Survey Findings:

Drinking Water TW

A total 16,472 drinking water tube wells were surveyed in Homna, Upazila. Of them 848(5%) TWs were found out of order on the day of survey i.e., 15,624 TWs water were tested (Annex- 1).

Upazila	Union	Drinking Water TW
		Painted Red <0.05 mg/L	Painted Green >0.05 mg/L	Out of Order	Total TW Surveyed
Homna	Asadpur	967	300	72	1339
	Chanderahar	1265	94	28	1387
	Chalivanga	351	190	47	588
	Chandanpur	408	448	41	897
	Dulalpur	1082	151	82	1315
	Ghagutia	673	739	86	1498
	Gharmura	588	306	72	966
	Homna	1282	527	103	1912
	Joypur	399	230	28	657
	Manikarchar	596	420	43	1059
	Mathavanga	727	457	63	1247
	Radhanagar	502	173	37	712
	Vashania	909	116	91	1116
	Nilakhi	926	798	55	1779
Total:		10,675 ( 68%)	4,949 (32%)	848 ( 5%)	16,472

Table – 1: Union wise screening Status of Drinking Water TWs of Homna Upazila

Homna Upazila
Out of 15,624 Drinking TWs tested in Homna 10,675 (68%) TWs water contains arsenic beyond acceptable limit and painted Red. Rest 4,949 (32%) TWs water were within permissible limit and painted Green. 5% TWs found not running on the day of survey (Table-1).

Irrigation Tube Well:
A total 3,383 irrigation TWs were surveyed in the Upazila out of which water from 3,148 TWs were tested and the other 235 TWs water could not tested as those were out of order at the time of survey (Annex-2).

(a) District	:	Comilla
(b) Population	:	233,805
(c) No. of Union	:	14
(d) No. of Ward	:	126
(e) No. of Village	:	207
(f) Percentage of Arsenic Contamination	:	69%
(g) Affected Population	:	161,325

• to determine the extent of arsenic contamination in all tube well water of the project area;
• to identify arsenic affected patients in the project area. The initial screening of the arsenic affected patients will be done by the ISDCM field workers and then it will be finalized by trained physicians of Upazila Health Complex;
• to make aware members of community of arsenic poisoning.

 

Upazila	Union	Irrigation TW
		Red	Green	Out of Order	Total TW Surveyed
Homna	Asadpur	156	21	37	214
	Chanderahar	158	142	7	307
	Chalivanga	29	2	0	31
	Chandanpur	18	15	26	59
	Dulalpur	196	106	64	366
	Ghagutia	127	83	5	215
	Gharmura	173	76	34	283
	Homna	296	53	32	381
	Joypur	141	14	0	155
	Manikarchar	90	76	7	173
	Mathavanga	364	121	14	499
	Radhanagar	229	40	8	277
	Vashania	146	0	1	147
	Nilakhi	210	66	0	276
Total:		2,333 ( 74%)	815 (26%)	235 ( 7%)	3,383

Table – 2: Screening Status of Irrigation TWs of Homna Upazilla) Homna Upazila

3,383 Irrigation TWs were surveyed in Homna Upazila out of which 235 i.e., 7% were out of order. Of the 3,148 TWs water tested 2,333 (74%) TWs water were found arsenic contains in the water more than 0.05 mg/L (Table-2).
Identification of Arsenicossis Patients:
Suspected arsenicossis patients were preliminary identified by ISDCM TW Testers and shared the list of patients with local DPHE and Health Officials in the Upazila. Later DCH / DGH confirmed 108 nos. arsenicossis patients in the Upazila.

Status of Village-wise Arsenic Contamination:
Out of total 207 villages surveyed in the Homna upazila in 54 villages there is no Green TW (Annex-4). There is no village in the Upazila without red marked TWs. (Table - 3)

Name of upazila	Number of Union	Number of Village	Number of Village with 100% Red TWs	Number of Village 80% to 99% Red TWs	Number of Village 1% to 79% Red TWs	Number of Village 0% Red TWs
Homna	14	207	54	61	92	0

Table – 3: Status of Village Wise Arsenic Contamination

Union Chairman & Ward Members Training:

As a part of community awareness, communication campaign and responsibility of arsenic mitigation process Union Chairmen and Ward Members were provided training at Union level in Homna The ISDCM Communication Officer and SAEs PHE acted as resource persons in the training programme. The training were given in number of batches. Their participation was spontaneous and integration was praiseworthy. In few occasion Upazila Nirbahi Officer inaugurated the training programme. All 14 Union Parishad Chairmen 104 out of 126 Male Ward Committee Members and 36 out of 42 Female Ward Committee Members attended the training. Because of training of the peoples representatives and intensive social mobilization activities community became aware about bad effect of drinking of arsenic contaminated water and its mitigation (Table-6).

