Untitled - UNU-IAS - United Nations University

Authors
Dr. Bilqis Amin Hoque, Environment and Population Research Centre (EPRC) 1
Mr. Katsunori Suzuki, United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS)
Dr. Yuko Sato Yamamoto, UNU-IAS
Mr. Sankareswaran Kalirajan, UNU-IAS
1 Environment and Population Research Centre (EPRC) is a nonprofit research and training organization for developing knowledge,
intervention, technology, human resources, natural resources, policy, and monitoring and evaluation in the fields of environment,
water, sanitation, agriculture, energy, education, food security, disaster risks management and public health. Special focus is given
to development of women, networking, small non-government organization capacity building and multi-sector and multi-agency
collaboration at local and international levels. Bilqis Amin Hoque has been the Principal Investigator of the series of applied
research projects on environmental health issues conducted in Bauniabad since 1993.
The URL of EPRC website: www.geocities.com/eprc_amin/

Water and Sanitation in an Urban Poor Settlement:
A Case Study of Bauniabad, Bangladesh
1

Contents
Foreword 5
Executive Summary 6
List of Tables, Figures, Maps and Photos 11
List of Abbreviations and Acronyms 13
Photos 16
Chapter 1 Introduction 18
1.1 Background and Purpose of Report 18
1.2 Brief Information of Case Study Site 18
Chapter 2 Historical Effort to Improve Water and Sanitation Conditions 21
2.1 Water and Sanitation Evaluation: 1993 21
2.2 Water and Sanitation Educationnal Intervention Research: 1995-1997 22
2.3 Research and Development of Technologies: 1995-1999 22
2.3.1 Sanitation 22
2.3.2 Water Supply 26
2.4 Promotion and Installation of Options: 1999-ongoing 27
2.5 WS Case Study: 2002-2004 27
Chapter 3 Methodology 28
3.1 Household Based Survey 28
3.2 Participatory Information Collection 28
3.3 Supplementary Information Collection 28
3.4 Environmental Laboratory Analysis 29
3.5 Dissemination Workshops 29
Chapter 4 Social Variables 30
4.1 Demographic Characteristics 30
4.2 Economic Characteristics 31
4.3 WS Cultural Characteristics 31
4.4 Work of Welfare Organizations 32
Chapter 5 Water 33
5.1 Overview 33
5.2 Sources and Use of Water 33
5.3 Acceptance of Water Provisions 33
5.4 Quality of Water 35
5.5 Cost Implication 36
5.6 Community Participation and Institutional Aspects 37
5.7 Conclusions 38
5.8 Further Steps to be Taken 38
3

Chapter 6 Sanitation 40
6.1 Sanitation System Options 40
6.2 Sanitation Practices 40
6.3 Costs and Financial Aspects 42
6.4 Wastewater Analysis 43
6.5 Community Participation 46
6.6 Conclusions 47
6.7 Further Steps to be Taken 47
Chapter 7 People’s Knowledge and Hygiene Practices 49
7.1 Overview 49
7.2 Knowledge and WS Practices 49
7.3 Knowledge Concerning the Roles of Water and Sanitation 49
7.4 Observations of Water Use Practices 50
7.5 Hand Washing Practices 50
7.6 Conclusions 51
Chapter 8 Lessons Learned and Recommendations 52
8.1 Needs for Appropriate Systems 52
8.2 Collaboration with Scientific and Engineering Experts 52
8.3 Participatory Approach 53
8.4 Integration of Hygiene Education and Awareness Raising 53
8.5 Need for Adequate Documentation 54
Appendices 55
Appendix 1 Summary report of the final workshop 55
Appendix 2 Original questions for questionnaire 59
Appendix 3 Analytical data of the biogas based sewerage system 63
Appendix 4 Detailed analysis of selected results 65
Bibliography 72
Glossary 74
4

