In India there has always been a degree of arsenic concentration in the ground water alongside the river Ganges.
This naturally occurring contaminant is picked up and dissolved by streams at high altitudes in the Himalayas and brought down through major mountain rivers that feed the Ganges where it eventually falls as sediment along its riverbanks. However, over the past two decades the level of arsenic in these water systems has increased dramatically, finding its way into the local food chain and drinking water. The main reason for this increase is attributed to human activity, drilling tube wells for farming and irrigation, which disturb deep geological deposits of arsenic.
A call to action
In late 2020, Halma launched a partnership to help tackle the global challenge of bringing clean and safe water to some of the 2.2 billion people in the world without access to safe supplies.
Working with WaterAid, our group of global technology companies committed to supplying our specialist water testing equipment and raising money to support and train villagers in India to overcome dangerous local environmental contaminants.
It is through our Water for Life campaign, that we are helping to build a safe and clean water supply and use our specialised testing kits from Halma water company Palintest to reach 8,000 people in Bhagalpur and Buxar in the state of Bihar in India, with access to a reliable source of clean and safe water. We will also train community volunteers from across ten villages to maintain the water quality and provide 3,000 people with the resources to safely harvest water.
You can see our technologies in action and how are partnership with WaterAid in India is changing lives and supporting UN #SDG6 in our video.
