Safe Drinking Water for Slum People

BASA's Dept. of Public Health Engineering has worked with the local government to create communal sanitation facilities (ECOSAN toilets). Safe water drinking water is the next step to improving living conditions. Getting potable water currently means slum dwellers must leave their homes, their neighborhood, to look for it. The time-consuming search for water includes stops at other private homes, mosques and/or shops, but is often fruitless, leading to other less hygienic sources of water.

Goals overview

BASA has already helped create community-based sanitation facilities for all to use in this slum in Gazipur. This project will bring safe drinking water to the same neighborhood. Water will be collected from a deep tube well, stored in an overhead reservoir, and piped to 15 distribution points. Considering the minimum lifetime of the created facilities, about 700 people will have access to better water for over 15 years .

Current status

Project plan

BASA is proposing creation of a facility in a central location for the collection of ground water by deep tube well. Ground water in the Gazipur district is both free from infectious pathogens and arsenic, making it safe for drinking. Since arsenic has been a problem in other areas, arsenic tests (mark kit) will be done every six months to ensure the water is still safe.

The collected water will be stored in an overhead reservoir and piped to 10-15 selected distribution points, from which community households will be able to get their water. The municipal Management Committee will collect a small fee from those benefitting to cover operations and maintenance costs. Any additional money needed for operation and maintenance will be raised by those using the facilities.

Members of BASA's Department of Public Health Engineering are currently at work establishing sanitation facilities in this same neighorhood. They will continue working with the Management Committee (whose members are drawn from the local community) to install the water facilities and supervise the project implementation.

BASA, the municipal government, and other agencies involved hope the holistic approach of this project can serve as a replicable model for similar projects. As such constant contact and coordination by all parties throughout the project's implementation phase will be maintained to achieve the joint objectives. Of particular interest is the involvement of the community in its own rehabilitation and subsequent self-management of the facilites.

At project's end the slum dwellers of Gazipur will have a better physical quality of life, with facilities for the sanitary disposal of human waste and access to clean water, and hopefully also a continuing sense of pride at contributing to and maintaining those improvements.

The clean water initiative will be managed by the same committee managing the existing community-based sanitation project. This integrated committee of local men and women will now be responsible for the operation and maintenance of both projects, with funds contributed by the affected local communities. Combining project management will increase the sustainability of both projects by allowing them to share operational costs.

BASA will continue to provide training, awareness and technical support to create the necessary motivation concerning the environmental aspects, ownership, and cooperation within the local communities.