ABSTRACT
Testing of more than one million tubewells for arsenic contamination in 20 districts in Nepal was carried out between 2003 and 2008 by the Government of Nepal with development partners and NGOs. The results showed that 1.69% of tubewells were contaminated with arsenic at levels of more than 50 µg L−1. A computerized system to manage and analyze the test results, including GPS location data for individual tube wells, was created in 2009 and updated in 2016. It was found that locations of contaminated areas are quite concentrated and a large number of people are exposure to high levels of arsenic. There were 8,660 people living in the wards where more than 80% of tube-wells are arsenic contaminated, and 55,176 people and 116,081 people living in wards where the tube-wells were 50–80% and 30–50% contaminated, respectively. It is recommended that immediate and permanent safe water options to be installed in the high arsenic contaminated wards with localized plan of ward level arsenic contamination analysis because lager area contamination status may dilute significance of high arsenic contamination in hotspots.
