1. Eco Friends Society, India
2. Center for International Relations, University of Miyazaki, Japan
3. Faculty of Engineering, University of Miyazaki, Japan

Abstract

Having completed the first phase (June 2008 - May 2010) of Bahraich Arsenic Mitigation Project (BAMP) successfully, now the second phase “Extensive Arsenic Mitigation Project in collaboration with Government in Uttar Pradesh State in India” is being implemented by University of Miyazaki (UOM), Japan and Kanpur based NGO Eco Friends. The project is being funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Kyushu. The project is for a period of 25 months (March 2011-March 2013). The project is being executed in 23 habitations of Newada and 4 habitations of Chetra village of Tejwapur block in Bahraich district.

INTRODUCTION

Situation of Arsenic Contamination in the Project Area.

High prevalence of arsenic in the populous Ganges River belt was a major reason for the project’s focus on Uttar Pradesh. Bahraich was selected following a state water survey by the Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam (UPJN) that revealed the district, with 10 of its 14 blocks, as the most widely arsenic contaminated (out of 6509 government tubewells (GTW: depth about 30 m) tested, 766 (12%) tubewells were found to be above 50 ppb and 3025 (46%) tubewells were found to be above 10 ppb (including those above 50 ppb). Tejwapur block was the most widely affected. Out of 723 GTWs tested, 215 (30%) were found to be above 50 ppb and 651 (90%) were reported to be above 10 ppb (including those above 50 ppb) in Tejwapur block. Similarly our project area (7 out of 34 habitations of 2 villages in Tejwapur Block) was found to be most widely contaminated. 55% of GTWs tested in Chetra village contained arsenic above 50 ppb and 98% tubewells were reported with more than 10 ppb of arsenic (including those above 50 ppb). 76% of GTWs tested in Newada village were reported to contain arsenic above 50 ppb and 96% were found to be contaminated with 10 ppb of arsenic (including those above 50 ppb). 15% in Chetra village and 18% in Newada village, tubewells were reported to contain arsenic above 100 ppb. The project area is as shown in Fig.1 Despite the alarming situation and nature of the problem in our project area, people were completely ignorant about the problem. People had not heard about arsenic before.

Situation of Arsenic Contamination in the Project Area.

“Integrated approach for arsenic pollution mitigation in Uttar Pradesh state in India”

The University of Miyazaki’s wide experience in arsenic mitigation in Bangladesh with the Asia Arsenic Network was a strong driving force behind the project, guided by the able senior Professor Hiroshi Yokota as the Project Lead.
The uniqueness and success of BAMP lie in its comprehensive list of activities. The wide range of activities provides an integrated approach to project implementation. In the first phase, the staff was trained, household survey was conducted and every water source was screened in seven hamlets in the two villages. Tubewells with arsenic concentration above 50 ppb were marked red as unsafe, while those less than 50 ppb were marked green as safe. Arsenic Mitigation Committees (AMC) were formed, first at village level, and later at habitation level. Medical training and examination were held. A variety of awareness programs were organized. 11 Safe Water Devices (SWD: 8 Gravel Sand Filter, 3 Dugwell Filter) were constructed and the same number of users’ committees was formed.
During the first phase of BAMP, we were constantly in touch with the district administration of Bahraich. We kept meeting the District Magistrate (DM), the executive head of the district and updating him about our project activities at regular interval. UPJN is the key government agency which is involved in arsenic mitigation. We collaborated with UPJN at the state level and the local level as well. We successfully involved the district health administration in our project. We interacted regularly with Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and Primary Health Centre (PHC) doctors of our project area.
We tried to impart appropriate knowledge of the adverse health effects of arsenic exposure to the people and implemented integrated mitigation measures in our project area.

UPJN installs Active Alumina Filters throughout the district

In the meantime (between 2010 and 2011) UPJN installed 915 Active Alumina Filters (AAF=Arsenic Removal Units, ARU) throughout the district in 10 arsenic contaminated blocks. 61 ARU were installed in our project area alone. But UPJN activity remained confined to installation of ARU only. Now arsenic safe water was available to the affected community but very few people switched over to arsenic safe water due to ignorance. The main challenge now was a) to convince and motivate people to switch over to safe water b) to establish a sustainable system for arsenic mitigation.

