Tapping the rivers for safe water
Friday, 16 April 2010
Sharmeen Murshid
THE international water day was observed on March 22 which brought into focus once again the fact that fresh water is scarce in Bangladesh; ground water is arsenic-prone and its level is going down. Surface water bodies are being filled up and rivers are being polluted systematically.
Arsenic mitigation policy of the government has until recently stressed only on the use of groundwater. The recent realisation of the government that surface water is an answer to the problem of arsenic and to the scarcity of safe water, vindicates believed that this was the right way forward, particularly in arsenic-prone areas, where there is ample surface water but no safe ground water.
Baroghoria union of Chapai Nawabgonj is exactly one such area. And this is where Brotee decided to pilot its first experiment to find and produce safe surface water for drinking, and for a start, to provide this to three such villages, namely Chamagram, Laharpur and Laxmipur where arsenic and iron make the available water unfit for human consumption.
Brotee decided to treat surface water from the Mohanonda river, flowing south of Baroghoria union, piloting a project that applies a process of sedimentation, up-flow-rough filtering and slow-sand-filter technology. It was undertaken on a river and under public private partnership policy (PPP) of the government for the first time in the country.
Our creativity lies in the way this mixture has been developed, in arriving at the proportions and volume of material, determining an efficient level of filtered water flow and the designing of a stringent water quality protocol that is presently in application.
For the PPP policy, Brotee's major partner is Social Development Foundation (SDF), a government foundation under the Ministry of Finance. But for us this is much more that. While SDF is our partner (for its 25% financial support to the project), actually Plasma Plus is our water quality control partner. Without this scientific support, we would not so confidently be where we are; NABIC, an association of expatriate Bangladeshis is our other partner who helped us to raise another 40% of the cost. Brotee used its own resources and took a bank loan to cover the total cost of construction, operation and maintenance and community marketing.
The lack of similar reference experience in Bangladesh was a challenge. Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE), Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology (BUET) were all forthcoming but did not have the right background to provide practical guidance on surface water use. Our search began with simple common sense. And two organisations came forward to provide us with the scientific backing in our search. These are Asia Arsenic Network (AAN) and Plasma Plus Application and Research laboratory. AAN assisted with technical support enriching our plant design with technical feedback from Japanese engineers and surface water experts. Plasma Plus undertook a post construction assessment/evaluation of our work and helped us prepare scientific protocols. Plasma Plus thus assisted in the preparation of scientific operation and maintenance and a QC/QA guideline, fundamentally important to the sustainability and reproducibility of the demo. We are grateful to them all.
We launched this project with a team of scientific counsellors: Dr. Amir Hussain Khan, Chemist, Dr. Ikhtyar Omar, Chemical Engineer, and Dr. Abul Hussam, Analytical Chemist -- to ensure the right of people to safe drinking water.
Dubbed the Ecological Surface Water Treatment Plant (ESWTP) and Rural Piped Water Supply Pilot Project, this public private partnership arrangement in three villages in Chapai Nawabgonj district (Chamagram-Laharpur-Laxmipur) has a production capacity of 3,00,000 liters of safe drinking water per day.
Average daily demand is 135,000 liters and the source of raw water is the Mohanonda River. The treatment method is by sedimentation and filtration through up-flow Roughing Filter (URF) chambers and SSF, and it is distributed through a 6.6 kilometer pipeline network. The beneficiaries are approximately 6000 people (1137 households including 40 ultra poor families).
This is a unique example of purifying surface water for village distribution through piped network under public-private partnership arrangement. We believe this project has national significance and can contribute to at least part of the nation's need for safe drinking water
The benefits are
multiple :
l Provides safe drinking water to arsenic affected people and broadens the access to safe water;
l Decreases pressure on the use of ground water use for drinking which is fast depleting in the north where the water table is low;
l Provides a sustainable, ecologically desirable alternative to existing drinking water systems based on local resources and indigenous approaches;
l Restores a balanced use of both ground and surface water for drinking and thus discourages overexploitation of any particular source; and,
l Use of river water for drinking leads/moves the community to safeguard the river water bodies from pollution, human waste and chemical and faecal contamination. In the not too far future, we expect this habit to change into a community movement to protect valuable water bodies as an essential next step, including river banks and dredging to keep the water flowing.
