Access to potable water for coastal people

Bangladesh is a low-lying country. Here water is everywhere but pure drinking water is scarce in the Sundarbans coastal region of Bangladesh. During the monsoon rain water is used for drinking and people store water for the dry season. But this is not sufficient for them. In the monsoon water level raise high and water sources go down under saline water. As a result, people suffer a lot for drinking water and by using this water,they suffer from various kinds of water contaminated diseases.

Initiative:Bangladesh Environment and Development Society (BEDS) has been working since 2015 to alleviate the drinking water crisis in the coastal areas. In the meantime, the pond has been re-excavated and by using local technology pond sand and filter (PSF) system has been installed to collect rain water. Reverse Osmosis Water Purification System has been set up to enhance the quality of water. A community-based sustainable water business model has been introduced for its sustainable and long-term management. During this covid-19 pandemic situation people have to stay home and in this circumstances BEDS is supplying safe water to remote areas by vehicles.BEDS has installed 35 water wells in the coastal area where the ground water layer is available and planning to install another 8 water wells to remove drinking water crisis for the coastal people.

Impact: Most of the people of the locality used pond water for drinking and cooking purpose. Women spend most of their time by collecting water far from their residence. By using this water, they often suffered from various kinds of water contaminated diseases like diarrhoea, cholera, Jaundice, dysentery etc.Pure drinking water was a cherished desire to them. After installing the Reverse Osmosis System, more than 45000 coastal villagers are getting safe drinking water at a cheap rate which is only 0.5 TK per liter but water well’s water is free of cost. This little charge is taken for the maintenance cost of water production so that this activity will sustain in the long run process.

Feedbacks from the beneficiaries:A house wife expressed her feelings – “Before wedidn’t have any water wells in our locality, we fetch water far from 4 miles distance. I spent a lot of time for water carrying activities. But now the situation became change, we get water from the tube well which is installed beside our residence and our cherished desire for pure drinking water got fulfilled.”

We would like to thank all our donors for their amazing and continuous support for the coastal deprived people. We are requesting all our donors to start monthly recurring donation by clicking the following link;

https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/support-drinking-water-to-the-poor-coastal-people?show=recurring

Links:

• Door to Door Safe Drinking Water

Water is a natural resource but safe drinking water is limited. Its service has to be paid for. In Sundarbans coastal region of Bangladesh, saline water is everywhere with limited fresh water sources. The coastal people have to depend on rainwater. They store water in plastic tank and traditional mud made pots in the monsoon which goes run short by two or three months. In the past recent several years, there is a negativeclimate impact in the monsoon, for this reason the rainfall is not available in the monsoon.

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Initiative:Realizing the situation and according to the request of the deprived communities, Bangladesh Environment and Development Society (BEDS) started working to establish Reverse Osmosis water purification system with Water ATM in Paschim Dhangmari and Uttor Banishanta village. Two 500 liter/hour Reverse Osmosis Water Purification systems with Water ATM are installed by using the existing facilities (Solar Pond Sand and Filter system). As a result, the 45% people of the Sundarbans coastal area are now getting access to pure drinking water. BEDS has also installed 35 water wells in the Sundarbans coastal villages. Now we are installing another 8 water wells at a time in the different villages in the coastal area. As a result, drinking water lacking is going to be disappeared day by day.

Impact: Before installing the RO and water wells, most of the people of the locality used pond water for drinking and cooking purpose. By using this water, they often suffered from various kinds of water contaminated diseases like diarrhoea, cholera, Jaundice, dysentery etc. Women spent most of their time by collecting water far from their residence. Pure drinking water was a cherished desire to them. After installing the Reverse Osmosis System and water wells, more than 115000 coastal villagers are getting safe drinking water.

Feedbacks from the beneficiaries:A housewife living beside the river expressed her feelings “I live in the river side and here river bank erosion is acute and we faced a lot of problems for pure drinking water crisis. Before we do not have any water well but now BEDS has installed water wellin our village and the quality of water is very fine. The villagers are very happy and I would like to thank BEDS for solving our drinking water crisis”. 

We would like to thank all our donors for their amazing and continuous support for the coastal deprived people. We are requesting all our donors to start monthly recurring donation by clicking the following link;

https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/support-drinking-water-to-the-poor-coastal-people?show=recurring