One third of the world’s population uses groundwater as its source of water for daily personal use, such as drinking or cooking, and agriculture, writes Eawag in a press release. Oftentimes, however, the water is contaminated with arsenic or fluoride, both of which have serious effects on human health when ingested over long periods or at high concentrations.
Eawag thus developed a method that makes it possible to estimate the risk of contamination in a given area without having to test samples from every single groundwater resource. The method, which is based on geological, topographical and other environmental data, has already been tested in Bangladesh, Vietnam and Sumatra, Indonesia as well as China. In collaboration with the China Medical University of Shenzang, Eawag was able to show with its method that around 20 million people in China live in high-risk areas.
According to the press release, Eawag has now made the method available free of charge on an interactive Groundwater Assessment Platform (GAP). It makes it possible for authorities, NGOs and other professionals to upload their own data and generate hazard maps for their areas of interest. As such maps are almost impossible to produce in developing countries with limited financial resources, the platform “makes it easier to identify the wells that should be investigated as a matter of priority, so that available funds and resources can be deployed in a more targeted manner,” says Michael Berg, head of the department of water resources and drinking water at Eawag.
The online solution was developed in collaboration with Ernst Basler + Partner with financial support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.