KARACHI, June 28: Following many positive tests by UNICEF showing a high arsenic level in the underground water of Sindh, the government has prepared a plan to mitigate the poisonous contamination, it is learnt officially.

A source in the Sindh government said that as a follow-up measure the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency had been assigned the task of conducting extensive tests and taking measures to mitigate the impact of arsenic contamination.

It has been learnt that with the approval of competent authorities and in consultation with the planning and development department, the finance department, the local government, UNICEF and NGOs, it has been decided that SEPA should furnish a PC-1 costing around Rs50mn immediately, so that the project can be launched latest by October this year.

According to UNICEF investigations conducted in April 2001 in collaboration with government and private organizations, the occurrence of arsenic in ground water aquifers is an emerging health problem and demands immediate attention.

In Sindh samples surveys were conducted in Thatta, Badin, Dadu, Mirpurkhas, Khairpur, Nawabshah, Shikarpur, Ghotki and Noushehroferoz. Out of the 2218 samples collected, 240 indicated high presence of arsenic.

It was revealed in the survey report that 1978 water sources contained arsenic concentration up to 10 ppb, 209 sources remained between 10-50 ppb and 31 sources had arsenic concentration level above 50ppb. Dadu, Khairpur, Nawabshah and Thatta districts had relatively higher number of water sources with high concentration of arsenic, added the report saying that the situation could be alarming as other districts might also have arsenic contaminated water sources.

The arsenic level in the ground water in the districts along the River Indus is found on the higher side. The user population of such a water sources where the arsenic content is around 50 pbb or more may have serious health implications, scientists say.

Experts say that arsenic occurs in the ground as part of soil and rock, and in the recent years it has been discovered in ground water in the USA, Canada, Thailand, Cambodia, China, Taiwan, Japan, Australia, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and some countries in the African continent. Higher concentration (0.05 ppm/ 50 ppb)may cause of cancer in the gastrointestinal tract, while 70-8- mg of arsenic may become an acute poison, severly affecting the central nervous system and the skin. It causes muscular weakness, loss of appetite and nausea leading to inflammation of the mucous membranes in the eye, nose and larynx; skin lesions may also occur. Neurological manifestation and even malignant tumour in vital organs may also be observed.

SEPA would conduct surveys in Badin, Dadu, Thatta, Khairpur, Ghotki, Nawabshah and Jacobabad. A laboratory will be established at Jacobabad to analyze only basic parameters for drinking water and generate water quality data including arsenic in underground water and in the River Indus at the point of its entry in Sindh.

Senior scientific officer of SEPA, Syed Muhammad Yahya, told this reporter that testing would also be done at EPA facilities at Hyderabad, Sukkur and Karachi. He said the survey would be completed in one year.

Mr Yahya said that mitigation measures included green or red painting of contaminated or non-contaminated sources of drinking water.

“People in the areas where no alternate source of drinking water is available will be provided with specially prepared filters for arsenic-free drink,” he said.