Report from South Asia: Is Universal WASH Access in Reach?
June 29, 2010
By John Sauer
Water For People-India program is discussed in a blog on Huffington Post written by John Sauer of Water Advocates.
Excerpt:
I've been traveling the past three weeks in Bangladesh and West Bengal visiting water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) organizations and their field programs. I've covered a fair amount of ground and have seen the work of local governments, the UN and international and local NGOs.
Five to ten years ago many villagers did not have safe drinking water or a sanitary latrine -- the situation on the ground has improved. In Bangladesh, deaths caused by diarrhea have decreased significantly in the past several years.
Many folks I spoke with attribute the substantial drop in death rates to the increase in the amount of safe drinking water. In most villages I visited families had their own tube well, though some did share a well with a few other families. Before this rapid expansion of a water source close to the home, many families collected water from the ubiquitous unprotected ponds of Bangladesh and West Bengal. According to Water For People country coordinator Rajashi Mukherjee, "The ponds are absolute death traps; hygiene is the last thing you can associate with them." Fortunately, with the proliferation of tube wells, most people can now avoid collecting water from unsanitary ponds.
What do you think?