Foreword
Water and sanitation (WS) problems as well as slum problems are significant concerns of the international
community. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set target 10 to halve by 2015 the proportion of people
without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation under the Goal 7 to ensure environmental
sustainability. The MDGs also set target 11 of Goal 7 to have achieved by 2020 a significant improvement in the
lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers. The Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), in its multiyear
programme of work, decided to discuss the water, sanitation and human settlement as the first cluster for
discussion in 2004-2005, taking into account the importance and urgency of these problems.
In reality, the WS problems affect a large proportion of slum dwellers of developing countries in our world. The
lack of adequate WS services among the poor in developing countries has been severely affecting their living
conditions.
A significantly great percentage of slum dwellers in developing countries do not have access to safe drinking
water and basic sanitation. In many cases the water they can access is highly contaminated with pollutants and/or
bacteria and not fit for consumption, yet as they have no other choice they are forced to drink such water for their
survival.
In some cases although they have access to safe water, they experience great hardship in trying to obtain it, such
as the great amount of labor involved with using hand pumps, or the great distances they need to walk to acquire
it. Women, who are considered the main caretakers of the household in many developing countries, mainly face
these hardships.
Most of these people also do not have access to hygienic sanitation services. The sanitation services that they
can access have been ineffective, forcing them to live in an unhygienic environment that is extremely hazardous
to their health. In relation to sanitation, the treatment of wastewater is an important issue. Due to urbanization
and population growth, there is a growing need to establish an effective system of wastewater treatment in
many of the poverty-stricken developing countries in the world. Without proper sanitation services, the effective
treatment of wastewater is not possible, and without effective treatment the possible detrimental affects caused
to the environment could be disastrous.
Along with these severe problems, effective education regarding WS is also of major concern, as some slum
dwellers still do not sufficiently know or understand about the drastic side effects that unhygienic living
conditions and practices or the drinking of unsafe water could cause towards their well-being.
These unfavorable living conditions, concerning both water and sanitation, in addition to the lack of knowledge
and understanding of them, have contributed significantly to the unacceptable child mortality statistics in some
developing countries.
The objective of the study is to document and describe all the WS projects that have taken place in Bauniabad,
an urban poor settlement in Dhaka, Bangladesh, from 1993 to 2003. It also aims to document the functioning
conditions of the old and newly introduced innovative WS options that have been available in the area.
Additionally it concentrates on gaining the peoples’ perception regarding the options that they originally had
and their willingness to pay for improved options. The study was conducted jointly with the Environment and
Population Research Centre (EPRC) in Bangladesh, which enabled various field surveys and interviews.
The study is very timely to provide good case studies and lessons learned from the actual problems that the slum
people in a developing country faced, and possible options and ways for consensus building to adopt such options.
The United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS) is one of the thirteen research and training
centres of the United Nations University. It contributes to creative solutions to key emerging issues of global
concerns. It is, therefore, particularly appropriate and timely that the UNU-IAS undertake a research on these
important topics.
I hope the lessons learned and recommendations of this report could be good contribution for discussions towards
achievement of the MDGs.
A. H. Zakri
Director, UNU-IAS
March 2005
5

