Citation

Opar A, Pfaff A, Seddique AA, Ahmed KM, Graziano JH, van Geen A. Health Place 2006; 13(1): 164-172.

Affiliation

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Route 9W, Palisades, NY, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.healthplace.2005.11.004

PMID

16406833

Abstract

This study documents the response of 6500 rural households in a 25km(2) area of Bangladesh to interventions intended to reduce their exposure to arsenic contained in well water. The interventions included public education, posting test results for arsenic on the wells, and installing 50 community wells. Sixty-five percent of respondents from the subset of 3410 unsafe wells changed their source of drinking water, often to new and untested wells. Only 15% of respondents from the subset of safe wells changed their source, indicating that health concerns motivated the changes. The geo-referenced data indicate that distance to the nearest safe well also influenced household responses.