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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.
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