ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes that the arsenic in the groundwater of the Bengal delta is a spatial problem that can be addressed through both scale and intensities analogous to the ways in which arsenic moves, as well as its movements that are captured within the earth, the atmosphere and the human body. In Bengal, groundwater irrigation was a new technology in which the World Bank invested heavily because high-yield monocrops require five times more water, thus increasing groundwater consumption. The chapter presents the forensic, geological, humanitarian and legal dimensions of arsenic. The distribution of arsenic can be traced back to the origins of the Bengal basin during the Holocene period through a complex interplay of geology, biochemistry, climate and hydrology. When exactly the arsenic contamination was announced to the public across the border in Bangladesh remains controversial. At the SOES conference were engineers from the Bangladesh Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) and WHO.
