MERCY TAPS RAINWATER FOR ARSENIC-HIT BANGLADESHI VILLAGERS

By P. Vijian

DHAKA, March 27 (Bernama) -- In the interiors of Bangladesh, death is slow
and painful to poor and helpless villagers as they continue to suffer drinking
arsenic-laced water.

Theirs is a heart-wrenching story, three-decades in the making. A public
health
nightmare that has not been resolved.

In Ruppur village in Pabna District, about 200km outside Dhaka, Artiah Khan
and
Kamrun Nahar are among the 300 sorrowful victims suffering from serious
after-effects of drinking arsenic-contaminated groundwater.

The duo, aged 38 and 42, suffer from 'keratosis' (abnormal tissue growth) on
their palms and feet.

It is a tell-tale symptom of contaminated water in their village, where over
90
per cent of the ground water is arsenic poisoned, according to studies.

Khan's 25-year-old son died of arsenic poisoning and another son has
developed
symptoms of keratosis.

Nahar's husband died of arsenic-related cancer, leaving her to fend for her
three children, including a daughter who suffers from similar symptoms.

Laments Khan: "Every 15 days, I have to cut off the tissue growth on my
palms,
its painful and bleeds. It is hard to do work. We can't find treatment, there
is no clean water here and no solution to our plight."

Arsenic poisoning is a serious public health concern in this South Asian
country, as a recent joint study by the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef)
and Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, revealed that nearly 20 million people
drink contaminated ground water.

Since the 70s, villagers like Khan and Nahar's families grew up relying on
this poisonous water from tubewells for drinking and cooking -- knowing little
of their future fatal medical troubles.

But arsenic mitigation projects such as Mercy Malaysia's in the far-flung
Ruppur, is perhaps bringing some relief for these agrarian-based families, whose
primary water source is the ground.

"These villagers have no option. People have even lost their family members.
Mercy is trying to provide safe and arsenic-free water for consumption, we are
trying to provide an alternative," said Wendy Neoh Siew Ping, Mercy's
programme officer for Bangladesh project.

Young Mercy's volunteers, along with its local partner Dhaka Community
Hospital (DCH), a non-profit organisation, recee villages like Ruppur and
neighbouring Kabarikhola to introduce arsenic mitigation projects -- such as
pumping water from dug wells and simple rainwater harvesting methods.

In Kabarikhola, Mercy funds and monitors a pilot project, where 30 houses
enjoy clean water through water pumped out from a dugwell and distributed to
individual houses through a network of pipes.

Likewise, in Ruppur, local masons are in the process of constructing
cement-made rainwater harvesting containers, each with a capacity of 3,000
litres, earmarked for 145 households. This is another of Mercy's idea.

"We are trying to harvest rainwater, it is more sustainable, clean and less
costly to obtain and manage. During rainy days, villagers can trap the rainwater
and later use them during dry season. In this way, they can move away from using
groundwater," added Neoh.

Fortunate villagers could now enjoy safe drinking water, courtesy of Mercy
and DCH, but millions of Bangladeshis continue to suffer from the curse of
poisonous water and suffer in silence in the unseen and unreachable interiors.

-- BERNAMA