Arsenic Contamination Prompts Well Closures In Drought-Stricken Burkina Faso - AFP

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Authorities have closed large numbers of water wells in the poverty-stricken west African state of Burkina Faso because of arsenic in drinking water that has already reportedly caused two deaths, health officials said Wednesday. The emergency measure will mean a major water shortage for local people in the north of the country where the contamination was detected, reports said. Burkina Faso has in the past been badly hit by drought since the 1970s, when desertification in the north intensified.

According to one newspaper report a young woman and a man have already died after drinking water contaminated with arsenic. Officials could not confirm this. "We have closed numerous wells after analysis showed arsenic content well above 10 micro-grammes per litre, the norm set by the World Health Organisation," said Dr Moussa Dadjoari, regional health director at Ouayigouya in the north.

Health authorities fear continued consumption of arsenic-contaminated water could cause vascular illness, damage eyesight, and provoke skin, kidney or lung cancer. Dadjoari said consumption of contaminated water had already caused skin lesions but the number affected was very low. Surveillance teams were already at work in the affected area and an awareness campaign to alert the public was in force. "We're warning the public and asking them to go to the nearest health centre as soon as any unusual symptoms occur," he said.

Dadjoari said the presence of arsenic in the water was due to gold found in underground layers at the sites of the wells. "Arsenic and gold are minerals that go together," he explained. The report in the newspaper Sidwaya said the affected wells were among a total of 356 sunk between 1999 and 2004 in four northern provinces with Danish cooperation.

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http://www.terradaily.com/2006/061227163134.jo8fz7fz.html