Executive Summary
Introduction
The United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS) and the Environment and Population
Research Centre (EPRC) in Bangladesh conducted this case study between 2002 and 2004 in order to document and
describe all the water and sanitation (WS) projects that have taken place in Bauniabad, an urban poor settlement
in Dhaka, Bangladesh, from 1993 to 2003. The WS projects in Bauniabad have been a remarkable research, development,
improvement and learning about appropriate WS among urban poor settlements. It also aimed to document
the functioning conditions of old and newly introduced WS options that were available in the area. Additionally it
concentrated on gaining the peoples’ perception regarding the options that they originally had and their willingness
to pay for improved options. The peoples’ WS practices and their general knowledge concerning WS was also a
major point of focus, and thus they were studied and documented as well.
The case study starts with brief description of Bangladesh in general, mainly consisting of issues concerned with its’
population growth, its’ GDP, and its WS situation. These issues showed that Bangladesh has an alarmingly continuing
population growth rate with a relatively low GDP; it was 139 according to the Human Development Index Rank.
The WS situation also seemed to be unacceptable and in need of immediate improvement. Following this, a brief
description of its landscape shows that it is an extremely prone to floods. Bauniabad, the case study area, was built
under an agreement between the Government of Bangladesh and the United Nations Capital Development Fund. It
consists of five blocks each containing roughly about 500 dwellings, with a water pump provided for every 12 dwellings.
Each of these dwelling were roughly 8.8m 2 , and were provided with an alternate pit latrine. Though originally
only one family resided in each dwelling, the amount of families eventually grew to sometimes having up to five
families per dwelling in some cases.
Historical Effort to Improve Water and Sanitation Conditions
The main WS related activities conducted in Bauniabad form 1993 to 2003 are briefly explained. These include a WS
evaluation that took place in 1993, which summarizes the then available options and the environmental situation,
along with the perceptions of the people of the then available options, which were not well accepted by the local
residents.
Following this activity, a WS educational intervention research project took place between 1995 and 1997. The
intervention mainly aimed to educate the people about the then available options while at the same time trying to
improve their attitude towards such options.
The research and development of technologies took place during 1996 to 1999. During this period, different sanitations
options, namely single pit latrine, twin pit latrines, septic tank and the biogas based sewerage system were
tested. The biogas based sewerage system was found to be the most appropriate system both as a communal and
household based option and was also the most socially accepted one.
The promotion and installation of this option began in 1999, and is still on-going. The installation of the biogas
based sewerage system, as it was the most favored by the people, is on the rise; the latrines were connected to
these systems and the pits that were initially installed were covered up. The Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority
(DWASA), a collaborator of the research team, installed a piped water distribution system, including a pump, in
1999, and started to provide the people of the settlement with safe water.
Methodology
Concerning the methodology, a cross sectional survey, two focus groups discussions and two in-depth consultations
were used for collecting the data that was required for this study. Approximately 222 out of the 2688 households
were interviewed for the cross sectional survey. It aimed mainly to gather information concerning the peoples’
knowledge and practice about water and sanitation. In addition to this, it also helped in gaining demographic and
financial status data of the people. The first focus group discussion, held before the cross sectional survey, was used
to find the target group to be interviewed, which were found to be women as they were the main users of water. It
also helped in refining historical data concerning the WS activities in the area and formulating the questions for the
survey. The second focus group discussion, held after the cross sectional survey, was used to mainly clarify certain
views that were expressed in the surveys. The target groups for the in-depth consultations were the people and
organizations working in the area. It assisted the authors in observing how effective the efforts of the WS activities
had been from the perspective of the people and organizations who had been involved in implementation.
Further data that were collected included the scientific type, such as chemical analyses of both the wastewater and
6

