Sustainability

Creating and measuring long-term impact

The users would require to purchase theoline, the disinfectant, and also repair minor wear and tear. The dugwells will be visited by the field workers every month for one year to get technical and utility reports followed by inspection once or twice a year.

Other Issues

Unusual and unexpected issues faced during project execution

Research and Development is part of the project. The Arsenic level is 1 PPB (BIS stnd is 50PPB)and the date of report October 22, 2009. The Total coliform is 53 CFU/100ml and Fecal coliform is 17 CFU/100ml. Report date is Dec 7, 2009. Chlorination is done once a week.

Learnings

Knowledge of project and process for sharing

According to the video more than 15 family drinks water from this dugwell and in addition the farmers who work in the field also use the dugwell. According to the testimony on the video the taste of water is very good, there is no iron and the lady says that cooking with dugwell water turns out great. The status of dugwell report that is recorded monthly states that only one family is using the dugwell. There is a need to cross check the field report by a staff of member of AWS other than the field worker who is in charge of this particular dugwell. It is also important to organize health meeting and let the people know that it is safe to use the water.

Impact

People Getting Safe Drinking Water: 21

According to the register record of July 2011 the total consumers=21; Families=5; Male=11, Female=10, children <5 = 2 and students =3.
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The numbers are the same as of June 2010.

People Getting Other Benefits: 50

Public health education on arsenic health effects and personal hygiene is given to all the dugwell beneficiaries. A training program on the maintenance of the dugwells (including chlorination) is given to develop a sense of ownership and to make the program sustainable. There are five field workers working on the dugwell program who are selected from the arsenic afflicted villages. They are involved in site selection, village meetings during site selection, followed by construction of the wells and also follow up the on the technical faults of the dugwells and the number of users. The villagers are also shown VCDs on how to improve personal health and hygiene through proper practices. The office of Aqua Welfare Society is located in the village. The awareness programmer and experts of geology and technical knowhow are based in Kolkata who visit the village office and sites occasionally to create awareness amongst the user group, prospective users and students of schools. Trades like well-digging, pottery, and masonry, are required for the dugwell program and are benefiting from work generated by the project.