Maps depicting the arsenic contamination in the Ganga-Meghna-Brahmaputra plains between 1976 and 2008

The School of Environmental Studies - Jadavpur University (SOES-JU), has done path-breaking research in reporting and documenting the issue of Arsenic contamination in the country. In 2003, SOES-JU reported arsenic groundwater contamination in Bihar in the Middle Ganga plain, and recently reported arsenic groundwater contamination in Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand states in Gangetic plain of India.

Combining this with the first report of groundwater arsenic contamination reported in 1976 from Chandigarh and a few villages of Punjab (Patiala) in Northern India of Upper Gangetic plain with Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal states of India and that of Bangladesh, the SOES-JU concludes that now that a good portion of Ganga-Meghna-Brahmaputra (GMB) plain, covering an area of 569,749 sq km and a population over 500 million may be at risk from groundwater arsenic contamination in the country today.

The following set of maps give a picture of the Groundwater Arsenic contamination in the Ganga Meghna Brahmaputra (GMB) basin from 1976-2008.

Base article: Groundwater Arsenic Contamination in Ganga Meghna Brahmaputra Plain (1976-2008)