The Daily Star, March 4, 2002

Simple, cost-effective method to solve arsenic problem



Staff Correspondent


Since detection of arsenic in drinking water there have been many efforts to develop 
cheap and simple technologies to remove arsenic but their cost is not within the 
reach of the poor villagers, many experts feel.

In view of this, experts have thought of developing simple and cost-effective method 
to solve this problem. 

Experience says that since many villagers still do not want to kick the habit of 
using waters of tubewells, but sinking new tubewells pose great risks of health 
hazard since in many areas it was found out that uncontaminated tubewells eventually 
pumped out contaminated water from the same level where it was thought to be safe.


So, experts dealing with drinking water have attached tubewells to pump out water.


After tubewell technology, dug wells in general have long been forgotten and d
omestic use of drinking water from the dug wells is almost lost from memory.


To put such conventional technology back in use, a number of small non-governmental 
organisations (NGOs) have successfully demonstrated that people are ready to accept 
the dug wells while tubewells are still there.


The technology is simple and hardly cost any additional money. 

NGO Forum for Drinking Water and Sanitation through their partner NGOs have 
engineered the technology combining tubewells with dug wells.


"It's easy and simple. All we did is dig in about 70 feet deep wells and sealed it 
with concrete to keep it away from external contamination. A hand pump was attached 
to the well to pump out fresh water while an exhaust pipe linked to the well lets out 
all the gases," said an engineer working for NGO Forum.


He said, "We tested water samples in our laboratory for any micro-organisms and 
found zero levels of the micro-organisms. There is no arsenic in dug wells and it 
is safe to drink."

Grameen Sheba Sangtha (GSS), a local NGO, has installed such dug well with the help 
of NGO Forum at the house of Shamsuddin Ahmed in Belita village of Manikganj.


"We have been using the well for the last five months and found it very convenient," 
said Shamsuddin.


He also said, "It cost not much. In addition to cost of a tubewell we paid for 
digging of the well which is very small amount, but this tubewell is 80 - 20 share, 
which means we paid 20 per cent of the total cost while GSS paid the rest."

Such tubewells have been installed on pilot basis as part of action research programme 
in a number of houses where arsenic have been found more than the permissible level in 
their tubewells. 

Out of 303 houses in Belita village about 40 per cent tubewells have been found to be 
contaminated with arsenic. "We hope that all the houses with contaminated tubewells in 
this village will install such technology," said an official of GSS.


"People here have widely accepted the technology. There is no doubt about it. But we are 
now working on how to further bring down the costs," said the official.