drinking water. All the various sampling sites, for both wastewater and drinking water, are given.
Dissemination workshops at both the local level and national level were held in order to disseminate the findings of
the various water and sanitation activities. The main objectives of the workshops were:
to share and discuss the WS experience in Bauniabad and other areas in Bangladesh;
to discuss WS issues for the urban poor among policy and programme professionals; and
to develop recommendations for WS improvement among the urban poor.
After many presentations, there was a discussion session where many recommendations were derived (please see
Appendix 1).
Social Variables
The demographic data showed that the ranges of mean and median values of the size of the families in the
settlement were between 5.0-5.9 and 5.0-6.0, respectively. It also showed that the average size of a family in the
settlement was bigger than that of the national average, 4.8. The overall rates of less than 2 years of schooling for
females and males over 20 in the settlement were 1.0% and 0.2%, respectively. The rates of education of more than
5 years of schooling among the same target group were 44.5% and 64.8%, respectively.
The overall median for income of the families in the settlement was TK 3150 and the maximum was TK 9000, meaning
the overall median income per day per person was crudely $US 0.34 per day per person. There were less than
0.5% of families that were earning on average equal to or greater than $US 1 per person per day.
Though the hardships experienced by women in collecting water were open for discussion among the people.
Issues relating to sanitation were not openly discussed. This was because the feeling among the people was that
human waste was disgusting and, according to their culture, the act of defecation itself was regarded very private.
Bauniabad is rich concerning the presence of schools, health clinics and non-governmental welfare organizations.
Most of the non-governmental organizations that are present there are involved with micro credit, loan and/or
health promotion activities. However, they only provided limited support towards the costs of installing improved
WS options.
Water
There are 3 separate big ponds in the area. Despite being provided with hand pumps when the settlement was
established, people were still using the ponds to carry out various activities. However, after the installation of the
piped water system, most of the families switched to using it for all their water related activities. Though most of
the people of the settlement were using piped water as of 2000, some people were still observed to be using the
pond water for various activities as they could not finish their activities within the duration of when the piped
water was supplied; the water was only supplied for a few hours twice a day.
The water was safe when it was initially pumped out, but it became polluted with bacteria as it went through the
distribution systems in households. The pollution started in brick storage tanks that the people built under their
respective household taps, and the water further became polluted in the storage containers people used to store
their water. Illegal connections were observed, which were leading out to households that surrounded the outside
of the settlement. This water too was found to be polluted. The peoples’ willingness to pay for water was significantly
higher than for sanitation. It was still quite low when they could occasionally access the pump water system
from neighborhoods , but once the piped water system was introduced in 1999 their willingness to pay for its installation,
and the bills associated with receiving it, rose quite remarkably.
After discussions with the people of the settlement, it was decided that a locally specific institutional approach on
water management would be developed. Accordingly a local institution was formed in one of the blocks. Named
“Turag Samity”, this institution’s main objectives were to resolve illegal connections, outstanding water billing problems
and other sanitation related issues. It was agreed that this institution would work under the umbrella of EPRC
as it continues to maintain the technical advisor/research role, while EPRC will build the capacity of it.
Further steps that were needed included:
to conduct technological/engineering investigations and test the quality of the water;
to study the impact of piped water on the livelihood of urban poor women;
to pilot the integration of educational components on the operation and maintenance of the piped water system
and proper hygiene practices;
to help “Turag Samity” in building its capacity as a local institution; and
7

