HEALTH EFFECTS OF WATER SALINITY IN COASTAL REGIONS: A STUDY FROM SOUTH-WESTERN BANGLADESH

This study attempts to investigate the health effects of drinking saline water and identify factors associated with illness of the people at two villages named Kanchan Nagar and Chandipur at Dumuria upazila in Khulna district of Bangladesh during the period of February, 2017 to April, 2017. This empirical research work was carried out through questionnaire survey from 284 respondents who reported of drinking saline water regularly or irregularly from different sources. Findings reveal that majority of the respondents (83.1%) would drink saline water on a regular basis as they consumed around four liter of saline water on an average each day. Many of the respondents (66.2%) suffered from illness once in several months and gastrointestinal problems were found to be the most common among the respondents (62.7%). Besides, frequency of drinking saline water, age, and distance covered for fetching water were found to be the potential factors associated with illness of the respondents.