The Overlooked Health & Environmental Cost of Lead Acid Battery Powered Rickshaws in Chattogram, Bangladesh

Abstract

Battery powered rickshaws, also known as tomtoms or electric rickshaws are one of the examples of sustainable vehicles in Bangladesh. Even though these local vehicles are supposed to be the “greening solution” for our transportation system, these were banned by the government of Bangladesh due to the increased amount of accidents and lack or expertise of the rickshaw drivers in generating these rickshaws on the streets. In this research, we have studied the environmental and health impacts from a broader perspective. For our study, we have used two major methodologies which are qualitative in depth interviews and laboratory analysis. In our qualitative interviews, we have interviewed twenty five rickshaw drivers and twenty five local citizens and analysied the results using transcription and thematic analysis. The rest of the study was done using our major laboratory analysis called Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence Spectoscropy using ED-XRF analyser. Our key findings of the study are behavioral problems, health problems such as diarrhea, asthmatic symptoms, and behavioral problems among the children of the rickshaw pullers. This indicates the exposure of heavy metal contamination among them where our key metals were Pb, Cr and Cd. Our laboratory results confirmed that there were extreme pollution of the heavy metals. Among three of the major heavy metal concentration we found, all were present in extremely higher amount in the study zones that is the potential cause of these health and behavioral issues among the rickshaw drivers. Also, the overall concentrations stated that Cd was found in higher amount compared to lead. The serial we found in concentration goes as Cd>Pb>Cr. There were several other laboratory tests done to confirm the contamination of sulfuric acid in the study zones. Overall, further studies is needed to ensure the safety of these rickshaw drivers and their work environment.