Social awareness building regarding adverse arsenic affect on the human body was an important thrust of the software project. During the software project community was mobilized to avoid drinking of red marked arsenic contaminated TW and screened all tubewells. The specific objectives of Phase-1, hardware options are as follows:

• To ascertain options that are acceptable to the community in the villages having 100% red marked TW;
• To give priority to having arsenicossis patients and ensure safe drinking water;
• To ensure community participation in sharing contribution money and undertaking operations and maintenance activities by themselves.

Main Feature of the Project:

1. Building social awareness of the community towards arsenic mitigation through safe drinking water;
2. Ensure arsenic free water to the community;
3. Installed hardware components in the priority villages;
4. Ensure sustainable operation and maintenance of hardware options that provided to the community through training and follow-up;
5. Integrate UNICEF – DPHE and community to get rid of the hazardous problem; and
6. To make available arsenic free water for all the affected villages in the Upazila.

Specific activities to be performed as per agreement: In implementation of the 1 st phase hardware project the following activities were accomplished:

1. Provide arsenic free safe water options to the community of the priority villages;
2. Raising community awareness for hardware options;
3. Provide training to the labour and masons for dugwell and RWH construction for skill development;
4. Choose options by the community;
5. Organize mass meeting at the Upazila level and miking in the villages;
6. Selection of appropriate options site considering 100% affected villages as first priority so that maximum people can be benefited; and
7. Provide training to the caretakers for O&M and collect contribution money monthly basis for the maintenance purpose.

Operation and Maintenance: For O&M a 7-members committee was formed. The committee was headed by a Convenor and also there was a Cashier to keep the accounts. A register book was given to keep all the records. Though there was a provision of opening bank account for O&M. But it was not actually happened because of the bank situated distant from the beneficiaries and bank management unwilling to provide support in operating the accounts.

Water quality monitoring

ISDCM Field worker has carried out field test of water for all the options to measure the water quality by field Test kit for Arsenic, Chloride and Iron. The test has been done for 40 new constructed dug wells, 05 renovation of old dug wells and 30 Rain Water Harvesting. The result shows that arsenic do not contain in any dug well. The iron and chloride were found within acceptable limit.  

Caretakers' Training: Formation of committee, Selection of site and selection of caretaker

ISDCM Field workers organize community meeting, mobilize people and motivated people about the affect of arsenic and create awareness to get rid of threat. The ISDCM Social Mobilizer randomly selected site irrespective of willing/un willing, rich and poor needing the service in any arsenic affected spot/area by door to door contact and bring them on board.. The site was reviewed as per need assessment. After preliminary selection of site Social Mobilizer convened meeting of beneficiaries and reviewed the requirement, criteria and the community interest and contribution. The site selection process was done in the priority villages. The site selection was done who meet the requirement and agreed to mobilize involve community to make the option a sustainable one. After selection of site, ISDCM sent it to DPHE for provisional approval by Union Chairmen. After provisional approval ISDCM convened a meeting with the beneficiaries and formed 7 members committee. The committee members were briefed their role and responsibilities in long term perspective and to make this a sustainable one. the committee was headed by a Convenor and a Cashier. After final selection ISDCM sit with the committee members and select the Caretaker of the Option who agreed to take care for smooth running of the option. In that meeting the member of the committee prepare a list of the users and contribution money UM be given by the individual member. The committee has taken the responsibility of collection of contribution money.  

On receipt of provisional approval from Upazila committee ISDCM field staff convened meeting with the beneficiaries of options and formed 7-members committee to each dug well and selected caretakers. During selection of site ISDCM attached importance for community participation. At first ISDCM prepared list of willing as well as unwilling families, rich and poor, needing the service in any arsenic affected spot area by door to door contact and bring on board. After having enlisted all the prospective beneficiary families ISDCM put all efforts to keep the group together till successfully commissioning and formally handing over to the committee. Before formally handing over the options caretakers training was conducted in 4 groups for 75 caretakers. The duration of the training was half a day. The training was attended by the SAE and Mechanics as resource persons. On completion of the training each caretaker was given one 14” pipe wrench and one 12” slide wrench to each caretaker of dugwell. A 10” slide wrench was given to each RWH caretaker. During site selection Village Water Resource Map was consulted to locate the dug wells in the dense areas in order to increase the service coverage.

