Safe Water for Pampa Sarkar
April 22, 2009
By
Safe Water for Pampa Sarkar
For the first 15 years of her life, Pampa Sarkar thought she was drinking clean, safe water. This young girl from the Rajberia village in the Nadia District of West Bengal, India, had suspicions that the water coming out of the wells at her home and school wasn’t quite right, but she couldn’t be sure.
The water had a foul smell, bad taste and left a yellowish stain inside the refillable bottles she used at school. Anyone who had ever seen or tasted clean, fresh water would have known there was a problem immediately, but Sarkar and her family and friends, who grew up drinking this water, had no way to know—and no other options for getting their daily water.
That all changed three years ago when Water For People came to Sarkar’s village and installed a filter to remove arsenic from the water supply at the high school and the community center. Arsenic is present naturally in soil and seeps into groundwater supplies around the world. Developed countries have installed filters for removing this cancer-causing metal, but in emerging nations, many villages pump arsenic-laced water directly from their wells to taps with no protection.
No more waiting for improved water
“On my first sip, I recognized the difference between clean, arsenic-safe water and the old contaminated water I used to drink,” says Sarkar, who today is an 18-year-old student at Balia High School. “I am lucky to be a student at this school and feel I now have a longer, better life in front of me because of this water improvement project.”
With the support of corporate sponsor ITT—through its philanthropic program ITT Watermark program—Water For People has since expanded the scope of the project at Sarkar’s school. At Balia High, which has 2,800 students, the old hand pump has been replaced with a motorized system that delivers more water, faster. And instead of one drinking fountain, there are now more than a dozen, so more students can get water when they need it.
“When there was one tap, we used to stand in line at recess to wait forever for our turn to drink water. The desire to fulfill my thirst was eventually lost,” says Sarkar.
Addressing sanitation issues
The increased flow of water is not only quenching students’ thirst, it is improving sanitation practices at the school. With no running water inside the girls’ bathrooms, the female students have to bring the water they need with them for hand washing.
“Long lines at the single faucet discouraged students from carrying water for toilet use and eventually the practice was dropped by most of the children, leading to unsanitary and dangerous habits,” says Rajashi Mukherjee, country coordinator of Water For People–India.
Today, as they wait for new bathrooms to be built, students at Balia High School are again following smart sanitation practices, spurred on by their teachers and a group of fellow students, including Pampa Sarkar, who are part of a water and sanitation awareness group.
Water For People—again with the support of ITT Watermark—provided the initial training to these Balia High “water ambassadors” and in the process created a sustainable solution that will last long after the Water For People team leaves.
Spreading the word
Sarkar has already brought the water and sanitation messages home to her parents and hopes to spread the word to students at nearby schools who are still drinking contaminated water.
“My good health has given me the energy and ambition to help fulfill this dream,” she says.
That’s the power of clean, safe water.
Through projects like the one at Balia High School, ITT Watermark and Water For People are working together to change the way people see their future and live their lives. Sarkar has dreams of being a police officer and her mother has dreams of being a grandmother someday. Both dreams are no longer out of reach.
Without clean water, Sarkar, like many of her friends and family members, experienced constant digestive pains. “Gastrointestinal problems were rampant for us,” she says. As a result, she was missing school regularly.
Today, her academics—and police career dreams—are back on track. And so too are her mother’s hopes for her only child.
“Access to clean water is vital for my daughter,” says Pampa’s mother, Parbati Sarkar. “She is going to have a career and be a future mother, and her good health is the most important thing in making this happen. I feel our family has now been blessed with safe water.”
After experiencing the health benefits of clean water from the project, Pampa Sarkar and some of her classmates volunteered to join the WATSAN (water/sanitation) team that monitors and supervises hygiene practices and behaviors at their school.
No longer sick from waterborne disease, Pampa Sarkar has the energy to walk one mile to school, attend a full day of classes, return home to help with family chores, and dream of a career as a police officer.
Learn More
Read an article about the innovative technology being used at Pampa's school.
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