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In Bangladesh, approximately half a million citizens are now drinking water safe from arsenic contamination. This is due to a pay-for-use service whereby over 36,430 water sources, such as handpumps, deep tubewells, and open wells, have been tested and colored in more than 24 of the Union Parishads that are participating in the Horizontal Learning Initiative, the peer-to-peer learning process among the Parishads. The Union Parishad is the lowest tier of local government in rural Bangladesh.

The initiative includes at least eight Union Parishads that are claiming to have achieved arsenic- safe water for all by ensuring that all water sources in their jurisdiction have been tested and marked. The political manifesto of the newly elected Awami League government carries a commitment to ensure arsenic-safe water for all by 2011 and the Ministry of Local Government has requested a review of the implementation of the National Policy for Arsenic Mitigation (NPAM).

WSP undertook a policy review of the NPAM in 2008 and is now supporting the government in the review of the Implementation Plan for Arsenic Mitigation (IPAM). The Union Parishad experience of ensuring an arsenic- safe jurisdiction wherein it is the various water providers that undertake pay-for-use testing of their sources has been a key strategic change recommended in the review of IPAM 2009.

Source: WSP ACCESS Newsletter, August 2009