Activities (other than water options related planned and achieved)

IISDCM organized meetings for handing over of options to the community and also completed many activities other than water options are as follows:

Activities	Target	Achievements
Mass Meeting at the Upazila level	10	10
Prepare caretakers manual for water options maintenance guidelines	94	94
Training of Masons: (Dugwell and Rainwater Harvester)	35	35
Training of Caretakers	120	120
Supply of Tools: •  Dugwell New •  Dugwell Renovation •  Rain Water Harvester	40 05 30	40 05 30
Lab Test for water of different options	08	30
Prepare Village Resource Map	127	127

Original and revised targets of water options and actual achievement:

SL	Item	Target		Actual Achievment	Unit Cost borne by UNICEF proportion (Tk.)
		Actual	Revised
1	Ring Well	40	40	40	28,000
2	Ring Well Renovation	5	5	5	12,000
3	RWH	30	30	30	4,400
4	SST/VSST	10	0	0	0
5	Pipeline	01	01	01	1,440,000

 

 

 

 

 

Specific improvement achieved in respect of coverage – village-wise (coverage at the time tubewell survey and the coverage at the end of this project together with the water options installed by DPHE and others):

ISDCM constructed 40 new Ring Wells, 30 Rain Water Harvesters and Renovated 05 Derelict Dug Wells in 41, maximum affected villages covering 7,650 population which is 3% of the total population.

Constraints / bottlenecks:

• Transportation problems in carrying materials to the site because of difficult communication. It takes long time to travel and carrying materials;
• Labour is very costly and sufficient skill labour is not available;
• Due to alluvial soil sand boiling in the dug well occurred frequently; and
• The most of the hardware materials is not available at the Upazila level and needs to bring from outside Upazila and even from outside the district.

Impact:

• The people are aware of adverse affect of arsenic contamination;
• The people are trying to collect arsenic free water from far distant places;
• Arsenicossis patients are getting medical treatment due to identification and diagnosis of the disease;
• The chances of new attack from arsenic contamination has greatly reduced;
• A great demand for low cost and affordable water options has been created; and
• Employment opportunities for local people particularly fabricating, wielding, construction mason and labour has been created.  

Recommendations / Suggestions

• It is recommended that all the green TWs to be surveyed to determine the present status of arsenic level;
• Arrangement should be made to check the level of arsenic to those TWs which are resunk and newly installed;
• Recommended that more time to be given for arsenic mitigation. Committees already formed at different level to take up the overall functions as per terms of references laid down in the circular of the cabinet division and forward and backward linkage with the committees at different levels which are yet to be established;
• Recommended that social mobilization activities be monitored and followed up to sustain community efforts;
• Recommended that identification of arsenicossis patients should be continued and the patients are given regular counseling; and
• These safe water options should be provided in the affected areas in adequate number to keep the momentum generated through motivation and communication campaign.

BANCHARAMPUR

Introduction Bancharampur Upazila is situated in Brahmanbaria district. It is a low lying and surrounded by haor, baor, river, canal and big water bodies. TW screening was completed before 1st phase hardware options construction started in Bancharampur Upazila. A total of 18,711 drinking TWs were surveyed out of which 71% TWs were found arsenic in the water beyond acceptable range and similarly 1717 nos. of irrigation TWs surveyed out of which 92% was not acceptable. The main objective of this phase was to address 100% affected villages, having arsenicossis patients and community participation to ensure the project is sustainable one. Under 3 rd phase of the project 75 new dug wells, 17 old renovation dug wells, and 5 RWH were constructed. ISDCM able to collect 10% contribution money from the beneficiaries against 20% as set by the govt. The rest contribution money was borne by ISDCM.

General information
Bancharampur upazila is situated in Brahmanbaria district. It is a low-lying area and surrounded by haor, baor, river, canal and big water bodies. Road communication is very poor and difficult to travel place to place. The upazila remains under water 6 to 7 months of the year. During rainy season country boat / trawler is the main source of the transportation. The people of the upazila mostly depend on cultivation, fishing and small business. Total number of the population of the upazila is 281,000. There are 13 unions with 118 villages. The percentage of arsenic contamination of drinking TW is 71% and affected population is 199,510.

