A drop of good health

The water in Bahraich,UP,has high arsenic content. A new initiative ensures schools get purified water

In Bahraich,a district on the Indo-Nepal border,a glass of water can be dangerously deceptive. The groundwater here has high levels of arsenic,making it unfit for drinking. But now,students from a government primary school in Tejwapur block of Bahraich district have a choice: they can drink arsenic-free water,thanks to a filter installed in their school.

The arsenic filter was set up a year ago as part of an innovative project,the Bahraich Arsenic Mitigation Project BAMP,which was supported by the University of Miyajaki Japan and funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

A recent survey in the state by the UP Jal Nigam and Unicef found that arsenic content in groundwater at many places was several times the prescribed limit. Bahraich was among the 18 districts where the problem was severe. Arsenic can build up in the body,eventually causing cancers and skin diseases.

In 2008,Eco Friends,an NGO,initiated a project to bring down the arsenic levels and also help villagers identify handpumps with high arsenic contamination and declare them unfit for human consumption.

Rakesh Jaiswal,chief executive of Eco Friends,says,The arsenic contamination is marked in ppb parts per billion. While water with contamination below 50 ppb is safe for drinking,that above 50 ppb is unsafe. And contamination over 100 ppb is dangerous. Chetra and Newada,two villages in Tejwapur block in Bahraich,have arsenic contamination higher than 100 ppb. We had experts from the University of Miyajaki ready to support us with projects like water filters.

A District Arsenic Mitigation Committee DAMC was formed,headed by district magistrate Rigzin Samphel and with officials from health,water and sanitation departments as its members.

Under the project,villages with high arsenic contamination were identified and surveys were conducted. In Tejwapur block,40 potential arsenicosis patients were identified and of the 896 water samples tested,215 had ppb levels higher than 50.

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In the first stage,arsenic filters and safe water devices were installed in primary schools in Tejwapur block. Connected with the regular handpumps,each filter has a tank with four chambers. The first chamber has a net to remove all superficial impurities,followed by two chambers with gravel and one final chamber with sand. The filtered water is then drawn through a tap.

Every morning,an employee of the school fills the tank with water,enough for about 150 students. Each filter costs around Rs 80,000 to set up and while 11 such devices have been installed by Eco Friends,the district too has installed smaller devices attached directly to the handpumps under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme NREGS.

Apart from the school projects,the DAMC has also marked the handpumps red and green to ensure that unsafe handpumps are not used for drinking. Samphel,the district magistrate,says,Safe drinking water is one of the biggest needs of the people today and through the Arsenic Mitigation Project,we are trying to ensure this for each and every household.