Start Date: 2014-01-01

Completion Date: 2014-12-31

Technology Used:

Details on approach, technology, etc., are now available in the step-by-step well program guidelines available on the Project Well website and also attached to this application.
In short, we have been working in the area for more than a decade now and our project is well-known in the area. However, in new villages or areas under different panchayet we meet local government officials to discuss the program. One or two panchayet members introduce the field staff to the villagers during the site selection phase. From there, the field staff takes the responsibility of organizing the village meetings and, at the same time, they collect water from two tubewells to confirm the need for arsenic-free bi-tech wells in the community.
The bi-tech wells are a combination of borewell and dugwell, this design facilitates water provision throughout the year to a larger number of people. The borewell is a 10-foot long pipe 8 inches in diameter that is inserted in the 15-foot dugwell portion. A detailed description of the design is available in the Project Well guidelines.

Phases:

Our program is in one phase that lasts 12 months. During this one year, site selection, water tests for arsenic in tubewells, pilot tests to detect a water bearing sand layer, boring, digging, housing of the bi-tech wells and training of the communities.

Community Organization:

During the village meetings, the community decides who will donate a small plot of land on which to construct the well. The site should match the criteria as mentioned in the guidelines. From the moment the site is selected, the community is told that the source of arsenic-free water is theirs and they will maintain it with the help of the field worker in charge. After six months or one year, if the well provides good water that meets the satisfaction of the community, the 'handover package' with detailed instructions is given to the land donor. From there, communication is continued over the phone in case any technical attention is required; otherwise, every third month a field worker visits the well and logs a report on it that is computerized.

Government Interaction:

Over the last decade, government involvement in providing arsenic-safe water has been very poor. In some areas, government pipelines to supply water were constructed about five years after the dugwells were installed. In many areas, the pipeline that has been laid out does not supply water even after four years after construction, prompting the villagers request bi-tech wells from us. We have seen many pipelines are broken and in fact this year many ex-dugwell communities are requesting to repair and re-instate or reconstruct a bi-tech well. In the areas where we are working, there has been no news of pipeline construction in the near future. Local panchayet do install 500-foot deep tubewells but no plan of installation is available in the panchayet office. There are recent reports of many deep tubewells, as in Rajapur and Mogra of Baduria and Deganga Blocks, not being used after high concentration of arsenic was detected.

Ancillary activities:

There are a few existing additional activities and we are planning to introduce some next year:
1. Arsenic tests are done in the field office using imported field kits. (details in the 2012 newsletter).
2. We are in the planning stages of introducing blood pressure measurements with easy to use sphygmomanometers and sugar level measurements using urine dip sticks for the beneficiary communities to make people more health conscious and as an added incentive to encourage and motivate other villagers to use water from the bi-tech wells.
3. The field staff are engaged in training the communities to maintain their source of safe water and make the program sustainable.
4. Introduction of low-tech-home-made odor and iron removal filter will be demonstrated so that the user families can develop them with their own cost.
5. They will also start to train users to send text messages to the PWX site so that field workers need only visit the site on demand and inspect it just once a year.
6. Capacity building is a part of this program. We may need to hire a person on a contract basis to upload pictures and upload reports on the Project Well and PWX websites.

Other Issues:

The religious issue still persists in two communities. These particular communities do not want to use the well water after they came to know that the funders are from USA and Christians. In this case the field workers of the same religious background met with the users. According to the report from the field on July 31st 2013 communities of PW209 and PW237 and one community of Swarupnagar have restarted using water from their well.

Purchasing two motorized bike, one for male and one for a female field assistant helped with visiting the communities more often.