Self-supporting community- based mitigation program that provides arsenic safe water using modified dugwells along with public education on water related health effects.
Narrative
This site # PW162GPL1, is in the Gopalpur Primary School in the Bargoriya village of Swarupnagar Block of North 24 Parganas district. The school authority would appoint a person for the maintenance of the borewell.
-
Meera Hira-Smith of Project WellImplementation Status: completed Wed 20 Apr 2011, Almost 13 Years ago
Toilet being constructed within 3 feet from this borewell the only arsenic safe water source for the school students.
Dispute: Meeting of the project manager and the technical manager of AWS (Aqua Welfare Society) with the headmaster of Gopalpur Primary School on 20 April 2011- For the upcoming election on April 27th in Swarupnagar the headmaster of the school has chosen the spot 3 feet away from the borewell to construct a concrete toilet supposedly for temporary use. Today at the meeting AWS have been told that this pit toilet was to be used by the male students that means being built to be permenantly. The borewell is only 27 feet. Arsenic result in October 2010 was 13 PPB. (BIS 50 PPB). And no e.coli was detected in Feb 2011. The pit is not dug yet that will be less than 20 feet away from the borewell. This would lead to bacterial contamination and spread of diarheal diseases among the young students to the community. (see picture)
At the village meeting and meeting with the panchayet members the rules of such dugwells, bore-dugwells and borewells provided by PW-AWS is discussed and one of the rules is that there should not be any toilet or cowshed within 100 feet from the water source.
Seeking suggestions, what is the best way to handle the district and village level government officials? If the educated person(s), headmaster of a government school, does not understand the value of safe drinking water in arsenic zone versus location of a new toilet whom can we educate.
Similar incidents happened in the past near dugwell ID numbers PW9, PW24 and PW7 where the panchayet constructed tubewells within 3-8 feet of the dugwells. This leads to not only waste of funds but all the effort of educating the villagers that is being destroyed by the political people.
Your expert advice will be very helpful. Thank you.
Photos will be added soon.
-
Rudi DundasImplementation Status: completed Tue 23 Nov 2010, Over 13 Years ago
November 23, 2010 - Rudi Dundas and Chris Majors
The children were all filling their water bottles and seemed to make frequent use of this well. It was the only water source on the school grounds. While we were there, there was a problem with some of the village leaders coming up and complaining that the well water was unsafe and that the kids should not use the water. Project Well staff was on top of the situation and explained the facts to them that this water was arsenic free, unlike their old well. We drank some of the water and it tasted very good to us.
-
Rudi DundasImplementation Status: completed Tue 23 Nov 2010, Over 13 Years ago
photos of November 23 visit
photos
-
Rudi DundasImplementation Status: completed Tue 23 Nov 2010, Over 13 Years ago
November 23, 2010 - Rudi Dundas and Chris Majors
photos did not upload
-
Dennis Baroi of Project WellImplementation Status: completed Tue 05 Oct 2010, Over 13 Years ago
visit
Water Depth 21ft Good Water.
Visit By Dennis&biswjet
- Impact Assessment (M&E) Phase Project completed on 31 Jul, 2010 Implementation Phase
- Implementation Phase Project started on 1 Nov, 2009 Preparation Phase
Self-supporting community- based mitigation program that provides arsenic safe water using modified dugwells along with public education on water related health effects.
Narrative
This site # PW162GPL1, is in the Gopalpur Primary School in the Bargoriya village of Swarupnagar Block of North 24 Parganas district. The school authority would appoint a person for the maintenance of the borewell.
Other Issues
Unusual and unexpected issues faced during project execution
The finishing work of this borewell is almost complete. After completion the water will be tested for arsenic concentration. Theoline will also be applied soon. The school representative will be be trained to apply the disinfectant.
Impact
People Impacted: 100
People Getting Safe Drinking Water: 100
According to the register record of July 2011 the total consumers at this primary school is 80-100. Need to get the exact number of students and teachers.
______________
80 to 100 school children are using. Need to get the exact number of students using this source.
Maintenance/Operating Costs Annual, in US$: $20
Creating and measuring long-term impact
Implementer: Project Well and Aqua Welfare Society
Aqua Welfare Society, AWS, is the partner NGO of Project Well. Their office is based in the North 24 Parganas. The 7 honorary board members are located in Kolkata. There were only 5 field workers who were interacting with the villagers and beneficiaries, training the users on maintenance of the dugwells, organizing village meetings and health meetings. This year four more field workers including a management trainee have been contracted due to expansion of the program to other districts like Nadia and Murshidabad. A technical advisor of AWS is based in Kolkata who visits the village occasionally and one awareness programmer who is in charge of awareness programs in the communities and educational institutions. There is an accountant and also a data entry person on part time basis.
Funding
- funded:
- $800
- Final Cost:
- $1,127