SL NO	Name of Upazila	Training of Arsenic Mitigation Committee Members	Number of participants invited	Number of participants attended
1	Homna	Union Chairmen Ward Member Women Member	14 126 42	14 104 36

Table- 6: Union Chairmen and Ward Members Training
Sectoral Training on Communication:

Sectoral training was an important part on the use of communication materials for creating awareness of the people and the community. Considering the role and responsibility of the field workers some important allies were provided training. Accordingly field workers of Homna upazila were trained. Out of 145 Health and Family Planning workers 144 were trained, All 24 Agricultural Block Supervisors, 4 DPHE Mechanics, 16 NGO workers and 22 Head Teachers out of 24 & all 140 Imams were trained. This training has brought good changes in the community awareness through their motivational activities. The govt. field workers organized meeting with the community as part of their own activities, which helped motivate the community about arsenic problem. This training helped tremendously in community awareness and mobilization. ISDCM Social Mobilizers also attended those monthly meeting to observe the activities. Similarly other agencies like Imam, NGO workers and Head Teachers also played an important role in this regard (Table-7).

SL NO	Name of Upazila	Sectoral Training of different agencies	Target (Total No.)	Participants (Total No.)
1.	Homna	Health Deptt., Field Workers & Family Planning Workers AgricultureBlock Supervisor DPHE TW Mechanics NGO Workers Head Teacher Imam	145 24 4 16 24 140	144 24 4 16 22 140

Table – 7: Sectoral Training on Communication

Courtyard Meeting and Community Meeting by TW Testers:

During the project period courtyard meeting was an important task of ISDCM staff to motivate community regarding affect of arsenic contaminated water. Accordingly ISDCM Social Mobilizer were organized 1035 courtyards meeting in the Upazila. The ISDCM Social Mobilizer organized 5 courtyard meetings in each village. In each meeting 10/12 people including men, women and children attended. The main issue of discussion was to create awareness in the community about bad effect of arsenic contaminated water, drink water from green marked TW and not to drink and cook from red marked TW water, but can be used for other domestic purpose. Beside this, community were encouraged to use rain water, surface water after boiling and water from dug well as alternative source for surface water. ISDCM field testers those who recruited only for water test. They were also engaged for motivational purpose during testing of TW water and painting of TW spout. During field test 22,154 meetings were organized by TW testers, which also helped create awareness of the community (Table-8).

SL NO	Name of Upazila	Type of Communication Meeting	Target (Total No.)	No. of Meeting conducted	Participants (Total No)
1.	Homna	Courtyard Meeting Community Meeting by TW Testers	1035 -	1035 22154	9343 -

Table – 8 : Courtyard meeting and community meeting by TW Testers

Formation of Village Arsenic Mitigation Committees (VAMCs):

Under the workplan ISDCM had encouraged villagers to form VAMCs and successfully formed VAMCs in each village of Homna upazila comprising Teachers, Imams, Representatives from Young Groups and Local Elites. Average 7/11 member committees formed and 2/3 women were included in each VAMC (Table-9).

SL No	Name of Upazila	No. of VAMC Formed and 1st Meeting held	2nd VAMC Meeting held
			Number	Participants
1	Homna	207	21	147

Table – 9: Formation of Village Arsenic Mitigation Committees (VAMCs)

Communication Campaign by Stakeholders: The main reasons of providing training to different sectoral agencies to organize campaign during field workers’ routine meeting. During project period ISDCM has monitored and collected necessary statistical data about campaign organized by the field workers on arsenic problem. Health and Family Planning Department’s field workers organized 127 meetings, Agriculture Block Supervisors 98 meetings, DPHE Mechanics 15 meetings, Head Teacher 31 meetings, NGO workers 17 and Imams organized 61 meetings. This meetings brought enormous help know about arsenic problem in the village level by the community (Table-10).

Sl. No	Name of Upazila	Name of Agencies	No. Campaign during Monthly Meeting
1	Homna	Health Deptt., Field Workers & Family Planning Workers Agriculture Block Supervisor TW Mechanics Head Teachers NGO Workers Imams	127 98 15 31 17 61

Table – 10: Communication Campaign Organized by Different Sectoral Agencies

Rally:
Under the project activity there was provision to organize rally one in each union. Accordingly, 14 rally was organized at union level in the upazila. The govt. Primary schools were considered for venue at starting point of rally. The Head Teachers, Assistant Head Teachers, Local Elites, Students and Local NGOs attended in the rally. The students and other participants moved from village to village and chanted slogans with arsenic related message. In Homna Upazila 14 rallies were organized with 6251 participants. (Table-11).

Sl. No	Name of Upazila	Type of Project activity	Target of activity	No. of Rally completed	Type of Participants	Total attended
1	Homna	Union level Rally	14	14	Head Teachers, Local Elites, Students of Primary Schools, Community Grameen Bank, DPHE ASA and other NGOs	6251

Table – 11: Union level Rally

4.4 Miking:
For sensitizing the community on arsenic problem, miking in the villages of the Homna upazila was one of the important tasks. Miking has been organized in 207 villages by rickshaw playing cassette and chanting slogans. This was the very easy and acceptable communication media to communicate the messages to the community people (Table-12).