This is bound to impact on personal hygiene and water use behaviour. It may be noted that no diarrhoea, cholera or other water borne problems has so far been reported by the community in the last 8 months.
The Demo pilot can be applied in all rivers that are not chemically contaminated and similar to the Mahananda. There are 45 rivers that have their origin in Bangladesh. We can begin to improve those. There are more than 50 rivers that are still not chemically contaminated and we can begin with those. The Mahananda alone can provide safe drinking water to all the millions of people living along its banks.
The purpose of the project is to provide safe drinking water to the first identified arsenic affected people of Bangladesh. Since the identification of the population of Chamagrom, Laxmipur and Laharpur as arsenic affected in 1993, our intervention has been initiated there. Several attempts have failed to extract arsenic free water from either shallow or deep aquifers. Again deeper exploration is not possible due to natural hard rock formation. Brotee proposed to extract surface water through a Surface Water Infiltration System (SWIS) from the perennial river Mohanonda flowing by the villages. Chemical contamination of this river water being low, it proved to be an ideal start.
The project is serving a portion of a community of 4,484 persons which might grow to approximately 5,860 within the project period of 15 years. Major activities of the project include the production of well, semi-ground reservoir, elevated reservoir, pump house distribution network and house connection with stand post.
The second plant is likely to take far less time to install than the first one -- one year maximum under Bangladesh conditions.
Baroghoria is the area where arsenic in ground water was first identified in 1993. It still does not have any sustained safe drinking water source for its community. The people have waited for a long time for such a scheme that can ensure them a regular supply of safe water for drinking.
Households receiving clean water: There are about 17658 families living in these villages which have acute scarcity of drinking water, particularly in the dry season when ground water table goes down due to higher abstraction. Ponds become dry as the mentioned locations are in the low water table aquifer belt. Ground water in shallow depth is found to be arsenic contaminated, rendering it unfit for safe drinking. Therefore, a piped water supply pilot scheme based on surface water source was the choice for Brotee and the only option for the rural population of these villages.
The specific objectives of the project are to establish Brotee's vision of a eco balanced water policy and action and establish the importance of surface water in sustaining the future generation, to facilitate an alternative surface water option for rural water supply in arsenic prone villages that is safe for use and does not cause diarrhoea, to encourage public private partnership in surface water supply delivery, to sustain the scheme by strictly maintaining water quality protocol, to recover full cost of operation and maintenance as part of the capital cost of the scheme over a project period of 15 years, to seek capital investment in the sector on a large scale for large volumes to be produced through PPP and Banking schemes, and to carry out research and application of alternative, innovative distribution systems, other than piped networks, that can reach safe water to remote areas.
Brotee's Ecological Surface Water Treatment System or plant demonstrates that surface water can be a healthy source of drinking water for rural people when distributed to households on a continuous basis. This contributes towards improvement of public health, mitigation of arsenic problem and building of a healthier community. It also improves personal hygiene practice due to availability of running water for domestic purposes. It is a good demonstration of participatory management and cost recovery initiative by improved service for replication. Rural employment will increase and poverty will reduce with increased economic activities related to the project.
The project is expected to serve 1137 households including about 40 vulnerable households. The average family size is five. About 40 vulnerable families have been identified who may not be able to afford the water connection. They too will be connected to the piped water system under special subsidised policy and easy repayment scheme.
Components of the project: Based on the findings of a feasibility study, Brotee created this ecological treatment technology by setting up (1) an Intake Well, (2) a high-rise Raw Water Tank, (3) Sedimentation Tanks, (4) Up-flow Roughing Filter (URF) chambers, and (5) Slow Sand Filter (SSF) chambers. The filtered water is to be kept in an underground supply tank and distributed to pipelines by a pump. The combination of URF and SSF with continuous flow of water ensures growth of algae and micro-organisms which "eat up" harmful pathogenic bacteria and viruses.
The treatment plant installation was completed in January 2009, and from February to September 2009, it was test run for six months. People began to take connections from May 2009. The rate of connection is gradually building momentum. It is presently growing at about 10 connections a month. One hundred and twenty households now have piped connection and pay on average Tk. 120 per month (this amount depends on width of pipe and the number of taps they apply for. The cost may go up to Tk. 180 per month). So far there was no default in paying monthly bills. Strategic marketing mechanisms are being developed to increase connections more quickly and wider distribution to areas with no pipe connection.
