Mitigation and Remedy of Groundwater Arsenic Menace in India

Mitigation and Remedy of Groundwater Arsenic Menace in India : A Vision Document• Long period of completion for large capital-intensive government project / lack ofinterim relief.• In general, rural populations are largely unaware of the technologies developed byvarious institutions and organizations due to poor promotional activities.• Lack of knowledge among the people regarding the health impact of the arsenicproblem.• Lack of facilities at the grass root level for water quality monitoring.• Lack of a transparent system of information sharing between all stakeholders.7.7 Establishing a Transparent System of Information sharing by allStakeholdersThere is an urgent need for awareness generation among the people regarding theproblem and efforts undertaken by the Government and agencies in alleviating people'ssuffering. The people and Media must have easy access to scientific information. But under nocircumstances scientific information should be used for creating unnecessary panic among thepeople. With a significant proportion of the population of India and Bangladesh, in extreme socialand economic deprivation, competing environmental Health Risk exists in the society. Withoutdiluting the gravity of the situation, it must be emphasized that we need to be objective andrealistic in making political and economic decisions in relation to the current problem of Arsenicor Fluoride Contamination of Ground Water and people should have the opportunity of an informed choice of options, through a transparent system of information sharing.NIH & CGWB 137