Researchers from the University of New Hampshire and Columbia University are recruiting families with students in Fayette and Maranacook-area schools to participate in a study to determine the effect of arsenic in water on children's intelligence.

Altogether, the researchers are seeking 500 Maine and New Hampshire students in grades 3 through 5.

The Maranacook and Fayette schools are the only Maine districts from which the researchers are recruiting participants. The study, which began in 2000 in Bangladesh and later moved to the United States, concentrates on Maine and New Hampshire children because private wells in the states are at risk for natural arsenic contamination.

Researchers will send information home about participation in the study with students during the first weeks of the school year.