to develop the ability of “Turag Samity” to be able to both negotiate with DWASA and address other management
aspects.
Sanitation
In general, the sanitary disposal of excreta in the living environment improved significantly. The people in Bauniabad
were closely involved in the selection of an appropriate technology for their basic sanitation by comparing a
few locally available demonstration sanitation options. They chose the biogas system based on its cost, functional
merits and convenience in household connected sewerage system. The initial biogas facility used for research
showed about 70% BOD removal efficiency, and was cheaper than pit latrines or septic tanks in terms of per capita
costs. Another positive aspect of the system was that it had potentials for producing renewable energy, biogas,
which can be used for cooking. Majority of the families expressed their willingness to change their sanitation option
from pit latrines to the biogas based sewerage system in 1996-1999 period.
However, later it became clear that the systems did not function well in the treatment of wastewater mainly due to
(i) overloading of pollutants compared with the original design; (ii) lack of knowledge and practice about appropriate
maintenance of the systems; (iii) unexpectedly high inflow volume because of newly introduced piped water
systems; (iv) inactive activities of biogas committees that are supposed to manage the operation/maintenance
aspects of the system and (v) conflict of interest over use of the surface water bodies with growing fish farms and
other industries. In order to tackle these problems, the following further steps were suggested:
Quick survey on how the sanitation options are affecting the surrounding water bodies and examination of cost
sharing scopes among users and other local stakeholders for emergency activities;
Minimum water quality monitoring plan as quickly as possible and more complete monitoring plan later;
Capacity building of local technicians and laboratories to conduct accurate sampling and wastewater testing;
Training and involvement of the local community in the planning, implementing, monitoring and the operation and
maintenance of the system;
Research on possible scopes of renewable energy production and the reduction in green house-gas emissions;
Research and development of guidelines about the operation and maintenance of the biogas based sewerage
system; and
Development of new community cost sharing concept to include people and organizations who work in the area
and others who benefit from the installation of the system.
People’s Knowledge and Hygiene Practices
Water and sanitation (WS) educational intervention alone could not improve the WS related behavior of the people.
The lack of access to the appropriate WS technology options was also a contributing factor. However, during the
period of no regular/programmed educational intervention after the initial WS educational intervention period,
people became willing to share the cost for the improved WS technologies due to their acceptance of the technologies
as a result of their participation in recognizing the need for improved appropriate WS technologies.
Most of the women surveyed knew that drinking of polluted water caused diarrhea. They also knew that diarrhea
could be the cause of using an unhygienic latrine. However, when considering an appropriate hygienic option for
the disposal of human waste, they seemed to be more concerned about the dirty appearance of their living area
rather than being concerned about the possible health hazards. Hand washing practices were observed to be poor,
as most of the women surveyed were only washing one hand before eating.
Based on the hand washing practices that we observed and the information we ascertained from the focus groups,
it was evident that the women of Bauniabad were not aware of the need for the washing of both hands, or the use
of soap, to reduce the rate of transmission of fecal-oral pathogens into their food and water.
Overall, the hygiene practices were observed to be poor. The lack of practical and applicable knowledge probably
hampered the effective use of water for hygienic purposes. This may have been a result of the lack of dissemination
of knowledge relating to the importance of hygiene among the women of Bauniabad. It is also evident that there
is a strong need for the development of hygiene promotion methods. If such methods could be developed in a pilot
programme, it could greatly aid in the development of guidelines to improve hygiene practices.
8

Lessons Learned and Recommendations
Through the Bauniabad study, the following lessons were learned with the recommendations.
Needs for Appropriate Systems
The study revealed that unless appropriate systems are adopted, WS projects cannot be sustainable. It is recommended
that:
Adoption of an appropriate system is the key for successful WS projects. The system should be selected with not
only technological considerations but also economic, cultural and social considerations. The following factors
should be considered when we adopt appropriate systems.
Engineering performance (pollution removal rate etc.);
Initial costs for installation;
Operation and maintenance of the system and its associated costs;
Community management mechanism(s) to construct and operate the system; and
Social and cultural acceptability of the system.
A multidisciplinary team may need to be established to consider appropriate technologies for a specific site. This
team should document the factors as to why the technologies are adopted in the specific site and investigate replicability
of the technologies.
There is need to continue research and development of appropriate WS technologies and systems in Bauniabad and
poor settlements elsewhere.
Collaboration with Scientific and Engineering Experts
In considering technological and engineering aspects of the system, particularly when the technology is not the
conventional one, it is important to involve competent scientific and engineering experts. It is recommended that:
Scientific/engineering experts should be involved in the projects from the initial stage and continuously kept involved
throughout the R&D stages and during the operational stage in an institutional manner.
Collaboration with scientific/engineering institutions with reliable water quality laboratories, such as engineering
faculties of universities is strongly recommended.
The R&D activities conducted in this area should be supported to complete it to create a model for similar situations.
Regarding water supply, community based institution should be developed to manage the system in coordination
with the existing city provision, such as Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority in the case of Dhaka City.
Participatory Approach
Community people have been involved from the initial stage of the biogas based sewerage system in Bauniabad,
which enabled the needs and desire of the community people into the design of the system and significantly enhanced
acceptability of the system by community people.
Participatory approach should be adopted for all community based WS projects.
General guidelines for community participation may be developed. A multidisciplinary team will consider adoption
of the guidelines to a specific site, taking into account various specific social, cultural and economic conditions.
Integration of Hygiene Education and Awareness Raising
The Bauniabad case study revealed that the introduction of the new improved options changed the behavior of
the people in relation to sanitation and source of water. It was also evident that the hygienic benefits that the new
options provided increased their willingness to pay for them. There is a strong need for hygiene related education
programmes among the people. It is evident that the introduction of new options alone is not sufficient to change
the behavior of the people. It is recommended that:
Community WS projects should be coupled with appropriate awareness raising and education programmes to more
effectively achieve the objectives of the projects.
Awareness raising and education programmes should be conducted regularly in order to inform existing residents,
and especially new residents, about the importance of hygiene and safe water in relation to a healthy life style.
Need for Adequate Documentation
Various attempts have been made to improve water and sanitation conditions in Bauniabad in the past ten years,
which gives us important lessons to be learned through success and failure stories. However, through this study, it
9

