Case Study

Community Water Point

The original concept of Water Point has come from the Department of Public Health and Engineering (DPHE) who has piloted water point over 20 locations in Rajbari District. In response to the acute drinking water crisis, Baptist Aid’s origin plan was to install tube wells at different points in the affected areas of the Rajbari Sadar Upazila. However, after consulting with the Department of Public Health and Engineering and several on the spot visits and consultation with the community BAID staff found that the installation of deep tube-well would be costly and it would not be appropriate as there were stone and arsenic at the underground water level. The DPHE suggested BAID to install Arsenic and Iron Remove Plant would more cost-effective and useful for the community. That is how BAID decided to install community water points to address the acute drinking water crisis and sufferings of the communities living in these areas. The BAID team made several visits to the flood-affected areas, sat with the community and consulted with the DPHE and they finalized two unions in which these plants would be installed. Baptist Aid has successfully installed 10 Community Water Points in different parts of Pachuria and Borat Unions.The water point was set in a place where everyone in the community could collect water. The place had to be donated by a member of the community and there was maintenance cost that includes electricity bill and repair (in future), which community had to share equally. A group of 30 members from each of families of a village forms a committee who are responsible for maintaining water point. If they need to repair any parts, they will jointly do it. The place where the water plant is located is also cleaned and managed by the community members. There is a fixed timetable for the villagers to collect water from the plant. The villagers maintain a fixed time schedule to collect clean water from the supply point and they do not face any trouble to collect water following the time frame. An electric motor is used to store water in a water.