As demand grows, we must think of innovative ways to reach people outside the project area since there is still sufficient water being produced. If 600 connections are achieved, staff salary and minimum operation cost will be covered. If 1000 households are covered, the project will break even in five years and only after that will it begin to earn 'profit' (a financial feasibility has been concluded). Projected cost of EWSTP was a 'guesstimation' as there was no existing reference. SDF committed 50% of the project amount of Tk. 6.8 million that is Tk. 3.4 million but has so far, in four years paid, Tk 25 lac without realising a pilot project is research and not a one off construction work! The real project cost of Tk. 9.6 million meant Brotee had to raise the rest of the fund no matter what. The 'show must go on' and to the end.
Limitations and present status: As far as technology is concerned, Brotee SWIS produces water of zero bacteria quality. Therefore we can state with confidence this is a successful pilot by any standard. Cost analysis shows, after construction and start of operation, at least a three year gestation period is needed, which was not foreseen by the government planners of PPP and hence, this was beyond project jurisdiction. The project contract failed to address the need for giving time for community motivation and a gestation period for financial feasibility. This is the central weakness of the PPP contract. It failed to predict global and national price fluctuations, the need for a financial gestation period for marketing and cost recovery and it failed, as a true partner, to support the project during these challenges. The private partner had to take full responsibility for these weaknesses. This is where a PPP must change its policy and attitude and treat these private initiatives with the same care as it would give to a national project.
It is estimated, a break even point can be achieved within 10 years. We are at the gestation period which will end in 2012. PPP policy can be applied to use surface water widely and also to preserve surface water bodies. It must take the lessons from our experience and modify its contractual agreement with the private sector and treat it truly as their partner and not a subservient agency.
ESWTP is replicable, reproducible and repeatable. It deserves to be adopted.
A similar experiment must be urgently tried with water from a river around Dhaka -- if it is not chemically contaminated. If the government successfully dredges rivers and cleans them of the industrial waste, then ESWTP can certainly use them to produce quality drinking water.
Sharmeen Murshid is a Sociologist and CEO, Brotee
THE international water day was observed on March 22 which brought into focus once again the fact that fresh water is scarce in Bangladesh; ground water is arsenic-prone and its level is going down. Surface water bodies are being filled up and rivers are being polluted systematically.
Arsenic mitigation policy of the government has until recently stressed only on the use of groundwater. The recent realisation of the government that surface water is an answer to the problem of arsenic and to the scarcity of safe water, vindicates believed that this was the right way forward, particularly in arsenic-prone areas, where there is ample surface water but no safe ground water.
Baroghoria union of Chapai Nawabgonj is exactly one such area. And this is where Brotee decided to pilot its first experiment to find and produce safe surface water for drinking, and for a start, to provide this to three such villages, namely Chamagram, Laharpur and Laxmipur where arsenic and iron make the available water unfit for human consumption.
Brotee decided to treat surface water from the Mohanonda river, flowing south of Baroghoria union, piloting a project that applies a process of sedimentation, up-flow-rough filtering and slow-sand-filter technology. It was undertaken on a river and under public private partnership policy (PPP) of the government for the first time in the country.
Our creativity lies in the way this mixture has been developed, in arriving at the proportions and volume of material, determining an efficient level of filtered water flow and the designing of a stringent water quality protocol that is presently in application.
For the PPP policy, Brotee's major partner is Social Development Foundation (SDF), a government foundation under the Ministry of Finance. But for us this is much more that. While SDF is our partner (for its 25% financial support to the project), actually Plasma Plus is our water quality control partner. Without this scientific support, we would not so confidently be where we are; NABIC, an association of expatriate Bangladeshis is our other partner who helped us to raise another 40% of the cost. Brotee used its own resources and took a bank loan to cover the total cost of construction, operation and maintenance and community marketing.
