Two new wells at schools in Nabiganj
This year we were finally able to go back to Bangladesh to check on our ongoing projects and to start future projects.
- With the funds from the Ein-Zehntel-Stiftung we were able to build a well in Korgaon. The small village in north-eastern Bangladesh is severely affected by the arsenic problem. Almost all shallow wells in the village have high arsenic levels of 400 to 500 µg/l arsenic and there is no clean drinking water at the school either. Based on available information on well depths and arsenic levels in all wells, we were able to assess the depth range in which clean water can be expected. The well was filtered at a depth of 95-100m. The water from the well is regularly checked for quality by AGAPE.
Even before the well was completely finished with taps and drain, the surrounding households came to fetch water:
- A well was also drilled by AGAPE at another elementary school in Sherpur with around 400 children, next to which there is also a madrashah (religious school) with many other pupils of all ages. The school well and surrounding wells had arsenic levels of around 500 µg/l. The newly built well was filtered at a depth of 75-80m and also supplies significantly better water (56µg/l arsenic). High levels of iron will cause the iron in the tank to precipitate and water users will not like the taste. In order to quickly improve the quality of the available water, we plan to install a simple sand filter in the near future, which will remove the iron easily and reliably. The madrashah is also to receive a water pipe afterwards.
