Abstract
Abstract
Background
In coastal Bangladesh, saline drinking water has been linked to raised blood pressure. The 2025 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) measured electrical conductivity (EC), a salinity indicator, in source water, but its report gave no population counts or district estimates.
Objectives
To estimate how many people live in households whose tested source has high EC, and to describe patterns by place, household characteristics, source type and arsenic.
Methods
EC was measured in source water of 6,040 households in 64 districts, February to June. In 14.5% of households the tested source was not the main drinking-water source. Primary outcomes were EC above 1,500 and 3,000 µS/cm, survey risk classes that are not health-based standards. Estimates were survey weighted; comparisons were observational.
Results
EC exceeded 1,500 µS/cm in 5.3% of households (95% CI 4.7 to 5.9), about 9.0 million people, including 1.8 million above 3,000 µS/cm. Coastal-zone districts held 26% of households but 70% of those above 1,500 µS/cm. Shares varied little by wealth or in households with young children or pregnant women. Nationally, deep tube wells more often had high EC because most are coastal. In the coastal zone, deep and shallow wells had similar shares (16.1% and 17.9%). After district adjustment, EC was about 18% lower in deep wells (geometric mean ratio 0.82, 0.73 to 0.92). Within upazilas (restricted sample) it was 0.93 (0.80 to 1.07). Arsenic above 10 ppb was more common where EC was high, but this link weakened after district adjustment.
Conclusions
Millions of people live in households whose tested source has high EC, mostly in coastal and south-central districts. Deep wells had modestly lower EC after geographic adjustment, but the difference shrank within upazilas and depended on the handling of implausibly low readings. The findings support measuring EC alongside arsenic, with documented meter calibration.