Water project to cure arsenic, salinity woes
Biggest scheme of its kind will help millions of people
Two women collect drinking water from a well
- ucanews.com reporter, Dhaka
- Bangladesh
- June 21, 2012
The government has approved a special development project that aims to pipe a constant supply of clean drinking water to millions of villagers in rural areas prone to arsenic and salinity problems.
The 6.82 billion taka (US$ 8.33 million) Bangladesh Rural Water Supply and Sanitation project got the go ahead on Tuesday at a meeting of the Executive Committee of National Economic Committee chaired by Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina.
The project also includes the construction of 300,000 low-cost toilets for poor villagers.
The World Bank is providing the bulk of the financing with an estimated 5.55 billion taka (US$ 6.78 million), while the rest will come from local sources.
To be completed by 2016 the project will be the biggest mass water supply and sanitation scheme in the country’s history.
An estimated 77 million people, about half the country’s population, have been exposed to arsenic contamination in ground water which prompted the World Health Organization in the 1990’s to call it “the largest mass poisoning of a
population in history.”
Arsenic is a natural chemical element found in groundwater that becomes harmful if it exceeds 0.05 milligram per liter.
“Water is vital for life and the supply of clean drinking water has been a longstanding demand from people in arsenic and salinity prone areas.
We are happy the World Bank is financing a project that will supply clean water to 35.5 million people through the pipeline,” said MA Qaium, an executive engineer from the Public Health Engineering Department.
Qaium said the project will cover 33 civil districts in 7 administrative divisions that have acute arsenic contamination and also coastal regions that suffer serious salinity problems.
Related reports
Poisoned water haunts millions
Bangladeshis battle arsenic contamination
The 6.82 billion taka (US$ 8.33 million) Bangladesh Rural Water Supply and Sanitation project got the go ahead on Tuesday at a meeting of the Executive Committee of National Economic Committee chaired by Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina.
The project also includes the construction of 300,000 low-cost toilets for poor villagers.
The World Bank is providing the bulk of the financing with an estimated 5.55 billion taka (US$ 6.78 million), while the rest will come from local sources.
To be completed by 2016 the project will be the biggest mass water supply and sanitation scheme in the country’s history.
An estimated 77 million people, about half the country’s population, have been exposed to arsenic contamination in ground water which prompted the World Health Organization in the 1990’s to call it “the largest mass poisoning of a
population in history.”
Arsenic is a natural chemical element found in groundwater that becomes harmful if it exceeds 0.05 milligram per liter.
“Water is vital for life and the supply of clean drinking water has been a longstanding demand from people in arsenic and salinity prone areas.
We are happy the World Bank is financing a project that will supply clean water to 35.5 million people through the pipeline,” said MA Qaium, an executive engineer from the Public Health Engineering Department.
Qaium said the project will cover 33 civil districts in 7 administrative divisions that have acute arsenic contamination and also coastal regions that suffer serious salinity problems.
Related reports
Poisoned water haunts millions
Bangladeshis battle arsenic contamination