SECOND PHASE OF BAMP ACTIVITY

The second phase of BAMP “Extensive Arsenic Mitigation Project in collaboration with Government in Uttar Pradesh State in India”, begun in March 2011 in 27 more hamlets, aims to execute the Arsenic Mitigation Project in active partnership with the UP government by focusing on awareness generation and ensuring effective use of the arsenic removal filters set up by both BAMP and the government. A step forward has been the formation of AMCs at the district and block levels.

Highlight of Activity

District Arsenic Mitigation Committee (D-AMC)

D-AMC was mooted to engage the district administration in arsenic mitigation activities. D-AMC was formed with the District Magistrate (DM) as its chairman, Chief Development Officer (CDO) as vice-chairman, Executive Engineer UPJN as its secretary/convener, BAMP representative & Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Tejwapur Block Development Officer (BDO) as members. D-AMC is supposed to meet every quarter. During D-AMC meetings BAMP shared its activities with the members and sought their collaboration in carrying out its activities. BAMP organized a workshop as per the demand of D-AMC for district level officials under the chairmanship of DM Bahraich on 24th August 2011 to aware them about arsenic related issues.

Block-Arsenic Mitigation Committee (B-AMC)

B-AMC was formed at Tejwapur block with Block Development Officer (BDO) as its chairman, block engineers, Village Development Officers (VDOs), PHC doctor, teachers and BAMP representative as members. B-AMC meets every quarter. B-AMC brings together the village level officials, elected representatives and other important people of our project area and block level officials. B-AMC provides a forum for village people to discuss about arsenic related issues with block level officials. We held a block level workshop under the chairmanship of BDO Tejwapur on 9th December 2011 at Block office Tejwapur. The workshop was attended by Block Pramukh, Executive Engineer UPJN, Village heads and Panchayat Mitras of Tejwapur and resource persons from ARU companies. Household Survey A household survey was conducted in the project area from 25th April to 13th May 2011. The idea of the survey was to have a basic knowledge about the socio-economic status of the project area people. In the project area only 12% of total population knew about Arsenic and remaining 88% was ignorant about Arsenic. 8% of total population was involved in agriculture. The average yearly income was about Rs. 35,000. Most of the inhabitants were Hindu (89%) and remaining is Muslim. The household survey was preceded by tubewell numbering. Overall findings are as given in Table 1. Table 1: The result of Household survey Village Habitation Number of Household Population 1 Mihinpurwa 104 796 2 Balaha 70 491 3 Shivpur 72 613

Tube-well Screening and Marking All tubewells (GTW: Government tubewell, PTW: Private tubewell) were tested and rechecked for the arsenic concentration by Wagtech Digital Arsenator field test kit. The number of tubewells in 27 habitations is 76 GTWs and 397 PTWs. The arsenic concentration test result is shown in Fig.2 and Fig.3. After the screening, all the tubewells with arsenic concentration above 50 ppb were painted red. GTWs are almost contaminated with arsenic. 62% of GTW show As?50 ppb and 92% As?10 ppb. On the other hand, the arsenic contamination in PTWs is overall low. PTW with As?50 ppb is 10% and As?10 ppb is 50% in 27 habitations. We analyzed the data of Household survey and Tubewell screening. We found the total number of consumers who were drinking Arsenic contaminated water above the permissible limit. Now Government of India is following WHO standard (below 10ppb). But UP state Government is still following the old standard (below 50ppb) in Arsenic affected area. Total population of project area is 3998. Total number of 981 people is using over 50ppb Arsenic contaminated water. Therefore about 25% of total population is at risk of arsenic poisoning.

Medical Training and Examination

a) PHC Staff Training

A PHC staff Training was conducted on arsenicosis disease at PHC campus, Tejwapur on 17th January 2012 in collaboration with local health department. The training was provided to local PHC staff so that PHC staff could identify doubtful arsenicosis patients. We recommended Dr. C.B. Yadav, Medical Officer In-charge (MOIC) of Tejwapur PHC as a trainer because he had been trained through the Dr’s training program which was organized by BAMP in the 1st Phase. Dr. C.B. Yadav trained the participants about the symptoms of Arsenicosis disease through power point presentation. Total number of participants was 49.

b) Users’ Screening Program We conducted Users Screening Program to check the skin lesions of those who were using Arsenic contaminated water above 50 ppb. We performed this in collaboration with Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM) of Additional PHC, Newada & Health Visitor of Tejwapur Block PHC. We checked 753 users out of 981 arsenic contaminated water users and found 36 suspected patients who had mild Arsenicosis disease. The 36 suspected patients will be diagnosed by medical doctor through the Medical Examination. Our field staff informed them as how to take care and prevent the disease and motivated them to use filter water.

