Report: Arsenic free dugwell (PW74GDP1) funded by BPR & Glen Ridge RC

Self-supporting community- based mitigation program that provides arsenic safe water using modified dugwells along with public education on water related health effects.

In some areas a dugwell may become dry or contain low volume of water due to any of the following factors:
(i) located near a river channel that gets almost dry in summer;
(ii) far distance from a perennial water body;
(iii) due to the amount of annual rainfall.
It has been observed that in 2007, 18% of the dugwells in the PWSET1 area were affected. The composition of soil in this part of the region is such that it gets impossible to dig manually due to sand boiling that starts at around the depth of 14 feet. One of the solutions to this phenomenon is to deepen the dugwell. Considering the rural setup where large equipments cannot be transported, the technical advisor developed a new design that has enabled the depth of this dugwell, by overcoming the sand boiling, to 21 feet. The level of water of this dugwell will be observed for 2-5 years.

Initially users are trained to treat water with the disinfectant supplied by field workers of local NGO. Each family to contribute Rs.10 per month for maintenance cost to buy theoline (average Rs.20/- per month) and for repair work if any.

Research and Development is part of the project. The arsenic level was 8 PPB tested on 30th June 2008. The Total coliform and Fecal coliform are both 'undetected'. Date of water collection for bacteria tests was on 6th December 2008.

The cost of this design, using a special 12" diameter PVC pipe, is 60% more than the Project Well formulated modified dugwell. If this new design works it may be considered in future because it is more important to provide arsenic safe water to the people throughout the year.