Abstract

This paper discusses the issue of domestic water in rural Bangladesh, drawing on detailed field research in the Tangail area. This field research has demonstrated that the vast majority of the rural population obtain their drinking and cooking water from privately-owned handpumps, with field and laboratory tests demonstrating that this water is generally clean and safe when pumped out of the ground. The fieldwork has also shown that this has made little difference to the incidence of water borne diseases in Bangladesh, with surveys and focus group discussions reporting no improvements to health since the widespread arrival of handpumps. There are two main reasons for this: bathing and other domestic activities take place in ponds, pagars and other open water bodies that are seriously polluted and infection of water in storage containers after it is drawn from the handpumps. These issues are not recognised in policies and programmes that concentrate on supply-driven approaches and involve complex issues of social relations, customs, health and hygiene knowledge and education and access rights.