Objective: (Same as Damurhuda)  

Main Feature of the Project: (Same as Damurhuda)

Specific activities to be performed as per agreement: (Same as Damurhuda)

Activities:

IISDCM organized meetings for handing over of options to the community and also completed many activities other than water options are as follows:

Activities	Target	Achievements
Mass Meeting at the Upazila level	1	1
Prepare caretakers manual for water options maintenance guidelines	10	10
Training of Masons: (Dugwell and Rainwater Harvester)	45	45
Training of Caretakers	189	189
Supply of Tools: •  Dugwell New •  Dugwell Renovation •  Rain Water Harvester	75 x 2 = 150 17 x 2 = 34 5x 1 = 5	150 34 5
Prepare Village Resource Map	121	121

Original and revised targets of water options and actual achievement:

SL	Item	Target		Actual Achievment	Unit Cost borne by UNICEF proportion (Tk.)
		Actual	Revised
1	SST	10	-	-	-
2	Dug well	75	75	75	28,000
3	Ring Well Renovation	5	17	17	12,000
4	RWH	50	5	5	4,080

 

 

 

 

 

Specific improvement achieved in respect of coverage – village-wise (coverage at the time tube well survey and the coverage at the end of this project together with the water options installed by DPHE and others):

ISDCM constructed 75 new Ring Wells, 5 Rain Water Harvesters and Renovated 17 Derelict Dug Wells in 21, 100% affected villages covering 8,310 population which is 14% of the total population of those villages .

Impact

• The people are aware of adverse affect of arsenic contamination;
• The people are trying to collect arsenic free water from far distant places;
• Arsenicossis patients are getting medical treatment due to identification and diagnosis of the disease;
• The chances of new attack from arsenic contamination has greatly reduced;
• A great demand for low cost and affordable water options has been created; and
• Employment opportunities for local people particularly fabricating, wielding, construction mason and labour has been created.

Recommendations / Suggestions

• It is recommended that all the green TWs to be surveyed to determine the present status of arsenic level;
• Arrangement should be made to check the level of arsenic to those TWs which are resunk and newly installed;
• Recommended that more time to be given for arsenic mitigation. Committees already formed at different level to take up the overall functions as per terms of references laid down in the circular of the cabinet division and forward and backward linkage with the committees at different levels which are yet to be established;
• Recommended that social mobilization activities be monitored and followed up to sustain community efforts;
• Recommended that identification of arsenicossis patients should be continued and the patients are given regular counseling; and
• These safe water options should be provided in the affected areas in adequate number to keep the momentum generated through motivation and communication campaign.

HOMNA 

Introduction:Homna Upazila is situated in Comilla district. It is a low lying and surrounded by haor, baor, river, canal and big water bodies. TW screening was completed before 1st phase hardware options construction started in Bancharampur Upazila. A total of 16,472 drinking TWs were surveyed out of which 68% TWs were found arsenic in the water beyond acceptable range and similarly 3383 nos. of irrigation TWs surveyed out of which 74% was not acceptable. The main objective of this phase was to address 100% affected villages, having arsenicossis patients and community participation to ensure the project is sustainable one. Under 2 nd . phase of the project 75 new dug wells, 07 old renovation dug wells, and 45 RWH were constructed. ISDCM able to collect 9.64% contribution money from the beneficiaries against 20% as set by the govt. The rest 10.36% contribution money was borne by ISDCM.

General Infomation:

Homna upazila is situated in Comilla district. It is a low-lying area and surrounded by haor, baor, river, canal and big water bodies. Road communication is very poor and difficult to travel place to place. The upazila remains under water 6 to 7 months of the year. During rainy season country boat / trawler is the main source of the transportation. The people of the upazila mostly depend on cultivation, fishing and small business. Total number of the population of the upazila is 233,805. There are 14 unions with 207 villages. The percentage of arsenic contamination of drinking TW is 68% and affected population is 161,305.

Objective: (Same as Damurhuda)

Main Feature of the Project: (Same as Damurhuda)

Specific activities to be performed as per agreement: (Same as Damurhuda)

Operation and Maintenance: For O&M a 7-members committee was formed. The committee was headed by a Convenor and also there was a Cashier to keep the accounts. A register book was given to keep all the records. Though there was a provision of opening bank account for O&M. But it was not actually happened because of the bank situated distant from the beneficiaries and bank management unwilling to provide support in operating the accounts.

Water quality monitoring

ISDCM Field worker has carried out field test of water for all the options to measure the water quality by field Test kit for Arsenic, Chloride and Iron. The test has been done for 75 new constructed dug wells, 07 renovation of old dug wells and 45 Rain Water Harvesting. The result shows that arsenic do not contain in any dug well. The iron and chloride were found within acceptable limit.  