10
was found that much information had been lost due to sudden and unplanned interruption of the original research
and poor management of data by the non research teams involved in wider installation of the options. It is, therefore,
recommended that:
Since the same system would not be able to be replicated at sites with different social, cultural and economic
conditions, not only adoption and implementation, but also process of adoption should be considered crucial for
community based WS projects.
All community based WS projects should undertake documentation of adoption processes with detailed information
including technological/engineering as well as social, cultural and economic aspects.

List of Tables, Figures, Maps and Photos
List of Tables
Table 1.1: Water supply and sanitation situations in Dhaka.
Table 3.1: Sampling arrangement.
Table 4.1: Selected demographic characteristics of the families surveyed.
Table 4.2: Selected economic characteristics of the families surveyed.
Table 5.1: Physical performance and problems related to the options.
Table 5.2: Quality of water at household taps, storage tanks and storage containers.
Table 6.1: Summary of selected variables about biogas based sewerage system.
Table 6.2 Claimed performance of the sanitation options.
Table 6.3: Results of the chemical analysis of the wastewater from each biogas based sewerage system.
Table 6.4: Results of the chemical analysis of the raw wastewater from pit latrines that are not connected to biogas
based sewerage system.
Table 6.5: The quality of human waste in Japan.
Table 7.1: Knowledge concerning health impacts.
Table 7.2: Hand washing practices.
Table A-3.1: Results of the analysis of the wastewater from each biogas based sewerage system.
Table A-3.2: Results of the analysis of the raw wastewater from pit latrines that are not connected to biogas based
sewerage system.
Table A-4.1: Sources of water use for various purposes.
Table A-4.2: Installation costs shared by respondents for water options during various periods.
Table A-4.3: Sanitation practices in different periods.
Table A-4.4: Costs shared by respondents for sanitation options during various periods.
List of Figures
Figure 1.1: Schematic drawing of the study area.
Figure 2.1: Water and sanitation programmes as implemented.
Figure 2.2: Drawing of tested single pit latrine.
Figure 2.3: Drawing of the twin pit latrine.
Figure 2.4: Schematic illustration of a septic tank.
Figure 2.5: Schematic drawing of tested biogas facility in Bauniabad.
Figure 2.6: Schematic drawing of wastewater treatment in the biogas based sewerage system.
Figure 5.1: Change in sources of water for the use of various purposes of the families surveyed inside the blocks; (a)
drinking, (b) cooking, (c) bathing, (d) washing utensils, and (e) others.
Figure 5.2: Schematic drawing of piped water distribution system and the household water storage facility.
Figure 5.3: Installation cost that each surveyed families paid for the available water options in different periods.
Figure 6.1: The types of sanitation options during the different periods by families surveyed inside the blocks.
Figure 6.2: The types of sanitation options used by the surveyed families in each block and outside the blocks from
1999-Present.
Figure 6.3: Installation cost that each of the surveyed families inside the blocks paid for the available sanitation
options in different periods.
Figure 6.4: Biogas system installation cost shared by the community and the number of the biogas systems
installed.
Figure 6.5: The wastewater sampling locations of the biogas based sewerage system.
Figure 6.6: BOD concentration levels in systems with a soak pit.
Figure 6.7: BOD concentration levels in systems without a soak pit.
Figure 6.8: CODcr concentration levels in systems with a soak pit.
Figure 6.9: CODcr concentration levels in systems without a soak pit.
List of Maps
Map 1.1: Map of Bangladesh.
Map 1.2: Map of Dhaka city
11

