AAN :::Asia Arsenic Network Bangladesh

Field Activities Report of AAN Jessore (Apr~May: 2005)

Reported by:

Md. Shamim Uddin
Arsenic Center Chief

Date : 15-Jun-2005

After finishing the JICA/AAN arsenic mitigation project in Sharsha Upazilla in December 2004, the field activities almost stopped for 3 months (Jan, Feb & Mar 2005). In April 2005, AAN started a new project titled "Community Development for Safe Water and Healthy Living in Rural Areas" (Panjia Project - I). The field activities during April and May 2005 are reported bellow:

Panjia Project

After the completion of Planning Meeting in AAN Jessore office on 1 st and 2 nd April, AAN carried out the following activities in Panjia union, Keshabpur Upazilla, Jessore district.

Orientation Meetings: Meetings with Union Chairman and Union members, Sub-Assistant Engineer were held on 3 rd April to inform about our project plan. We also visited project areas to observe the current situation and discuss with villagers. On April 5 th we met with Keshabpur UNO and informed him of our plan in Panjia. On 10 th April we visited a local NGO (SAMADHAN) to collect information on their WATSAN (Water Supply and Sanitation) project.

Union and Ward Arsenic Committees: Meetings were held to form ward arsenic committees on 10 th April for Ward Nos. 1 and 2, and on 13 th for Ward No. 9. The Union arsenic committee was formed on 17 th April. AAN explained them about the operational plan of Panjia project and discussed with them about arsenic mitigation.

Field Worker Training: At the recommendation by Union members, six field workers who had worked for the BAMWSP screening were selected. After compiling the training manual and tubewell/household screening formats, we conducted a training program on 19 th April 2005. The subject of the training was how to analyze arsenic concentration in water, tubewell and household format filling, arsenicosis patient identification and basic information on arsenic.

Field Worker Training Program in Panjia

Tubewell and Household Screening: Field workers carried out the tubewell and household screening program of Ward Nos.1, 2 & 9 of Panjia union from 20 th April to 19 th May 2005.AAN staff supervised their activities. The arsenic concentrations of 49(10%) tubewell waters were cross-checked by AAS in the AAN Laboratory. The location of tubewells and households were also collected by GPS. The screening result is shown in Annex-1.

AAN General Activities

Follow-up Survey: AAN has so far constructed 23 safe water options in Bangladesh excluding those installed in Sharsha during the JICA/AAN arsenic mitigation project. To know the current situation of those 23 options we carried out a follow-up survey and checked some important parameters of water quality on 11 th and 12 th April 2005. Among the 23 options 1 option was not checked since it is located in Comilla district far away from Jessore. Three options (Agorhati PSF, Chupria PSF #1 and Deuli PSF) were found inactive. The report is shown in Annex-2.

Agorhati PSF: It was inactive from March 2005 since the pond dried up. The PSF pond becomes dry and faces the same problem in the dry season every year. AAN sunk an emergency well near the filter site in April 2004 to supply water for the whole year. The emergency well water has to be filled into the filter by a bucket, and Users Committee does not like this cumbersome work. Previously they requested the emergency well to be connected directly to the PSF pump, but AAN did not agree at that time.

We met with the Users Committee on 9 th May 2005 and they requested again to join the emergency well with the PSF pump. They newly formed a female Users Committee named "Pani Committee" among the user members on 27 th May, and restarted the PSF by using emergency well water. Monthly user share collection system (5 Tk/M) was developed and sold a user card at 10 taka among the 28 households (now 45 household as of 24 th June). The "Pani Committee" selected one female caretaker and they are paying monthly 2 Tk/user family to the caretaker. They also decided without monthly payment water collections are prohibited among the villagers. After the rain when pond water has become available the source of water will be shifted from emergency well to pond. Now Agorhati PSF is working well.

Chupria PSF#1: It was inactive due to the PVC pipe leakage from October 2004. The committee was also almost inactive since the pond owner/caretaker moved to another place (due to some police case). We visited Chupria PSF on 9 th May and called a meeting among few female users and explained them about the PSF function to produce safe drinking water. The meeting decided that the Users Committee would collect 20% of the repair cost, then a female "Pani Committee" would be formed like in Agorhati, and a monthly user share collection system would be developed. Hopefully it will be restarted soon.

Deuli PSF: It was inactive from February 2005 due to the PVC pipe leakage. During the survey period, on 11 th April, AAN met with the caretaker and discussed how to restart the PSF. Caretaker promised to restart it within 15 days. They repaired the PVC pipe and washed the gravels. The Deuli PSF is working well now.

Construction of Mazdia PSF #3 : The construction work started on 21 st April at Ghospara and completed on 9 th May 2005. Gravel and sand filling was finished on 20 th May and drinking started after the opening ceremony on 4 th June 2005 after the checking of water quality.

Pond Excavation of Srimontokathi PSF #3: Srimontokathi PSF #3 was inactive from 9 th April 2005 since the PSF's pond dried up (pond depth was not sufficient).Pond re-excavation was carried out from 12 th to 30 th May to reserve enough water for the dry season. Villagers paid 3,000 taka as users share for the pond re-excavation. After the rain when water becomes available in the pond, it will be restarted.

Mazdia PSF #3

Construction of Marua GSF #3: The arsenic concentration of Marua AAN DTW water was around 0.1mg/L during the last 2 years. Many people including arsenicosis patients are using this water, since they know the arsenic concentration of this DTW is less than their own tube wells. To supply safe water for those people, AAN decided to construct a GSF-type filter to be attached to the DTW. The construction work of Marua GSF #3 thus started on 27 th May and will be completed by mid-June.