The lack of similar reference experience in Bangladesh was a challenge. Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE), Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology (BUET) were all forthcoming but did not have the right background to provide practical guidance on surface water use. Our search began with simple common sense. And two organisations came forward to provide us with the scientific backing in our search. These are Asia Arsenic Network (AAN) and Plasma Plus Application and Research laboratory. AAN assisted with technical support enriching our plant design with technical feedback from Japanese engineers and surface water experts. Plasma Plus undertook a post construction assessment/evaluation of our work and helped us prepare scientific protocols. Plasma Plus thus assisted in the preparation of scientific operation and maintenance and a QC/QA guideline, fundamentally important to the sustainability and reproducibility of the demo. We are grateful to them all.
We launched this project with a team of scientific counsellors: Dr. Amir Hussain Khan, Chemist, Dr. Ikhtyar Omar, Chemical Engineer, and Dr. Abul Hussam, Analytical Chemist -- to ensure the right of people to safe drinking water.
Dubbed the Ecological Surface Water Treatment Plant (ESWTP) and Rural Piped Water Supply Pilot Project, this public private partnership arrangement in three villages in Chapai Nawabgonj district (Chamagram-Laharpur-Laxmipur) has a production capacity of 3,00,000 liters of safe drinking water per day.
Average daily demand is 135,000 liters and the source of raw water is the Mohanonda River. The treatment method is by sedimentation and filtration through up-flow Roughing Filter (URF) chambers and SSF, and it is distributed through a 6.6 kilometer pipeline network. The beneficiaries are approximately 6000 people (1137 households including 40 ultra poor families).
This is a unique example of purifying surface water for village distribution through piped network under public-private partnership arrangement. We believe this project has national significance and can contribute to at least part of the nation's need for safe drinking water
The benefits are
multiple :
l Provides safe drinking water to arsenic affected people and broadens the access to safe water;
l Decreases pressure on the use of ground water use for drinking which is fast depleting in the north where the water table is low;
l Provides a sustainable, ecologically desirable alternative to existing drinking water systems based on local resources and indigenous approaches;
l Restores a balanced use of both ground and surface water for drinking and thus discourages overexploitation of any particular source; and,
l Use of river water for drinking leads/moves the community to safeguard the river water bodies from pollution, human waste and chemical and faecal contamination. In the not too far future, we expect this habit to change into a community movement to protect valuable water bodies as an essential next step, including river banks and dredging to keep the water flowing.
This is bound to impact on personal hygiene and water use behaviour. It may be noted that no diarrhoea, cholera or other water borne problems has so far been reported by the community in the last 8 months.
The Demo pilot can be applied in all rivers that are not chemically contaminated and similar to the Mahananda. There are 45 rivers that have their origin in Bangladesh. We can begin to improve those. There are more than 50 rivers that are still not chemically contaminated and we can begin with those. The Mahananda alone can provide safe drinking water to all the millions of people living along its banks.
The purpose of the project is to provide safe drinking water to the first identified arsenic affected people of Bangladesh. Since the identification of the population of Chamagrom, Laxmipur and Laharpur as arsenic affected in 1993, our intervention has been initiated there. Several attempts have failed to extract arsenic free water from either shallow or deep aquifers. Again deeper exploration is not possible due to natural hard rock formation. Brotee proposed to extract surface water through a Surface Water Infiltration System (SWIS) from the perennial river Mohanonda flowing by the villages. Chemical contamination of this river water being low, it proved to be an ideal start.
The project is serving a portion of a community of 4,484 persons which might grow to approximately 5,860 within the project period of 15 years. Major activities of the project include the production of well, semi-ground reservoir, elevated reservoir, pump house distribution network and house connection with stand post.
The second plant is likely to take far less time to install than the first one -- one year maximum under Bangladesh conditions.
Baroghoria is the area where arsenic in ground water was first identified in 1993. It still does not have any sustained safe drinking water source for its community. The people have waited for a long time for such a scheme that can ensure them a regular supply of safe water for drinking.
Households receiving clean water: There are about 17658 families living in these villages which have acute scarcity of drinking water, particularly in the dry season when ground water table goes down due to higher abstraction. Ponds become dry as the mentioned locations are in the low water table aquifer belt. Ground water in shallow depth is found to be arsenic contaminated, rendering it unfit for safe drinking. Therefore, a piped water supply pilot scheme based on surface water source was the choice for Brotee and the only option for the rural population of these villages.
