11% of Bangladeshis still face arsenic risk despite expansion of safe water sources
Around 11% of Bangladesh's population remains at risk of arsenic contamination in drinking water, according to the latest available findings from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and UNICEF's Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2019, despite years of government efforts to expand access to safe water.
The figure was disclosed in parliament on Tuesday by Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Adviser Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir while responding to a starred question from treasury bench lawmaker Selina Sultana, who represents a reserved women's seat.
The adviser said the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE), under the Local Government Division, has been implementing a range of projects to reduce arsenic exposure and improve access to safe drinking water, particularly in rural areas.
He said a total of 1,215,948 arsenic-safe water sources had been installed across the country as of 2026 under various government initiatives.
The installations include deep tube wells, piped water supply systems, rainwater harvesting facilities, pond excavation and re-excavation projects, and solar-powered pond sand filters aimed at providing safe drinking water to communities vulnerable to arsenic contamination.
Alamgir said the government expects the ongoing programmes to reduce the proportion of people exposed to arsenic-contaminated water to between 5% and 6% by the end of 2026.
Highlighting the progress of the initiatives, he said 615,497 safe water sources have already been installed under projects currently being implemented by the DPHE.
Among them, 199,485 water sources have been established under the Safe Water Supply through Rainwater Harvesting Project, which focuses on Bangladesh's coastal districts where saline intrusion and freshwater scarcity have compounded drinking water challenges.
The adviser said the now-completed Arsenic Risk Reduction in Water Supply Project installed 174,676 safe water sources, while another 88,235 were established under the completed Rural Water Supply Project.
In addition, 138,055 water sources were installed through the completed Priority Rural Water Supply Project, he told lawmakers.
Bangladesh has been battling naturally occurring arsenic contamination in groundwater since the 1990s, when widespread testing revealed elevated arsenic levels in millions of tube wells across the country.
The contamination has been described as one of the world's largest cases of mass poisoning, with prolonged exposure linked to skin lesions, cardiovascular disease and several forms of cancer.
Government agencies, development partners and non-governmental organizations have since expanded testing, installed alternative water sources and promoted safe drinking water technologies to reduce public exposure, particularly in rural communities that rely heavily on groundwater.