Doherty Senior Research Scientist Lex van Geen, center, analyzing well water in Arahaizar Upazila with the prototype of a new field-kit for arsenic.

On Oct. 31, under pressure from Congress and opposition from health researchers and other scientists, the Bush Administration reversed its position and lowered allowable levels of arsenic in U.S. drinking water. On Nov. 26-27, the Columbia Earth Institute's Superfund Basic Research Program will host an international conference on the problem of arsenic in drinking water. The conference will take place on the fifth floor of Alfred Lerner Hall each day from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Arsenic in drinking water is both a domestic and an international issue. In the United States, water utilities in New Mexico, California and elsewhere will have to take steps to reduce arsenic levels in the water they provide to meet the new Environmental Protection Agency standards of 10 micrograms per liter (ug/L), down from the previously permitted level of 50 ug/L.

In Bangladesh, 35 to 85 million people are currently exposed to poisonous levels of arsenic present in well water supplied by millions of hand pumps. The situation in Bangladesh is hindered by a serious absence of interaction between donor agencies (World Bank, UNICEF, USAID) and the international community of scientists currently working on arsenic-related issues. A major objective of the Columbia conference is to bridge these gaps and to increase the attention of the international community on the ongoing tragedy in Bangladesh.

Columbia has been central to a five-year, $11 million grant with seven interdisciplinary research projects aimed at understanding and addressing the multiple facets of the arsenic problem. New research by Columbia scientists Doherty Senior Research Scientist Alexander van Geen and Professor Joseph Graziano, head of the Division of Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health, has shown that although half the 55,000 people living within their study area in Bangladesh currently drink and cook with water containing unsafe arsenic levels, over 90 percent of the population lives within 200 meters of one of the safe wells interspersed throughout the region.

By implication, millions of people in Bangladesh could avoid arsenic poisoning by switching to their neighbors' wells, if social obstacles, private property boundaries and other problems could be surmounted.

The two-day conference will include a review of the current science, technologies and policies. Participants will address problems and potential solutions from public health, social science and natural science perspectives. Conference presenters will discuss how studying arsenic in Bangladesh can give U.S. scientists greater insight not only on the geochemistry and hydrological aspects of arsenic contamination in drinking water, but also on potential health effects for vulnerable U.S. populations.

Solutions to the problems created by arsenic in drinking water in the U.S. and Bangladesh must include human as well as physical factors. At the upcoming conference, experts from public health, the social sciences and the geosciences will be able to communicate and listen to each other.

Columbia has taken a unique, interdisciplinary approach to the problem drawing from the Earth Institute's large network of scientists from the Mailman School of Public Health, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Henry Krumb School of Mines, the Center for Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) and many related departments.

"Our interdisciplinary approach is part of why Columbia's Superfund seminars and conferences are always so enlightening," according to Meredith Golden of CIESIN.

The conference is free and open to the public. However, seating is limited and pre-registration is recommended. Click here for more details or to register.