The supply of drinking water contaminated with arsenic could lead to a major health problem in Bangladesh. Babar Kabir, a World Bank water expert says that people are reverting to the use surface water thus being exposed to diarrhoea. The figures available indicate that every year, diarrhoea claims about thousand lives in Bangladesh. More than 100 tubewells have been sealed by the authorities in the country after tests showed arsenic concen-tration above the safety level of about 0.05 microgram per litre.