The specific objectives of the project are to establish Brotee's vision of a eco balanced water policy and action and establish the importance of surface water in sustaining the future generation, to facilitate an alternative surface water option for rural water supply in arsenic prone villages that is safe for use and does not cause diarrhoea, to encourage public private partnership in surface water supply delivery, to sustain the scheme by strictly maintaining water quality protocol, to recover full cost of operation and maintenance as part of the capital cost of the scheme over a project period of 15 years, to seek capital investment in the sector on a large scale for large volumes to be produced through PPP and Banking schemes, and to carry out research and application of alternative, innovative distribution systems, other than piped networks, that can reach safe water to remote areas.
Brotee's Ecological Surface Water Treatment System or plant demonstrates that surface water can be a healthy source of drinking water for rural people when distributed to households on a continuous basis. This contributes towards improvement of public health, mitigation of arsenic problem and building of a healthier community. It also improves personal hygiene practice due to availability of running water for domestic purposes. It is a good demonstration of participatory management and cost recovery initiative by improved service for replication. Rural employment will increase and poverty will reduce with increased economic activities related to the project.
The project is expected to serve 1137 households including about 40 vulnerable households. The average family size is five. About 40 vulnerable families have been identified who may not be able to afford the water connection. They too will be connected to the piped water system under special subsidised policy and easy repayment scheme.
Components of the project: Based on the findings of a feasibility study, Brotee created this ecological treatment technology by setting up (1) an Intake Well, (2) a high-rise Raw Water Tank, (3) Sedimentation Tanks, (4) Up-flow Roughing Filter (URF) chambers, and (5) Slow Sand Filter (SSF) chambers. The filtered water is to be kept in an underground supply tank and distributed to pipelines by a pump. The combination of URF and SSF with continuous flow of water ensures growth of algae and micro-organisms which "eat up" harmful pathogenic bacteria and viruses.
The treatment plant installation was completed in January 2009, and from February to September 2009, it was test run for six months. People began to take connections from May 2009. The rate of connection is gradually building momentum. It is presently growing at about 10 connections a month. One hundred and twenty households now have piped connection and pay on average Tk. 120 per month (this amount depends on width of pipe and the number of taps they apply for. The cost may go up to Tk. 180 per month). So far there was no default in paying monthly bills. Strategic marketing mechanisms are being developed to increase connections more quickly and wider distribution to areas with no pipe connection.
As demand grows, we must think of innovative ways to reach people outside the project area since there is still sufficient water being produced. If 600 connections are achieved, staff salary and minimum operation cost will be covered. If 1000 households are covered, the project will break even in five years and only after that will it begin to earn 'profit' (a financial feasibility has been concluded). Projected cost of EWSTP was a 'guesstimation' as there was no existing reference. SDF committed 50% of the project amount of Tk. 6.8 million that is Tk. 3.4 million but has so far, in four years paid, Tk 25 lac without realising a pilot project is research and not a one off construction work! The real project cost of Tk. 9.6 million meant Brotee had to raise the rest of the fund no matter what. The 'show must go on' and to the end.
Limitations and present status: As far as technology is concerned, Brotee SWIS produces water of zero bacteria quality. Therefore we can state with confidence this is a successful pilot by any standard. Cost analysis shows, after construction and start of operation, at least a three year gestation period is needed, which was not foreseen by the government planners of PPP and hence, this was beyond project jurisdiction. The project contract failed to address the need for giving time for community motivation and a gestation period for financial feasibility. This is the central weakness of the PPP contract. It failed to predict global and national price fluctuations, the need for a financial gestation period for marketing and cost recovery and it failed, as a true partner, to support the project during these challenges. The private partner had to take full responsibility for these weaknesses. This is where a PPP must change its policy and attitude and treat these private initiatives with the same care as it would give to a national project.
It is estimated, a break even point can be achieved within 10 years. We are at the gestation period which will end in 2012. PPP policy can be applied to use surface water widely and also to preserve surface water bodies. It must take the lessons from our experience and modify its contractual agreement with the private sector and treat it truly as their partner and not a subservient agency.
ESWTP is replicable, reproducible and repeatable. It deserves to be adopted.
A similar experiment must be urgently tried with water from a river around Dhaka -- if it is not chemically contaminated. If the government successfully dredges rivers and cleans them of the industrial waste, then ESWTP can certainly use them to produce quality drinking water.
Sharmeen Murshid is a Sociologist and CEO, Brotee