Caretakers' Training: Formation of committee, Selection of site and selection of caretaker

ISDCM Field workers organize community meeting, mobilize people and motivated people about the affect of arsenic and create awareness to get rid of threat. The ISDCM Social Mobilizer randomly selected site irrespective of willing/un willing, rich and poor needing the service in any arsenic affected spot/area by door to door contact and bring them on board.. The site was reviewed as per need assessment. After preliminary selection of site Social Mobilizer convened meeting of beneficiaries and reviewed the requirement, criteria and the community interest and contribution. The site selection process was done in the priority villages. The site selection was done who meet the requirement and agreed to mobilize involve community to make the option a sustainable one. After selection of site, ISDCM sent it to DPHE for provisional approval by Union Chairmen. After provisional approval ISDCM convened a meeting with the beneficiaries and formed 7 members committee. The committee members were briefed their role and responsibilities in long term perspective and to make this a sustainable one. the committee was headed by a Convenor and a Cashier. After final selection ISDCM sit with the committee members and select the Caretaker of the Option who agreed to take care for smooth running of the option. In that meeting the member of the committee prepare a list of the users and contribution money UM be given by the individual member. The committee has taken the responsibility of collection of contribution money.  

On receipt of provisional approval from Upazila committee ISDCM field staff convened meeting with the beneficiaries of options and formed 7-members committee to each dug well and selected caretakers. During selection of site ISDCM attached importance for community participation. At first ISDCM prepared list of willing as well as unwilling families, rich and poor, needing the service in any arsenic affected spot area by door to door contact and bring on board. After having enlisted all the prospective beneficiary families ISDCM put all efforts to keep the group together till successfully commissioning and formally handing over to the committee. Before formally handing over the options caretakers training was conducted in 4 groups for 127 caretakers. The duration of the training was half a day. The training was attended by the SAE and Mechanics as resource persons. On completion of the training each caretaker was given one 12” pipe wrench and one 12” slide wrench to each caretaker of dugwell. A 10” slide wrench was given to each RWH caretaker. During site selection Village Water Resource Map was consulted to locate the dug wells in the dense areas in order to increase the service coverage.

Activities: IISDCM organized meetings for handing over of options to the community and also completed many activities other than water options are as follows:

Activities	Target	Achievements
Mass Meeting at the Upazila level	10	1
Prepare caretakers manual for water options maintenance guidelines	94	94
Training of Masons: (Dugwell and Rainwater Harvester)	35	35
Training of Caretakers	168	168
Prepare Village Resource Map	207	207

Original and revised targets of water options and actual achievement:

SL	Item	Target		Actual Achievment	Unit Cost borne by UNICEF proportion (Tk.)
		Actual	Revised
1	Ring Well	75	75	75	28,000
2	Ring Well Renovation	5	07	07	12,000
3	RWH	50	45	45	4,400
4	SST/VSST	10	nil	0	0

 

 

 

 

 

Specific improvement achieved in respect of coverage – village-wise (coverage at the time tubewell survey and the coverage at the end of this project together with the water options installed by DPHE and others):

ISDCM constructed 75 new Ring Wells, 45 Rain Water Harvesters and Renovated 07 Derelict Dug Wells in 41, 100% affected villages covering 7,650 population which is 14% of the total population of those villages .

Strength and Weaknesses

Recommendations / Suggestions

Donor & Agreement:	UNICEF, UNICEF/PCA/006
Area & Duration :	Homna, Bancharampur and Damurhuda Upazila. July 2003 – January 2004
Cost of Project :	BD. Tk.9,096,331.00

DAMURHUDA

Introduction : In the awake of high arsenic prevalence in the drinking TW water Govt. has taken Community Based Safe Water Supply and Arsenic Mitigation Projects in highly affected upazilas. As per agreement with UNICEF ISDCM has implemented Ist phase hardware options project in Damurhuda upazila having 26% arsenic prevalence rate. The project was undertaken to ensure arsenic free water for the community. This is installation of Hardware phase – II in this upzila besides the DPHE normal Programme. General information: amurhuda Upazila is situated in Chuadanga district. It is high land area having maximum density of population. The total number of Villages in the Upazila is 127 having population 333,549. There are 7 Unions and 1 Municipality in the Upazila. The road communication within and outside the Upazila is good and 26 kilometers border area with India . The Upazila has its minimum rainfall. The people of the Upazila professionally mostly depend on agriculture, fishing and small business. The percentage of arsenic contamination is 26% and total number of affected population is 86,723.The people mainly depend on shallow TW for drinking purpose and there are minimum number of ponds / tanks in the upazila. There is one river named Mathabhanga The Objectives: