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I'm working on a WASH program in rural Bangladesh, and we are reviewing the water quality analytes we test for. Can anyone suggest which additional contaminants should be tested? (Preferably with field test kits, as a laboratory is probably not available)...

Currently we test for:

• Turbidity

• pH

• EC

• Fe

• As

• Fecal Coliforms

Water sources include:

• Surface ponds

• Spring catchments in the hills, piped to lowland farms

• Shallow tube wells

• Deep tube wells

• Dug/Ring wells

Water sources are connected to hand pumps, or on the odd occasion submersible electric pump, and supply the surrounding households in a village setting.

The wells are dug/drilled into alluvial sediments (mostly clay, silt, some bands of sand). The consolidated rock beneath this is Miocene Bokabil shale – described as “silty shale with subordinate shale and minor sandstone bed and calcareous sandstone bands. The shales are laminated, grey to bluish grey)”. As wells are dug or drilled by hand, once hard rock is reached, drilling cannot continue. However, I think some of the wells are drilled into the weathered top of the shale.

The sediment samples from drilling that I’ve seen are silt and clay (light to dark grey, grains of muscovite, and dark grains (ilmenite/rutile?) are visible). Bands of sand (targeted for the water supply) are also found – the sand is silica rich and grey to yellowish-brown. Sometimes the team notes metallic or organic odours in the sediments and water samples.

The main industry in the area is small scale agriculture. Major crops include:

• Rice (Aman, Boro)

• Potatoes

• Betel leaf (pan)

• Kitchen gardens (many vegetables)

• Sunflowers

• Some cattle and goats

Some analytes I’m thinking about:

• Fertilisers/pesticides

• Nutrients – N, P

• Metals from the sediments (Mn,… others?)

• Anything else?

I'm working on a WASH program in rural Bangladesh, and we are reviewing the water quality analytes we test for. Can anyone suggest which additional contaminants should be tested? (Preferably with field test kits, as a laboratory is probably not available)...

Currently we test for:

• Turbidity

• pH

• EC

• Fe

• As

• Fecal Coliforms

Water sources include:

• Surface ponds

• Spring catchments in the hills, piped to lowland farms

• Shallow tube wells

• Deep tube wells

• Dug/Ring wells

Water sources are connected to hand pumps, or on the odd occasion submersible electric pump, and supply the surrounding households in a village setting.

The wells are dug/drilled into alluvial sediments (mostly clay, silt, some bands of sand). The consolidated rock beneath this is Miocene Bokabil shale – described as “silty shale with subordinate shale and minor sandstone bed and calcareous sandstone bands. The shales are laminated, grey to bluish grey)”. As wells are dug or drilled by hand, once hard rock is reached, drilling cannot continue. However, I think some of the wells are drilled into the weathered top of the shale.

The sediment samples from drilling that I’ve seen are silt and clay (light to dark grey, grains of muscovite, and dark grains (ilmenite/rutile?) are visible). Bands of sand (targeted for the water supply) are also found – the sand is silica rich and grey to yellowish-brown. Sometimes the team notes metallic or organic odours in the sediments and water samples.

The main industry in the area is small scale agriculture. Major crops include:

• Rice (Aman, Boro)

• Potatoes

• Betel leaf (pan)

• Kitchen gardens (many vegetables)

• Sunflowers

• Some cattle and goats

Some analytes I’m thinking about:

• Fertilisers/pesticides

• Nutrients – -- N, P

• Metals from the sediments (Mn,… others?)

• Anything else?

I'm working on a WASH program in rural Bangladesh, and we are reviewing the water quality analytes we test for. Can anyone suggest which additional contaminants should be tested? (Preferably with field test kits, as a laboratory is probably not available)...

Currently we test for:

• Turbidity

• pH

• EC

• Fe

• As

• Fecal Coliforms

Water sources include:

• Surface ponds

• Spring catchments in the hills, piped to lowland farms

• Shallow tube wells

• Deep tube wells

• Dug/Ring wells

Water sources are connected to hand pumps, or on the odd occasion submersible electric pump, and supply the surrounding households in a village setting.

The wells are dug/drilled into alluvial sediments (mostly clay, silt, some bands of sand). The consolidated rock beneath this is Miocene Bokabil shale – described as “silty shale with subordinate shale and minor sandstone bed and calcareous sandstone bands. The shales are laminated, grey to bluish grey)”. As wells are dug or drilled by hand, once hard rock is reached, drilling cannot continue. However, I think some of the wells are drilled into the weathered top of the shale.

The sediment samples from drilling that I’ve seen are silt and clay (light to dark grey, grains of muscovite, and dark grains (ilmenite/rutile?) are visible). Bands of sand (targeted for the water supply) are also found – the sand is silica rich and grey to yellowish-brown. Sometimes the team notes metallic or organic odours in the sediments and water samples.

The main industry in the area is small scale agriculture. Major crops include:

• Rice (Aman, Boro)

• Potatoes

• Betel leaf (pan)

• Kitchen gardens (many vegetables)

• Sunflowers

• Some cattle and goats

Some analytes I’m thinking about:

• Fertilisers/pesticides

• Nutrients -- N, P

• Metals from the sediments (Mn,… others?)

• Anything else?