Sl. No	Name of Upazila	Name of activity	Total Target	Total Completed	Slogans
	Homna	Miking at village level	14 Unions 207 Villages	14 Unions 207 Villages	“Nirapad Pani Khabo, Miley Mishey Sabai Nebo” “Gram Bhaider Boley Jai Arsenic Mukta Pani Khai” “Dokander Bhaider Boley Jai Arsenic Mukta Pani Khai” “Hotel Malik Bhaider Boley Jai Arsenic Mukta Pani Khai” “Shabuj Mukho Koler Khabar Pani Miley Mishey Sabai Aani” “Lal Mukho Koler Pani Bholyo Jeno Naa Aani”

Table – 12: Miking at Village level in the Project Upazila

Billboard & Information Board:

Erection of Billboard in important places of Union and Upazila was another task under project action plan. All together 60 billboards erected with message and information on arsenic problem in the project upazila. The site list of the places for setting up the billboards were provided by Union Parishad Chairmen. The messages of billboard attracted the community people to know about arsenic contamination and its mitigation. In the Upazila, 17 information boards were installed in the office of the Union Parishad, UNO & SAE DPHE. The boards contain the information that will be needed in planning Safe Water Supply Project. upazila-wise information on water and arsenic status is shown in the Table -13.

Sl. No	Name of Upazila	Name of activity	Total Target	Total Completed	Remarks
1	Homna	Billboard erection Display of Information Board	60 17	60 17	Average 4/5 Billboards were erected in each Union. One in each Union Parishad, one in UNO office and the another in the SAE DPHE Office.

Table – 13: Billboard and Information Board

Popular Theatre and Kavi Gan:
The Popular theatre and folk song were another important task of creating awareness regarding arsenic contaminated water and its mitigation. The Popular theatre staged drama in Homna Upazila. Script of the theatre “Mayna Bibir Ghar Sangsar” was written by a well known professional writer (Annex-5). One Professional theatre team were hired. The hundreds of people from all walks of life including upazila officials, upazila Nirbahi Officer, local elites and common people attended and enjoyed the theatre. Similarly organizing folk song/kavi gan professional party was hired and they staged 10 sessions in important places of the union in the Upazila. Hundreds of people enjoyed the folk song/kavi gan. The theme of the song was arsenic problem its consequences and mitigation etc (Table-14).

Sl. No	Name of Upazila	Name of activity	Total Target	Total Completed	Remarks
1	Homna	Popular Theatre Folk Song/Kavi Gan	1 10	1 10	.

Table - 14: Popular Theatre and Kavi Gan

Debate on Arsenic:
3 topics of the debate were selected and distributed to the individual school on lottery basis and provided to each selected school for preparation (Annex 6). In final round the UNO was the Chief Guest with the presence of other upazila officials while the Principal of the local Colleges presided over the debate competitions. Trophies distributed to the Champions and Runner ups.

Certificates issued to all participants of the 8 schools of the upazila. The debate competitions were enjoyed by the community people and highly appreciated by all of them (Table - 15).

Sl. No	Name of Upazila	Name of activity	Total Target	Total Completed	Remarks
1	Homna	Debate in 8 Schools	8	8

Table – 15: Debate in 8 Schools of each Upazil

Village Water Resource Map (VWRM):

Preparation of Village Water Resource Map (VWRM) was one of the major tasks of the project activities. This was done to identify the red TW marked area and green TW. This was also helped identify and assess the requirement of hardware options. The map was prepared with the help of community people and leaders. The mappers drew the village water resource map of all the villages of Homna. The mappers visited each village along with social mobilizers and sit in the central point of the villages to drew the map. In this connection TW testers helped the mapper to drew the red marked area and green as well. The peoples of the villages were very helpful to prepare the map. Village water resource maps become good indicators to understand villages up to the arsenic situation of the villages. Of the total 207 villages, Village Water Resource Map of 119 80% tube wells arsenic contaminated were sent to UNICEF (Annex-7).

Conclusion & Recommendations:

Donor & Agreement:	UNICEF, UNICEF/NGO/2001/004
Area & Duration :	Homna Upazila of Comilla District. June 2001 – May 2002
Cost of Project :	BD, Tk. 3,811,610.00

Introduction : Groundwater is the main source of drinking water in Bangladesh and India. In the early ‘eighties, arsenic contamination of groundwater was detected in six eastern districts of West Bengal, India. The arsenic concentration in groundwater in these districts ranged from 0.06 mg/L to 1.86 mg/L, far in excess of WHO’s drinking water provisional guideline value of 0.01 mg/L. It is estimated that over 15,000 people are affected by arsenic and are suffering from ‘arsenical dermatosis’ (black spots, eruptions and even cracking of skin). Similar problems have also become apparent recently in Bangladesh in the areas bordering India, but their geographical extent is yet to be defined. Homna under Comilla district is a low laying area and was undertaken as project area. The Objectives: