No Arsenic, but...
Dhaka WASA-assigned organisations have confirmed last week that groundwater of Dhaka city is arsenic-safe. There is, however, little room for complacency although it comes as a welcome relief for the panic-stricken citizens of some areas of the metropolis. Arsenic is not the only water-related issue to worry on. The WASA water in the city, both in terms of acquiring and supplying, has a chequered history. Leaving aside inadequate water supply to every household, if its quality is taken into account, then people living in the city are always prone to water-borne health hazards. People reportedly have fallen ill and expired after consuming WASA water, because this water-supplying authority has never succeeded to provide safe water to its end-users, and is still not in a position to do so.
As far as arsenic is concerned, Dhaka WASA has graver responsibilities to carry out other than to depend on different laboratories. The plural temperament in detecting, preventing and curing a plague as dangerous as "arsenic" is unwelcome, although it is always preferred to cross-check samples before coming to a worthy conclusion. The lab-rooms which Dhaka WASA has relied upon have no doubt accomplished a lot in fighting out the ominous omen of arsenic. It is because of these bodies that we are taking arsenic menace into consideration as an impending doom to our existence.
Before feeling happy that Dhaka city is 'not' threatened with arsenic, we strongly suggest the water supplying authority to set up a well-equipped laboratory of its own with truly skilled personnel so that it can deal with this or any imminent danger in time without endangering the people's health further.
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