Protecting against arsenic in Hunger Project villages

Information from Joly; Photos by Roobon

Naturally occurring arsenic has infiltrated the groundwater, affecting many of the tubewells on which rural people depend for their drinking water. Drinking from contaminated wells can lead to a slow painful death; drinking from groundwater can lead to deadly infections.

The answer is relatively simple - test every well and mark the ones that are safe to drink with green paint. Mark the contaminated wells with red paint - they are still safe to use for washing.

In a campaign across 65 "unions" (clusters of 20 villages), Hunger Project volunteers tested and marked 21,260 tubewells during 2005. These pictures were taken in the union of Dhamrai, upstream of Dhaka city. A group of our Youth Ending Hunger volunteers organized the campaign in that village.

Salma Akhter Baby, field worker of Dhamrai family planning office, was enlisted to help train the villagers.

Md. Altaf Hossain, Teacher of Jamal Uddin Adarsha High School also provided leadership in the campaign.

Green for drinking...

... red for washing.

Hunger Project Youth Ending Hunger volunteers who organized the Dhamrai campaign.