The Daily Star  February 18, 2004  


                        Plan for piped arsenic free water by June
                        City Correspondent

                        The Bangladesh Arsenic Water Mitigation Supply (BAMWSP) 
                        and World Bank plan to introduce piped water system in 
                        rural areas in the country to ensure arsenic free water. 

                        The Project Director of BAMWSP Md. Khoda Bux said 
                        initially six villages in different geographical 
                        locations will get water supply under a pilot project by 
                        June this year to test the actual costs, speed of 
                        implementation and technical feasibility. 
                        "Initiatives will be taken to implement piped water in 
                        more areas if the pilot projects shows expected result," 
                        he said.
                        BMWSP, a project under Department of Public Health 
                        Engineering (DPHE) conducted its survey in 189 upazilas 
                        since it started working in 1998. The survey said that 
                        about 0.77 million of 2.54 million tubewells in the 
                        upazilas were contaminated with arsenic.
                        It also mentioned that about 0.33 million tubewells were 
                        supplying arsenic contaminated water in the other 80 
                        upazilas screened by other survey groups.
                        "According to World Health Organisation, a human body 
                        can tolerate only 10 mcg of arsenic in a litre of water 
                        but given Bangladesh's context we consider 50 mcg of 
                        arsenic as tolerable level," the project director said.
                        He said earlier BAMWSP used to offer software support 
                        like screening of houses and tubewells and making people 
                        aware of the arsenic.
                        "But now we are trying for real mitigation work by 
                        supplying them safe water," he said.
                        The project authority believe that the new piped water 
                        system will be better than providing rural people with 
                        tubewells as it had done earlier. It said piped water 
                        system will have power operated pump houses supplying 
                        running water to every household connected to it.
                        "It would be less expensive than setting up deep 
                        tubewells," said the project director. "Initially it may 
                        cost about Tk 30 to 50 lakh to set up a pump house but 
                        overall it will cost less than providing tubewells to 
                        individuals," he added.
                        Moreover, it would make water treatment easier if there 
                        is single water supply point. Consumers would not need 
                        to purify water if it is purified before supplying."
                        BAMWSP also plans to initially lease out such power 
                        pumps non government organisations for 15 years. 
                        Afterwards it would be handed over to local people for 
                        operation.