Royal Institute of Technology & KTH-International Groundwater Arsenic Research Group
The KTH-International Groundwater Arsenic Research Group (GARG) at Royal Institute of Technology, has experience of working on As contamination in groundwater and soils for over 10 years. They are working on As contamination in Bangladesh and West-Bengal, India since 1995. The team comprises several experts in hydrogeochemistry, sediment geochemistry and hydrogeology. The group has actively been collaborating with Dhaka University, NGO Forum, CSIRO (Adelaide, Australia), Universidad Nacional de Santiago del Estero (Argentina), Masaryk University (Czech Republic), USGS (USA) among others. The team includes of Dr. Prosun Bhattacharya (team leader), Mattias von Brömssen (M.Sc.) and professor em. Gunnar Jacks.

Prosun Bhattacharya is a groundwater chemist, associate professor and research leader of KTH-International Groundwater Arsenic Research Group (GARG) at Dept. of Land and Water Resources Engineering at KTH, Stockholm, established in 1999. Prosun Bhattacharya, is engaged with research on As contamination in groundwater of the sedimentary aquifers in different parts of the world. He collaborates with a number of universities and research organizations in India, Bangladesh, China, Australia, Argentina and Ghana. He has authored over 130 international publications in peer-reviewed journals, books and conference proceedings and has organized a several international workshops on natural As in groundwaters.

Mattias von Brömssen is a Ph.D. student at GARG since 2002 working with options for safe drinking water in regions with high As groundwater in Bangladesh. The work has been carried out in collaboration with Dhaka University. Mattias is also working as a consultant at Ramböll with hydrogeology and environmental geology. The work includes environmental and hydrogeological surveys, action plans for remediation, environmental risk assessments etc. Significant assigners have been the Swedish EPA, Geological Survey of Sweden and National Railroad Administration.

Gunnar Jacks is a groundwater chemist, professor emeritus in groundwater chemistry, at Dept. of Land and Water Resources Engineering at KTH, Stockholm. Gunnar has a background as a mining engineer but has also a B.Sc. in medicine and has experience from chemistry and hydrogeology from India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Laos, Eritrea, Botwana, Namibia and Mali. He has more than 100 reviewed publications in international journals. He is a member of the working group for geodesi and geophysics at the Royal Swedish Academy of Science. Gunnar is also a part-time guest professor in Finland at Åbo Akademi.

NGO Forum
NGO Forum (www.ngof.org) is the apex networking and service delivery agency of NGOs, CBOs (community based organization) and private sector and civil society actors who implement water and sanitation (WatSan) programmes at the unserved and underserved rural and urban communities. NGO Forum works as development partner with all relevant national and international agencies and stakeholders ranging from the government and civil society to donor organizations.

NGOs Arsenic Information & Support Unit (NAISU) is an information window on As. It’s a joint initiative of NGO Forum for Drinking Water Supply & Sanitation and Water Aid Bangladesh that is dedicated to work with local NGOs for the dissemination of As related information, enhancement of capacity on As and advocating on As. 95 NGOs are with are associated with NAISU as partners with an agenda of facing As catastrophe with a goal to enhance as well as improve the quality of life for the poor, unserved and under served communities of Bangladesh through implementation of the national As mitigation programs. The overall ambition of the NAISU is to strengthen the capacity of NGOs, relevant GoB bodies and LGIs to address As and water quality related issues.

National coordinator works as Environmental Coordinator, Research and Evaluation Division at NGO Forum for drinking water supply and sanitation. Md. Jakariya has recently been responsible for the mitigation work within the AsMat project in Matlab. Md. Jakariya completed his PhD from the dept. of Land and Water Resources, Royal Institute of Technology in May 2007.

Other staff from NGO Forum:
GIS & Data Base Management Specialist:

Professional hydrogeologist. In charge of the practical work for installation of safe community hand tubewells, piezometers for monitoring and measurements, database handling and other hydrogeological fieldwork. Stationed part-time at a NGO Forum field station in Matlab upazila.

Social and community mobilisation professional. In charge of social and community mobilisation. Stationed part-time at NGO Forum field station in Matlab upazila.

Field-personal. Operating the monitoring, measurements, gathering data, social and community mobilisation, etc. Stationed fulltime at NGO Forum field station in Matlab upazila.

Administrative staff. Operating the administrative work of the project and serving the project coordinator.

University of Dhaka
Geology Department of University of Dhaka has been involved in As related studies since 1995. The department has expertise in the field of Hydrogeology, sedimentology, geophysics alongside modest laboratory facilities. The department also has relevant field equipments for geophysical and hydrogeological investigations. The department has developed closed links with national (such as BWDB, DPHE, GSB), international (such as UNICEF), and non-governmental (such as BRAC, Water Aid, NGO Forum) organisations. The department has also developed closed research links with overseas universities such as Columbia University and Auburn University of the USA, University College London of the UK, Royal Institute of Technology of Sweden, Osaka City University of Japan etc.

Kazi Matin Ahmed: A professor in the department and a hydrogeologist by training. He has been involved in As research since 1997. He is one of the key experts in the field of hydrogeology in the country and has links with national and international organisations. He works as a local anchor for a number of collaborative research projects between the Department of Geology and overseas universities. He would act as the coordinator of geological activities for this project as well.

Md. Aziz Hasan: An Associate Professor of the department and is currently enrolled as a sandwich PhD student at KTH. He would conduct his research in the field of As mobilisation and transport in the sedimentary aquifers of the Meghna Flood Plains in Bangladesh. His services will be fully available for this project, i.e. he would conduct his field experiments in Matlab area.

Prof. A S M Woobaidullah and Prof. A A Khan (Geophysicists), Dr. Khaled Hasan (GIS and Remote Sensing) and Prof. Badrul Imam (Sedimentologist) will complement the project-staff at Dhaka University as specialists.

List of Collaborating Institutions
Together with a number of national and international collaborative partners included in the network of GARG, the group is engaged in several research projects concerning geogenic As in groundwater and options for drinking-water of the Bengal Delta Plain (Bangladesh, India), Assam, Uttar Pradesh and Chattisgarh in India, Terai Region of Nepal, Huhott Alluvial Basin, Inner Mongolia, Chaco-Pampean Aquifers of Argentina, Västerbotten county in Northern Sweden, geothermal As in Costa Rica, and the mining districts of Bolivian Altiplano, Bolivia, Pakistan and Tarkwa region of Ghana. GARG collaborators includes:

Dept. of Biotechnology, KTH, Sweden;
Ramböll Sweden
Ramböll Danmark
Dept. of Geology, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh;
Dept. of Chemistry, University of Kalyani, West-Bengal,
School of Environmental Sciences, JNU, New Delhi,
Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati,
Dept. of Earth Sciences, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, India;
Huhhott Anti Epidemic Research Station, Huhottt, Inner Mongolia,
Hangzhou University, P. R. China,
CSIRO, Contaminated Land and Water (CLW), Adelaide, Australia;
Dept. de Geologia y Geotecnia, Universidad Nacional de Santiago del Estero (UNSE), Santiago del Estero, Argentina;
Department of Mineralogy, Petrology and Geochemistry, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic

Besides these institutions GARG co-operate with still further institutions world-wide.