c) Doctors’ Workshop

We organized a two day workshop under the chairmanship of CMO for Bahraich Doctors on 11th and 12th April 2012. 1st day we trained all the doctors through presentations. And 2nd day we invited 5 doctors to attend Medical Examination for practical training. On this occasion, the CMO said, “There is a lack of awareness about Arsenic at every level”.
He made an appeal to doctors to enhance their knowledge regarding the Arsenocosis through the workshop. The workshop was conducted by Dr. Kojo, Dermatologist (expert of Arsenicosis) who came from Japan. She trained the doctors through a presentation “Diagnosis of mild Arsenicosis patients” and a book authored by her about mild Arsenicosis symptoms. She explained about the skin symptoms caused by prolonged ingestion of Arsenic contaminated water. 2nd day she along with 5 medical doctors diagnosed 34 suspected Arsenicosis patients at Additional PHC Newada.

d) Health Camp with Local Health Department and IITR IITR (Indian Institute of Toxicology Research) is an institution of India Government. One IITR scientist was interested in BAMP Activity since 1st phase of the project. Following that relationship IITR intends to study impact of arsenic at gene level. Therefore IITR collected blood samples of arsenicosis patients in collaboration with BAMP. A Health Camp was conducted in collaboration with Health Department and IITR. BAMP staff assembled suspected Arsenicosis patients and arsenic drinking water users. One trained PHC doctor diagnosed the arsenic water users and IITR collected blood samples. PHC doctor diagnosed total 104 users and IITR collected total 76 blood samples. Sampling result is still awaited from IITR. PHC doctor identified 13 Arsenicosis patients based on clear symptoms out of 104 users.

Awareness Programs

a) Sign Boards:

BAMP installed 37 painted and iron made sign boards (3ft. x 4 ft.) in the project area. Similar sign boards were also installed at prime locations of the city. These sign boards are intended to enhance the awareness level of people regarding Arsenic. District Development Office provided a space for a sign board (20 ft. x 30 ft.) in front of the building as per the direction of D-AMC. Sign boards renovation was done in the 1st phase project area.

b) Street Play Program: BAMP organized Street Play program. Street Play is a kind of short drama which is very popular in rural area. Street Play members conduct the play using local language and story. First for 3 days (from 12th to 14th of October, 2011) and then for 5 days (from 18th to 22nd January, 2012) street play program was organized to aware people about Arsenic in the Project area and urban area as per the demand of D-AMC. Street Play program made people aware about Arsenic, symptoms of arsenicosis, preventive measures and Arsenic free safe water through an interesting Play. Many people contacted BAMP office after awareness through Street Play. Motivated people collected more arsenic information through phone calls.

Table 4 No. of Program and Participants

12th to 14th of October, 2011

18th to 22nd January, 2012

c) Flip Chart Program: To aware female members of the families, BAMP conducted a flip chart program from 19th October to 17th November 2011. Our female field staff visited all the Arsenic contaminated habitations of the project area and conducted flip chart program at each Arsenic contaminated red marked tubewell (64 places). They distributed posters and pamphlets also. Total number of participants was 340 families.

d) Small Group Awareness Program: To aware and motivate the villagers about the use & importance of Arsenic Removal Unit, BAMP conducted a Small Group Awareness program from 9th to 31st January 2012. The Field staff visited all the Arsenic contaminated habitations of the Project area and conducted Small Group Awareness program near each Arsenic contaminated red marked tubewell. The field staff educated the villagers of all age group about the dangers of arsenic through posters and pamphlets.

e) Exhibition Stall with UP Jal Nigam

BAMP participated in an Exhibition program organized by Government of India, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, with UPJN Bahraich for 3 days (28th to 30th November 2011) held at Nanpara Tahseel, Bahraich District. In this exhibition various government departments put up stalls to make people aware about various programs.
We informed people about arsenic contamination through flip chart, water samples testing by Arsenic field test kit, and speech. Arsenic awareness posters and pamphlets were distributed during the exhibition..

f) Media Coverage

The number of published articles is 70 in the local Newspapers. Most of our activities got wide coverage by print as well as electronic media.

Arsenic Removal Units Monitoring

We monitored the performance of ARU, for the first time, from 15th to 26th November 2011. We checked the filter status and raw & filter water quality by Arsenic field test kit. Total number of ARU tested was 61. We shared the data with D-AMC. Now we do this status survey of ARU in our Project area every quarter.

