Highlights - Lex van Geen - Renowned Arsenic and Lead Specialist, Earth Institute, Columbia
One Planet Podcast · Climate Change, Politics, Sustainability, Environmental Solutions, Renewable Energy, Activism, Biodiversity, Carbon Footprint, Wildlife, Regenerative Agriculture, Circular Economy, Extinction, Net-Zero - En podcast af Creative Process Original Series
"So the reason people drink well water in the first place is because surface water, which is more easily accessed is often contaminated with microbial pathogens, and this was true, especially in a high population density area like Bangladesh. You can boil the water, of course, but boiling takes fuel and effort. To avoid these microbial pathogens, it turns out that pumping the water through the sand underneath is very effective. There the levels of microbial pathogens in well water are orders of magnitude lower, and so this is why the number of wells in Bangladesh grew exponentially to maybe 10 million today in the past three decades. What people didn't know as these wells were being installed - they didn't know until the late nineties - is that some of these wells had high levels of arsenic. Not levels of arsenic that killed you on the spot, but chronic exposure over time can have serious health impacts."
