title: Reliability of a commercial kit to test groundwater for arsenic in Bangladesh.
abstract: A comparison of field and laboratory measurements of arsenic in groundwater of Araihazar, Bangladesh, indicates that the most widely used field kit correctly determined the status of 88% of 799 wells relative to the local standard of 50 microg/L As. Additional tests showthatthe inconsistencies, mainly underestimates in the 50-100 microg/L As range, can be avoided by increasing the reaction time from 20 to 40 min. Despite this limitation, the field data already compiled for millions of wells by the Bangladesh Arsenic Mitigation and Water Supply Project, in combination with information on well location and depth, should prove to be extremely useful to prioritize interventions in thousands of affected villages.
authors.affiliation: Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964, USA. avangeen@ldeo.columbia.edu
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Van Geen
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Seddique
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Hoque
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gelman
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Graziano
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ahsan
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Parvez
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Ahmed
mesh_terms: D001151:Arsenic / Q000032:analysis*; D001459:Bangladesh; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D011786:Quality Control; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment; D014873:Water Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D014881:Water Supply
chemical_list: D014873:Water Pollutants; D001151:Arsenic