‘There were eight of us, only two are alive’: the growing crisis of arsenic in Argentina’s water | Global development

IIt's a cloudy winter day in El Chañaral, an old Wichi indigenous community now inhabited only by the Bustamante family. It is located nine miles from San José del Boquerón and near Piruaj Bajo, in ArgentinaNorthern department of Copo.

How Batista Bustamante and Lydia Cuellar drink buddy over tea, their seven-year-old daughter Marcela hops on her purple bike and heads off into the bush. She reaches a pond—a puddle of greenish-brown water—and takes pink scissors from her pocket, which she uses to stab into the ground to remove clumps of dirt.

She gathers them in her hands and shapes them into scones, plates and cups, as if preparing for a tea party. “Sometimes my bones hurt and I cry here, here and here,” Marcela says, pointing to the joints of her arms and legs.

On her mother's side, she belongs to the Cuellar family, many of whom have symptoms endemic regional chronic hydroarsenic (Hacre), a disease caused by long-term consumption of water containing high levels of arsenic.

In Argentina, the maximum permitted level of arsenic in drinking water is 0.01 milligrams per liter, as set by Federal law. Argentine food codein accordance with World Health Organization recommendations.

However, according to official reportlevels in the departments of Copo, Alberdi and parts of Banda and Robles range from 0.4 to 0.6 mg/l. Cuellar's latest tests on her hair showed she had a concentration of 2.24 micrograms per gram, 224 times the legal level.

“You will find a lot of it here,” says Santiago García Pintos, founder Supporta social development organization working with rural communities.

“Some symptoms are quite recognizable,” he says. “In children, you may see the skin become hard and develop marks like freckles. In adults, it begins to crack and peel, which can lead to skin cancer. Teeth begin to stain and eventually fall out.

“Arsenic is known to cause kidney and liver cancer, and it is suspected that many of the lung cancer cases we have seen in this area could be related to this.”

Cuellar is a slender woman who always ties her hair back and speaks in a whisper. Following family tradition, she often drinks mate using rainwater collected from a cistern, since all the water that comes from underground – which they draw from wells since there is no running water in such remote areas – is contaminated with arsenic and fluoride.

While their safety depends on rainfall, a combination of severe droughts and inadequate infrastructure for scattered communities means they are often at the mercy of the state's tanker water distribution system during the hot season when their tanks run dry.

When she was seven years old, Cuellar's father died as a result of arsenic poisoning in the water. “The water network is the most urgent thing we need,” she says.

She believes that drinking water contaminated with arsenic causes her periodic bone pain.

The last heavy rains were in April, and the bustamants have only a quarter tank of water left, which they bail out with a rope and a bucket. For Cuellar, this is the only safe water.

“When it runs out, we have two options: either we buy water from the commissioner, who takes it from the river – and who knows what's in it – or we have no choice but to take water from the reservoir,” she says.

“All this water contains arsenic. My family lived in Wilmer for many years, a community with high levels of arsenic. My father developed ulcers that burst, and I think it was skin cancer. He and four of his siblings died of cancer. Erasmo, one of my uncles, is sick now.”

Cuellar also has symptoms. “It affects my bones, and Marcela’s too,” she says. “We have to have checkups once a year. We had them recently. We have to go all the way to Santiago del Estero and they cut our hair to measure it. I have the highest percentage, along with Marcella and my niece.”

Experts have not explained the health implications of having that level of arsenic in their bodies, Cuellar said.

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ABOUTf 45.8 million Argentines, about 4 million people live in areas with high levels of arsenic in groundwater. However, more recent research from the National University of Rosario has shown that there are 17 million people exposed to arsenic through the water. Research also shows that up to 30% of patients with Hacre Cancers are developing in Argentina, especially of the skin and internal organs.

This remains a long-standing problem. In 2001, the Argentine Ministry of Health It is estimated that about a million people were exposed. – or 3% of the population – mainly in Tucuman, Santa Fe, La Pampa and Santiago del Estero, where 100,000 people had symptoms of infection.

IN ArgentinaArsenic contamination mostly occurs naturally through geochemical processes in which the element is leached from sources such as volcanic rocks into groundwater, rather than through industrial pollution or mining. Research is also looking at arsenic-containing herbicides as a potential source of contamination.

There are effective technologies that allow purification of arsenic-rich water and are suitable for municipal enterprises and household filters.

In November 2006 Provincial Endemic Regional Chronic Hydroarsenic Program was created to investigate and prevent arsenic, fluoride and other toxic chemicals from entering water sources.

“The province has developed a policy to provide safe water to the cities and communities most affected by arsenic and fluoride,” says Natividad Nassif, Santiago del Estero’s health minister.

García Pintos disputes these claims. He lived in the area from 2018 to 2021 and has been visiting regularly since then. “We actually see how people live, and I can assure you that the government in this region is not treating arsenic in the water,” he says.

“There are no plumbing or any treatment that would make it fit for human consumption.”

As part of this program, the ministry says water and hair samples are regularly collected for analysis in San José del Boquerón, Piruay Bajo and Wilmera.

Nassif says: “The medical team is in contact with the Cuellar family, one of whose members has symptoms compatible with Hacré and is being treated at the Transito Hospital in San José del Boquerón and at the Dermatology Center of the Ministry of Health,” referring to Erasmo Cuellar, Lydia Cuellar’s ​​uncle, who is being treated for skin cancer.

Erasmo Cuellar lives in Wilmer, one of the areas with the highest levels of arsenic in the water, and the effects on his health are clear: His hands are calloused and the skin on his back is covered in white spots. His ears are also damaged.

“I drank this water from the age of four until I was about 20,” he says. “And my brothers and sisters drank it longer because they were older. There were eight of us, of whom only two are alive now. Seven of us got cancer and six died. I cope with this problem because I was struck by skin cancer.”

Marta Romero, Lydia Cuellar's mother, moved to San Jose del Boqueron several years ago. Now she is worried because she will have to return to the city of Santiago del Estero to be tested for arsenic.

“Lydia's father suffered from arsenic-related lymphatic cancer. It started here in his leg, near his groin, and then spread throughout his body,” she says.

Romero says doctors told her it was caused by arsenic poisoning. “That's when his oncologist told me I had to take all the children. I couldn't just fold my arms and watch the family die,” she says.

“I wanted to know if they could at least see what could be done. Losing someone you love and continuing to have the same problem with your children is very difficult.”

All tests carried out on the family were positive. “Everyone had it,” Romero says.

On Monday morning, Marcela throws her backpack on her back and heads to school. She can’t write yet, but she has already learned to read by writing out words. When she grows up, she wants to become a teacher.

Cuellar still doesn't take Marcela for regular medical checkups. “Sometimes when doctors come to school in Pirouai, I take the opportunity to have her examined by a pediatrician. I want someone to examine her for her bone pain,” she says.

Although her health concerns are serious, her family has another priority. In the morning, Cuellar prepares stewed chicken and pasta for lunch. This time they have enough food, but this is not always the case. “Sometimes,” she says, “there’s nothing to eat.”