Responses of 6500 households to arsenic mitigation in Araihazar, Bangladesh

This study documents the response of 6500 rural households in a 25 km(2) area of Bangladesh to interventions intended to reduce their exposure to arsenic contained in well water. The interventions included public education, posting test results for arsenic on the wells, and installing 50 community wells. Sixty-five percent of respondents from the subset of 3410 unsafe wells changed their source of drinking water, often to new and untested wells. Only 15% of respondents from the subset of safe wells changed their source, indicating that health concerns motivated the changes. The geo-referenced data indicate that distance to the nearest safe well also influenced household responses. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.