Small waterworks in Bangladesh

The village school in Dadpur consists of two buildings. In the school for the older children there is a well system with a tank on the roof and it is run by the school. AGAPE has in the past examined the water quality at all the wells of the two schools. We found that this well has good water quality, but the others are heavily contaminated with around 200 µg/L arsenic. We have therefore suggested and provided financial support for the hand-operated pumps to be decommissioned and only this clean water to be made available via pipelines. The response to this simple water supply was great right from the start. In addition, to improve hygiene during Corona, the school installed a hand wash basin for the children. To satisfy the rush, we installed another tank.

Furthermore, there is now an additional water access for the surrounding villagers, which is much easier to reach on the road than before on the school grounds and thus saves walking. The water is arsenic-free and low in iron. AGAPE observes the acceptance of the village population and lays further pipelines if necessary.

With this school, AGAPE has now initiated a total of six such small waterworks. The requirements are always different and must be negotiated individually. As a rule, a well in a central place (market place, mosque or school) is selected and pipes are laid from there in order to increase the effective radius. Our goal is that the people at the affected locations take the initiative and organize the construction and operation independently and we only help with that. Help for self-help. During our 2022 project trip, we launched two more projects (Purnimagati and Islampur).