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
Half a Million People in Bangladesh Access
Water Safe from Arsenic