Marua Dug Wells #1 & 2 : The arsenic concentration of processed water of Marua DW #1 & 2 is above 0.05mg/L since they are using highly arsenic contaminated emergency well waters for a long period. AAN decided that Marua DW #1 & 2 should be repaired quickly and connected to the sand filter, and that the emergency well water should be used only in an emergency period when the DWs do not supply enough water. The repair work is currently going on.

JICA/AAN Options

The JICA/AAN arsenic mitigation project in Sharsha Upazilla was completed in December 2004. Some of the constructed alternative safe water devices were new in Bangladesh. To know the status of the constructed options, we carried out a follow-up survey of those options from 16 th April to 16 th May. The follow-up survey report is attached as Annex-3, and some options with problems are explained below:

Dugwell Sand Filters : The option Nos. 12, 17, 31, 37 and 50 were inactive from the very beginning after operation. The history of those inactive options is explained below with some suggestions:
	1) Option #12 (Kacharipara, Basatpur, Bagachra Union) : Initially a dugwell was constructed with a GSF-type filter (B-type), but it was canceled due to the low seepage water into the dugwell even in the rainy season. Then a deep tubewell was sunk here, but the DTW was not used by user families due to bad smell (organic matter). ⇒ The existing GSF-type filter can be used to remove the bad smell of DTW water by applying aeration and filtration method.
	2) Option #17 (Palpara, Samta, Bagachra Union) : The dugwell with a GSF-type filter (B-type) has been inactive due to low seepage water since May 2004. After that the Users Committee did not restart this option, and they are now using a DPHE deep tubewell installed near this option (40 meters away). ⇒ River water (around 40 meters away) can be used as raw water for the GSF-type filter during the dry season.
	3) Option #31 (Eastpara, Kathuria, Ulashi Union) : The dugwell with a sand filter (A-type) was inactive due to the low seepage water in the dry season (almost 6 months during the dry season). To supply water throughout the year, 3 emergency wells were sunk in different aquifers. However, the arsenic concentration of those emergency wells was very high (>0.2mg/L). The dugwell sand filter was canceled, and a deep tubewell was sunk here, but the DTW was inactive since it supplied little water and it was very hard to move the hand pump. ⇒ DTW sinking is the only solution in this village. Asako-san promised to sink another DTW here, so villagers are demanding a new DTW again.
	4) Option #37 (Mollapara, Panchvulat, Goga Union) : The dugwell with a sand filter (A-type) was inactive due to the low seepage water in the dry season and even in the rainy season. An emergency well was sunk here to supply water throughout the year, but the arsenic concentration is very high (0.255mg/L), and the water cannot be used as raw water for the dugwell sand filter for a long period. The dugwell was eventually canceled. ⇒ The Users Committee agreed to donate a pond, so a PSF will be constructed very soon by modifying the existing DW sand filter like option #23.
	5) Option #50 (School, Kadomtala, Putkhali Union) : The dugwell with a sand filter (A-type) was inactive due to bad smell (organic substance) of both raw and filtered water. Geologically the sandy layer is not suitable for dugwell here. Some organic matter may be present in this aquifer which is the source of the bad smell. ⇒ Re-excavation of the dugwell is necessary to pump out organic matter. Biological filtration can also be developed in the sand filter chamber applying aeration and letting the sunlight in to the sand filter.

Pond Sand Filter (PSF) : AAN constructed 13 PSFs in Sharsha Upazilla under the JICA/AAN project. Although all of the PSF ponds were re-excavated, 8 PSFs were already inactive since the ponds dried up and many others, too, are going to be inactive very soon. One PSF was not used either due to the PVC pipe leakage. It seems that in the dry season another alternative water source is needed in the areas where ponds dry up. The following are some suggestions in this regard:
• An emergency well can be sunk near the filter site. If arsenic concentration is <0.15mg/L, then its water can be used as raw water of the sand filter unit (emergency well water can be used in the dry season only).	Dried PSF Pond
• If the arsenic concentration of emergency well is >0.15mg/L to 0.3mg/L, then contaminated water first has to be filled into the pond. After aeration and sedimentation in the pond, the water can be used for the filter unit in the dry season.
Some other problems were also observed; (1) taps, PVC pipes, chlorination buckets and the roof of the filter unit were already broken at many option sites, and (2) the Users Committees are not collecting monthly user share for the maintenance of the PSF. Therefore, after the rain when the pond water has become available, it is necessary to conduct another follow-up survey and to restart those inactive options. At some places technical and financial support from AAN may be necessary to activate them. Otherwise many of them will be abandoned.
AAN decided to test arsenic concentrations of shallow tubewells near the PSFs in the dry pond areas to see if an emergency well is a feasible solution. The survey is going on and the result will be included in June activity report.

KRK Pipeline Water Supply System: The processed water of the KRK pipeline water supply system showed bad smell due to the decomposition of died algae in gravel chambers. The gravel chambers were washed by using up-flow pressured water.
KRK Pipeline Gravel Washing	Decomposed Organic Sludge in Gravel Chamber
But the washing was not successful and the processed water again showed bad smell. Finally, we took out all the gravels from the chambers, washed and dried them in the sun. The blackish gravels were separated from the good ones which were re-filled in the chambers.