This messaage is being reposted with hyperlinks to the documents referred
to. NB if hyperlinks don't work when clicked on, copy and paste them (if
the link is on more than one line, ALL lines, into the address pane of your
browser).

Mukherjee, A.B. & P. Bhattacharya (2001) Arsenic in groundwater in the Bengal
Delta Plain: Slow Poisoning in Bangladesh. Environmental Reviews 9:189-220. At:
http://www.lwr.kth.se/Personal/personer/bhattacharya.prosun/Envrev9(3)ABM_PB.pdf

P. Bhattacharya, Jacks G., Jana J., Sracek A., Gustafsson J.P., and
Chatterjee D. 2001. Geochemistry of the Holocene Alluvial sediments of
Bengal Delta Plain from West Bengal, India: Implications on arsenic
contamination in groundwater. In: Jacks G., Bhattacharya P. and Khan
A.A. (Eds.) Groundwater Arsenic Contamination in the Bengal Delta
Plain of Bangladesh, KTH Special Publication, TRITA-AMI Report 3084,
pp.21-40. At:
http://www.lwr.kth.se/Personal/personer/bhattacharya.prosun/KTHDU_PB.pdf

P. Bhattacharya, G. Jacks, K.M. Ahmed, A.A. Khan, and J. Routh. (2002)
Arsenic in Groundwater of the Bengal Delta Plain Aquifers in Bangladesh.
Bull. Env. Cont. Toxicol. 69(4): October, 2002 (in press) At:
http://www.lwr.kth.se/Personal/personer/bhattacharya.prosun/ECT_inpress.pdf

Dear Dr. Meer,

Thanks for your comments and repeated messages on explaining the scenario
on arsenic contamination in groundwaters. I had been deliberately deferring
my response for the availability of some time to respond to your questions
raised as subjects:

1. Dr. Bhattacharya et.al. must admit that their theories are wrong and based
on false data

2. Prof. Feroz Ahmed (BUET) must agree that his statements are wrong and based
on false data

3. [arsenic-source] Oxyhydroxide reduction: a wrong and misleading theory

and many others with more or less similar content.

In recent years, I have considered your hypothesis of water deficit as an
explanation for the mobilization of natural Arsenic in the sedimentary
aquifers of Bangladesh. Unfortunately I failed to understand the relavance of
your comments on that line too. This is primarily because if you have lack of
oxygenated water for recharge, the recharge from the wetland cultivation will
lead to substancial increase of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) pool in
groundwater which would be sufficient enough to consume the electron donors in
groundwater.

Moreover, your assumption on dewatering of the upper aquifers as the mechanism
of oxidation of As-bearing pyrite in these aquifers, we don not have adequate
sulfate in the groundwaters as an arguement for your supposition. This is
coupled to the logic that if we have oxygenated environment in the aquifers,
we must have the sulfate in groundwater, On the contrary, hydrogeochemical
signatures suggest that we are already in the sulfate reduction stage or even
below, evidenced by the presence of methane, which explains the reducing
character of these groundwaters. Moreover, if you see the redox sequence the
sulfate reduction stage is much below the Fe and Mn reduction stages-- what
is implied by the hypothesis of reductive dissolution of the Fe-Mn oxides in
the sedimentary aquifers -- which is no longer a hypothsis but a fact indeed.
I hope that these papers will be of some help to you for the understanding of
the hydrogeochemistry of the groundwaters in the sedimentay aquifers of the
Bengal Delta Plain in Bangladesh or else where in the world with similar
aquifer characteristics.

I will appreciate if you go through these papers and write back your comments.

In addition I would draw your attention to the publications:

P. Bhattacharya, Jacks, G., Frisbie, S.H., Smith, E., Naidu, R., & Sarkar B.
(2002) Arsenic in the Environment: A Global Perspective. In: B.Sarkar (Ed.)
Handbook of Heavy Metals in the Environment (Chapter 6), Marcell Dekker Inc.,
New York, pp. 147-215.

P. Bhattacharya & Mukherjee, A.B. (2002) Management of arsenic contaminated
groundwater in the Bengal Delta Plain. In M. Chatterji, S. Arlosoroff, and S,
G. Guha (Eds.) Conflict Management of Water Resources (Chapter 18), Ashgate
Publishers, UK, pp.308-345.

Finally, I with due apologies, I must tell you Meer that we all on this
mailing list appreciate your comments, but you should try to be polite in your
expressions on this global platform like this arsenic-source mailing list and
help to maintain the dignity of this forum, which someone should ever read and
response.

Best regards

Prosun

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Dr. Prosun Bhattacharya
Docent, Associate Professor
Research Coordinator
Groundwater Arsenic Research Group
Department of Land and Water Resources Engineering
Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)
Brinellvägen 28
SE-100 44 STOCKHOLM
SWEDEN
Tel:+46 8 790 7399
Tel:+46 8 750 7098 (home)
Mobile:+46 70 697 4241
Fax:+46 8 411 0775
E-mail: prosun@...
WWW: http://www.lwr.kth.se/PEOPLE/Prosun/prosun.htm
Groundwater Arsenic Research Group (GARG)
WWW: http://www.lwr.kth.se/PEOPLE/Prosun/garg.htm
*************************************************************