(OH)3 and dissolves sulfate S(VI) and H ions. In the acidic solution, the release of hydrogen and sulfate occurs to neutralize cations, and forms compounds of sulfate.Arsenic is a poison. ...
Article
India has been pirating 60% of the Bangladesh Gangetic ecosystem's water since 1975 after construction of a feeder canal by the Farakka Barrage in the name of maintaining the navigability of the Calcutta Port located at the mouth of the Hooghly River. As a consequence, massive ecocide has unfolded in Bangladesh. India's forced piracy and Bangladesh's compelled consent to piracy, for a meager discharge, have continued for the past forty years. This study focuses on Calcutta Port's navigability source, navigability loss and past maintenance, India's water crisis, and India's use of the looted water resources. Sources of information included electronic and print media, site visitations, expert interviews, fieldwork, travel accounts, research institutions, and government offices. The study finds Calcutta Port's brisk use during the British period, Calcutta Port's Ganges discharge-independent establishment, India's development of other ports in post-independent India, the storage of the Hooghly's water in reservoirs, Calcutta Port's navigability loss unworthy of causing ecocide in Bangladesh, India's inland cruise line setup with the pirated water, and the stealing of water from border rivers. As a member of the Ramsar Convention inter-governmental panel since 1971, India's actions violate the Convention's doctrines of saving a permanent or temporary water body without regard to its location, kind, size, and depth through international convention. For environmental justice, India should pay Bangladesh earnings from the looted water's commercial use, cover dredging costs of Bangladesh's clogged rivers and canals, close the feeder canal, demolish the Farakka Barrage, and return the water to Bangladesh. Furthermore, India should be financially responsible for the full recharge of the groundwater, purification of arsenic, treatment for millions of potential and current arsenic patients and 20% arsenic fatalities, lost livelihoods, salinity removal, rebuilding of the eroded coast, revitalization of extinct flora and fauna, and establishment of normal climate.
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