February 20, 2026
In his Hindustan Times column, Vital Signs, OHT’s Dr. Ramanan Laxminarayan highlights India’s slow-moving arsenic crisis.
In parts of south Asia, naturally occurring arsenic in groundwater has become a major public health challenge. Large-scale exposure began in the 1970s and 1980s, when millions of shallow tube wells were installed to prevent cholera and other diarrheal diseases caused by contaminated surface water. While these wells reduced infectious disease, many unintentionally exposed communities to arsenic in their drinking water.
In his Hindustan Times column, Vital Signs, OHT’s Dr. Ramanan Laxminarayan highlights India’s slow-moving arsenic crisis.
In parts of south Asia, naturally occurring arsenic in groundwater has become a major public health challenge. Large-scale exposure began in the 1970s and 1980s, when millions of shallow tube wells were installed to prevent cholera and other diarrheal diseases caused by contaminated surface water. While these wells reduced infectious disease, many unintentionally exposed communities to arsenic in their drinking water.
Dr. Laxminarayan writes that the challenge is clear: safe drinking water must become a universal guarantee, not a village-by-village contingency. The wells that once protected communities from cholera should not become a long-term source of preventable disease. “Ending this slow poisoning will require the same clarity of purpose that drove the original groundwater revolution, only this time guided by a fuller understanding of the risks that lie beneath our feet.”
Read it here.
