Feb. 04, 2007 - 22:43 MST

WE NEED MORE FOLKS LIKE THIS MAN

Sure beats the Obies, Tonys and Oscars in my book. An article in todays The Denver Post by Rick Weiss of The Washington Post is quoted herein:

PROF AWARDED $1 MILLION FOR SIMPLE ARSENIC FILTER

The engineering prize goes to the developer of an inexpensive way to clean contaminated well water, a problem in his native Bangladesh

WASHINGTON -- "A George Mason University chemistry professor has won a $1 million engineering prize for developing a simple and inexpensive means of filtering arsenic from well water, an advance that is already preventing serious health problems in hundreds of thousands of people in his native Bangladesh and could help millions of others around the world."

"The 2007 Grainger Challenge Prize for Sustainability, administered by the National Academy of Engineering, will go to Abul Hassam, of Centerville, Va., academy officials announced Thursday."

NEW AILMENTS FROM REGION'S WELLS

"For decades, institutions had funded a huge campaign to dig simple wells in Eastern India and Bangladesh, bringing fresh groundwater to millions of farmers and others who had been drinking from ponds and mudholes that teemed with disease-causing bacteria and viruses." "What these agencies did not know was that groundwater in that region has some of the world' highest naturally occurring concentrations of arsenic, a potent poison. So although the new wells produced a steep decline in infectious diseases, they also gave rise to an epidemic of arsenic-induced skin ailments and over time, fatal cancers of the lungs, bladder and kidneys."

FILTER SYSTEM HAS PROVEN ITSELF

"I myself and all my brothers were drinking this water," said Hussam, whose family had two of the now infamous shallow "tube wells" in the agricultural district of Kushtia, where he grew up -- one in the kitchen and the other in the yard, both operated by hand pumps."

"His family members remained healthy, Hussam said, perhaps because they had a nutricious diet, which can help stem the ill effects that typically accumulate over a decade or more of arsenic ingestion. But when the problem gained recognition in the 1990s, he decided to attack it with his chemistry knowledge."

"His final creation -- an easy-to-make, maintenance free, two tiered system that uses sand, charcoal, bits of brick and shards of a widely available kind of cast iron -- removes virtually every trace of arsenic from well water. It wowed an independent panel of engineering academy judges who, under the rules of the prize, were looking for an affordable, reliable, socially acceptable and environmentally friendly solution to the arsenic problem that did not require electricity."

"Prize rules also required that the product be proven in field conditions, not just in a lab. Some of the filters have been used in Bangladesh for five years now, Hussam said, and they have neither clogged nor lost their cleansing ability."

"Each filter contains 20 pounds of porous iron, which forms a strong bond with arsenic."

"Hussam said he will use 70 percent of his winnings to distribute his filters to needy communities."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I think there are probably many poor communities in that part of the world that have no wells of any kind and have arsenic in the earth beneath them. The man is to be admired for his intentions. He is also wise I think to reserve 30 percent for himself. What he will have left after dealing with the IRS is much less than most of us can understand, I would guess. I don't know if he intends to contribute 70 of the remainder after taxes of if he can talk the IRS into accepting as legal his 30 percent.

This article points up the unfortunate fact that many of the huge projects the world has undertaken in the Mid-East and Africa have boomeranged terribly, causing more problems than the supposed cure.

Perhaps Abul Hassam will turn his mind into cleaning up other Amero-European messes over there, that would be great if he can succeed in that.

Reading between the lines of what wasn't said, I assume that the problem has been known for quite some time, however for whatever reason it wasn't deemed newsworthy to bring the news that some of the world's magic solutions weren't working and in essence - killing people, just in a different way.

In my thoughts very deeply I think WE NEED MORE FOLKS LIKE THIS MAN . . . . . . . . . . . .

Blog