Impacts of groundwater contamination with fluoride and arsenic - Affliction severity, medical cost and wage loss in Indian villages
The study found that fluoride and arsenic contamination had high cost on society and concluded that government agencies and individuals need to get more attentive to address the issue
This document on the study conducted by IWMI on the Carewater site aimed at understanding the economic and social burden experienced by people afflicted with contamination of water due to higher percentages of fluoride and arsenic in the water. The objectives of the study were:
To map the severity of affliction
To estimate the medical costs incurred by the afflicted families in treating the diseases
To estimate the wage loss due to inability to work for affliction
To understand the awareness among the people about quality of water that causes Fluorosis and Arsenicosis
The study found that:
Affordability of safe drinking water was related to higher income level and the severity of fluorosis affliction was higher among low income levels
The cost incurred on medicines and the loss of wages had asignificantly debilitating impact on the affecetd families
As compared with Fluorosis, the skin afflictions of Arsenicosis had a greater social stigma and incurred higher costs on patients
It was found that both Fluoride and Arsenic contamination had a high cost on society and the study concluded that addressing the problem needed to get more attention from government agencies and society apart from individual awareness.
