[Meer Hussain posted two messages with the same subject line and message bodies
with some identical (it would appear) paragraphs, and some differing paragraphs.
Before distributing these messages, I have labelled these two messages Part 1
and Part 2, and deleted from Part 2 any paragraphs appearing in both. These
deletions are shown by an ellipsis in square brackets [...]. - Moderator]

Dear All:

We believe the groundwater arsenic poisoning in Bangladesh is a recent man-made
environmental disaster. Prior to 1975 the country had never faced an
environmental crisis of the present magnitude. After 1975, in Bangladesh
over-pumping of groundwater for irrigation was necessary due to the shortage of
river water as a result of India's unilateral diversion of water from the
Ganges, Tista and 28 other common rivers of Bangladesh and India for the last 26
years. The Ganges River is one of the largest rivers in the world. In
Bangladesh, prior to 1975, the magnitude of the problems listed below were
unknown.

1. Groundwater Arsenic poisoning in Bangladesh, 2. Severe Floods(1988 and 1998),
3. Depletion of Surface Water Resources,

4. Depletion of Groundwater Resources, 5. Desertification, 6. Extinction of
aquatic species, 7. Impact on fish industry,

8. Drop of organic matter content in the soil, 9. Destruction of Agriculture and
Horticulture, 10. Inland saline water intrusion,

11. Loss of navigable waterways, 12. Riverbank erosion, 13. Climate change, 14.
Loss of professions,

15. Outbreak of environmental diseases, 16. Land subsidence (from water table
lowering), 17. Social unsuitability due to symptoms of arsenic

poisoning etc.

The Oxidation of arsenic bearing minerals seems to be the main cause of the
groundwater arsenic poisoning in Bangladesh and West Bengal of India. The
oxidation is directly related to the over-pumping of groundwater and diversion
of river water. The over-pumping of groundwater and diversion of river water
started after 1975. The above mentioned environmental problems began to appear
also after 1975 which are the result of over-pumping of groundwater and
diversion of river water.

The British Geological Survey(BGS), Bangladesh Department of Public Health and
Engineering(DPHE) and Mott MacDonald Ltd. conducted a groundwater arsenic
poisoning investigation in Bangladesh, but they failed to establish the source,
cause, and solution to the problem because they did not collect adequate and
reliable data. They completely ignored the role of dams/barrages on the common
rivers of Bangladesh and India whereas over-pumping of groundwater and diversion
of river water are the main causes of the groundwater arsenic poisoning in
Bangladesh and West Bengal of India.

The BGS/DPHE/MML investigators presented river water discharge of three major
rivers of Bangladesh i.e., Ganges(Padma), Bramhaputra, and Meghna in their
Phase-1 investigative report. They presented long term data prior to 1975, but
they did not present river water discharge data after 1975 which is the most
important data for the oxidation process. Therefore, they do not have any clue
regarding how the diversion of river water and over-pumping of groundwater are
causing changes in the hydrological, hydrogeological and hydrochemical cycles of
the Bengal Basin.

[...]

[continued in Part 2. An attached file was deleted -- this was a .bmp of a data
table showing average monthly discharge and sediment load of major rivers. Some
of this data appears in the message body of Part 2 - Moderator]