Drinking Water TW

A total 18,711 drinking water tube wells were surveyed in Bancharampur Upazila. Of them 607 TWs were found out of order on the day of survey i.e., 18,104 TWs water were tested.

Table: Union wise screening Status of Drinking Water TWs

Bancharampur Upazila

In Bancharampur 18,711 drinking TWs were surveyed of which 607 i.e., 3% TWs were out of order on the day of survey. 12,921 (71%) TWs were painted Red and 29% i.e., 5,183 TWs were painted Green.  

Irrigation Tube Well: A total 16,310 irrigation TWs were surveyed in the 13 union out of which water from 14,925 TWs were tested and the other 1,385 TWs water could not tested as those were out of order at the time of survey .

The general objectives of the project are to assess the extent of arsenic contamination in all tube wells water of the project area along with assessing the technical viability as well as the effectiveness of different alternate safe water options and to figure out the community acceptance of different options. The specific objectives of the project are:

• 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.

Basic Statistics of Project Area:

Bancharampur Upazila

Table : Union wise screening Status of Irrigation TWs

Bancharampur Upazila

In Bancharampur 1,564 (92%) Irrigation TWs water contain arsenic beyond acceptable limit and painted Red and in 141 (8%) TWs within acceptable limit. 12 (1%) TWs found out of order on the day of survey of the total 1,717 Irrigation TWs surveyed.

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. Later DCH / DGH confirmed 71 arsenicossis patients in the Upazila. Confirmed list of patients is attached . 80 Salicylic Acid Ointment was provided to the patients, received from UNICEF. Those were used to soften the hardening of the affected parts of the palms and the foot soles of the patients.

Status of Village-wise Arsenic Contamination

Table – : 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 Brancharampur upazila. The ISDCM Communication Officer and SAE, DPHE 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 13 Union Parishad Chairmen , 112 out of 117 Ward Committee Members and 30 out of 39 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: 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 Bancharampur were trained. Out of 128 Health and Family Planning workers 125 were trained, All 25 Agricultural Block Supervisors, ,all 4 DPHE Mechanics, 9 NGO workers and 22 Head Teachers out of 24 & 116Imams out of 117 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: Sect oral Training on Communication  

Courtyard Meeting and Community Meeting by TW Testers:  

Table : 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 the 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: 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 154 meetings, Agriculture Block Supervisors 115 meetings, DPHE Mechanics 27 meetings, Head Teacher 14 meetings, NGO workers 27 and Imams organized 38 meetings. This meetings brought enormous help know about arsenic problem in the village level by the community.

Table: Communication Campaign Organized by Different Sectoral Agencies

Rally:

Table : Union level Rally

Miking:

For sensitizing the community on arsenic problem, miking in the villages of the upazila was one of the important tasks. Miking has been organized in 118 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) .

Table: Miking at Village level in 3 Project Upazilas

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 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, 15 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 .

Table: 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 the Upazila. Script of the theatre “Mayna Bibir Ghar Sangsar” was written by a well known professional writer . One Professional theatre team were hired. 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: Popular Theatre and Kavi Gan

Conclusion & Recommendations:

1. The TWs which were tested on the date of survey and painted red or green should be re-tested every after six months continually;
2. DPHE should have a cell within their local office for testing and painting of the new tube well installed for maintaining keeping up-to-date record of the level of arsenic contamination;
3. ISDCM feels that there should be a cadre of women social mobilizers and advocacy activities properly trained/oriented to keep up the momentum. This may be a part of human resource development. It is the demand of time and subject commensurate with the trend of the new millenium;
4. All sectoral agencies and stakeholders should built good working relationship and emphasize due importance to the arsenic mitigation project;
5. Not all villages are affected equally and hence there is a need for prioritization in information. For this we need to know which villages are most affected;
6. A national standard and quality field test kit should be developed to detect arsenic contamination more accurately;
7. The identification of arsenic contamination should be followed immediately by providing appropriate safe water options to keep the momentum generated through motivation and communication campaign.