Arsenic Detection & Awareness Programmes in Prabhat Kumar College, Contai

Introduction

As a consequence of reckless digging of underground water without optimal use of surface water the sources of underground water gets depleted gradually. It leads to greater input of toxic chemicals to human body via using and drinking of underground water. Among such toxic chemicals, and contaminant, arsenic is regarded as one of the most hazardous elements as it is responsible for causing several health hazards in term of severe types of cancer in skin, lungs, bladder and kidney. Industrial and agricultural revolutions are considered as the propagators of the arsenic contamination with water. The permissible level of arsenic in drinking water is 0.01 mg/L. As per the State Government record eight districts and seventy nine blocks in West Bengal are found affected by arsenic. In every case the value of arsenic is found to be more than 0.05 mg/L. This is in line with the prophecy of Prof. Dipankar Chattopadhaya, The Arsenic Man of India, who predicted that underground drinking water of most of the areas near Ganga Delta in coming days will be polluted by Arsenic. As Prabhat Kumar College, Contai is located near the costal belt of Bay of Bengal, we, the stakeholders, are going to be prominent victims in near future. So to mitigate the upcoming threat to some extent the institution has taken initiatives since 2016-17 academic session for annual testing of the Arsenic level in the underground water of the different wards in Contai municipality. Simultaneously it has been fixed to conduct several arsenic awareness programmes among students and local people.

Necessary steps, taken by the institution regarding the awareness of arsenic poisoning in drinking water

• Collaboration with Swasthya Bhabna, Serampore Hooghly for regular testing of arsenic in underground water
• Making some students of the Department of Chemistry of the institution trained for Arsenic testing.
• Organising Seminars / Workshops on Arsenic Poisoning & Detection.
• Regular Arsenic Awareness Programmes for students and local people.
• Our Institution has launched the Rainwater Harvesting Project with the help of Swasthya Bhabna as a preventive measure of the Arsenic poisoning in drinking water.
• NSS units of the college arrange for discussions on Arsenic poisoning in human body from time to time.
• For the period of (2018-March, 2021) the Swasthya Bhabna has recommended the Contai municipality as “Arsenic free municipality”as a result of annual Arsenic Testing.

Future Planning

• In near future, the institution will take effective measures as the Mentor to implement Rainwater Harvesting projects in all the secondary and higher secondary schools of Contai municipality in collaboration with Swasthya Bhabna Welfare Society.
• Several Arsenic poisoning Awareness Programmes will be arranged in different schools in Contai municipality.
• In future, institution will allocate some fund in developing Arsenic absorbing materials to be developed by the science faculty members of the institution as a part of interdisciplinary research.