In order to provide arsenic free safe drinking water to the community the Arsenic Research Group [BD] with the financial assistance of PRPA of Grameen Trust has completed the installation of two 'Sanitary Dug-wells' [a modified form of dug-well with additional filtration system] in the village Ichapur, Thana - Daudkandi, District - Comilla. Each dugwell is capable of supplying at least 1000 liters of safe drinking water per day.

Dug-well water has been observed to yield arsenic-safe water even in areas where tube-wells yield water having unacceptable level of arsenic. The 'Sanitary dug-well' is basically a combination of modified dug-well and a filtration unit. The  'Sanitary dug-well' was designed to prevent contamination of the well during the process of water collection by multiple users with their own buckets. Moreover, traditional designs allowed for intentional tampering of the well water by unscrupulous elements.  The sanitary dug-wells are required to be installed at least 50 feet away from animal housing and pit latrines.

The characteristics of the designed 'Sanitary Dug-well' are as follows:
a. The dug-well having an internal diameter of ~3.5 feet was installed digging down to a depth of ~30 feet.
b. Reinforced concrete rings of ~3.5 feet diameter and 2 feet height were used to form the wall of the well.
c. The mouth of the well was raised up to a height of  about 3 ft above ground level.
d. An impervious platform extending from the external surface of the well to a distance of ~2 feet has been included to reduce/eliminate the possibility of seepage of surface water into the well alongside the casing of the well.
e. A brick house allowing ventilation and preventing direct access to the well has been constructed.
f. The house was fitted with a roof to prevent contamination of the well by bird droppings and dust.
g. Water from the dug-well is pumped up by a tubewell installed into a filtration unit to remove turbidity and reduce microbial load (if any).
h. Beneficiaries can only collect water from the tap of the filtration unit. But in order to do so the beneficiary will have to pump same amounts of water into the filtration unit from the dug-well. Thus, a continuous supply of water is maintained in the filtration system.

For further details contact:
Coordinator
Arsenic Research Group [BD]
Phone: 882 99 80
Email: gem@global-bd.net