Arsenic Removal Units Users’ Training

BAMP conducted ARU Users training in collaboration with UPJN and Filter Company in order to boost the skill of filter users. The idea was also to improve the performance of ARU installed in various Arsenic contaminated habitations of our Project area. With the help of this activity users would be friendlier with the filter and they would know how to resolve minor filter cleaning related problems.
The main aim of the Users’ training was to train the users about the back wash system of ARU. BAMP decided to empower the villagers with technical knowledge, so that villagers would be able to do back wash & cleaning work easily. In this training program total number of participants was 126 from 44 ARU out of 60.

Soil and Water Sampling BAMP constructed 40 m depth total 7 boring at Lala Purwa and Gurhava, the habitation of Newada village. Two types of boring was done 1)core sample boring and 2)pressure boring to know the groundwater arsenic pollution mechanism. Soil samples were collected at 1m interval during each boring. After completion of the boring, we installed the observation well. Water samples were collected from the observation well beside water flow observation. Total Activity was conducted under the supervision of Japanese experts.

Engineers’ Workshop

A workshop for the engineers was organized on 11th October 2012 by BAMP in collaboration with D-AMC to educate all level of Bahraich district engineers regarding arsenic removal filter mechanism.
BAMP showed the presentation of GSF arsenic removal mechanism, maintenance and construction techniques. Through the presentation we informed the participants about the use of local material to construct the filter. Two Filter Companies (Water Life & Pacific Water Solution) showed filter maintenance procedures through presentation. After the presentation we had a very good discussion about mechanism and maintenance procedures.

Model Biogas Plant (MBP) BAMP has constructed a cattle-drop based MBP at Dhannipurwa habitation of Newada village. The reason of constructing MBP is to improve the villager’s standard of living, reduce ground infiltration of animal excreta and study behavioral changes of arsenic in methane fermentation biogas plant. Total activity was carried out under the supervision of a Japanese Expert.

Proposed Activities

We propose to hold awareness programs in collaboration with Cleanliness committees at village level, conduct evaluation survey, publish BAMP report and hold a state level symposium to share our activities and findings with government agencies and Arsenic Experts, before our project comes to an end on 31st March 2013.

JUSTIFICATION

Establishment of Government Initiative System

For the extensive Arsenic Mitigation Project, we collaborated with local government. In order to implement arsenic mitigation activities D-AMC (1) and B-AMC (2) were formed. All project activities were implemented through these two AMC.

Safe Water Supply System

First we wanted to know the situation of Arsenic contamination in our project area. Through household survey (3) and tubewell screening (4) we could know about Arsenic affected area and people.
UPJN is responsible agency for drinking water supply. They installed ARU in Arsenic affected area. But due to lack of knowledge very few people were using ARU. We collaborated with UPJN and Filter Companies to organize Users Training (8). Besides this, Project organized Engineers’ workshop (10) in collaboration with D-AMC. In order to ensure proper functioning and better performance of ARU, we established ARU monitoring system at regular interval (7).

Health Care System

To establish a health care system for arsenic affected people we organized doctors training program (5-c). Trained doctor trained PHC staff (5-a) to check the population in Project area through Users Screening program (5-b). They identified doubtful patients who were diagnosed by doctors through Health Camp (5-d).

Introduce Awareness Tools

Awareness programs were conducted in two ways and at different levels 1) mass awareness through Sign boards (6-a), Street Play Program (6-b), Exhibition Stall with UPJN (6-e) and 2) specific target groups awareness through Small Group Awareness Program (6-d), Flipchart program (6-c).

CONCLUSION

1. Establish ARU monitoring system
2. Establish a health care system and
3. Introduce various awareness tools.

We successfully implemented the current “Extensive Arsenic Mitigation Project in collaboration with Government in Uttar Pradesh State in India” Through this project. BAMP scaled up its integrated arsenic mitigation activities by extending its project area and involving the government at every level. We have set up a model of integrated arsenic mitigation in Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh. BAMP model needs to be implemented on a wider scale.
BAMP needs to continue arsenic mitigation activity in Bahraich to make the system sustainable.

REFERENCES

Rakesh Jaiswal, Yasunori Yano, Piyush Jaiswal (2010):
Integrated Approach for Arsenic Pollution Mitigation in Uttar Pradesh state, India. Bahraich Arsenic Mitigation Project. BAMP Report, 2nd International Symposium on Health Hazards of Arsenic Contamination of Groundwater and Its Countermeasures - Expansion of India Project to Asia Area – May 2010

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