Water in Madhes contains hazardous iron, arsenic

By Our Correspondent,Dhalkewar, Dec. 25: The water testing laboratory of the Federal Water Supply and Sewerage Management Project in Janakpur has tested the samples of water collected from different places in the Madhes Province and found that the trace of iron was more than mandatory in the tested samples.

Krishna Kumar Sah, Head of the laboratory, said that in the fiscal year 2079/80, the amount of iron was found higher than the national drinking water quality standards when tests were conducted on the 1,288 samples collected from different places of the eight districts of the province. 

He informed that in 137 samples tested in the current fiscal year, the iron content was found higher than the national drinking water quality standards.

The national drinking water quality standard mentions that there should be a maximum of 0.3 mg of iron per litre of drinking water, but according to chemist Sah, up to 0.8 mg of iron was found per litre in the tested water sources.

According to Sah, water samples collected from 673 tube wells of the community schools, health posts and ward offices, 150 samples received from the drinking water projects and 500 samples obtained from the water testing laboratories were tested. 

In the tested samples, 62.8 per cent iron content was found. Similarly, 32.6 per cent of mud and 16.04 per cent of manganese contents were also found. Sah informed that although a small amount of iron is beneficial for health, an excess amount is harmful. “When there is more iron, the colour of the water and taste change. Water contains a strange smell, and yellow stains gradually settle on white clothes,” added Sah.

Manoj Adhikari, assistant chemist expert of the laboratory, said that more iron was found in the drinking water of Saptari district compared to other districts. He informed that traces of iron and arsenic were found in the water of more than 80 per cent of the tube wells. Federal Water Supply and Sewerage Management Project, Janakpur, has also conducted a tour service to check the quality of drinking water in Madhes Province. 

A mobile service has been conducted to test the quality of water with a technical team and state-of-the-art equipment. In the last fiscal year, a team reached different places in all eight districts of Madhes Province and tested the water in 788 places, informed the head of the laboratory. Adhikari said, “We suggest people purify water before drinking if the trace of iron and arsenic is more than recommended by WHO.”