List of Photos
Photo 1.1: A street in Bauniabad.
Photo 2.1: Overflowing latrine.
Photo 2.2: Polluted kitchen.
Photo 2.3: Tested single pit latrine.
Photo 2.4: Latrines connected to the septic tank in Agargao.
Photo 2.5: Biogas facility under construction.
Photo 5.1: Example of a tank constructed around a tap.
Photo 5.2: Members of “Turag Samity”
Photo 7.1: Use of surface water for washing cooking utensils.
12

List of Abbreviations and Acronyms
APHA
American Public Health Association
AT
appropriate technologies
BOD
biochemical oxygen demand
BUET
Bangladesh University of Engineering Technology
COD
chemical oxygen demand
CSD
Commission on Sustainable Development
DANIDA
Danish International Development Agency
DCC
Dhaka City Corporation
DFID
Department for International Development, Bangladesh
DPHE
Department of Public Health Engineering, Bangladesh
DSK
Dushtha Shasthya Kendra
DWASA
Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority
EC
electrical conductivity
E. coli Escherichia coli
Eng.
Engineer
EPRC
Environment and Population Research Centre
FC
fecal coliform
GDP
gross domestic product
GO
government organization
ICDDR,B
International Centre for Diarrheol Disease Research, Bangladesh
IMF
International Monetary Fund
l
liter(s)
LGED
Local Government Engineering Department
LGRD&C
Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development Cooperatives, Bangladesh
m
meter(s)
mg
milligram(s)
ml
milliliter(s)
mS
millisiemens
NGO
nongovernmental organization
NO3-N
nitrate nitrogen
NO2-N
nitrite nitrogen
NH3-N
ammonium nitrogen
P.I.
project investigator
PPP
purchasing power parity
R&D
research and development
SHAHAR
Supporting Households Activities for Hygiene, Assets and Revenue
Temp.
temperature
TK
Taka (Bangladeshi Currency)
T-N
total nitrogen
UNDP
United Nations Development Programme
UNICEF
United Nations Children’s Fund
UNU-IAS United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies
USAID
United States Agency for International Development
WASA
Water and Sewerage Authority
WHO
World Health Organization
WS
water and sanitation
WSSD
World Summit on Sustainable Development
13

Map 1.1 : Map of Bngladesh
(Source : U.S. Central Intelligence Agency)
Map 1.2 : Map of Dhaka city.
15

Photo 1.1 : A Street in Bauniabad
Photo 2.1 : Overflowing latrine.
Photo 2.2 : Polluted kitchen.
Photo 2.3 : Tested single pit latrine.
Photo 2.4 : Latrines connected to the septic tank in Agargao.
16

Photo 5.1 : Example of a tank constructed
around tap.
Photo 2.5 : Biogas facility under construction.
Photo 5.2 : Members of “Turag Samity”.
Photo 7.1 : Use of surface water for washing cooking utensils.
17

Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Background and Purpose of Report
In the developing world, approximately two out of every ten people are without access to safe water supply; five
out of ten people live without adequate sanitation (excreta disposal), and nine out of ten people do not have their
wastewaters treated to any degree (IMF/World Bank, 2003). The percentage of people using improved drinking
water sources rose from 77% (4.1 billion) in 1990 to 83% (5.2 billion) in 2002, and also during the same period, the
proportion of the world’s population with access to improved sanitation increased from 49% (2.6 billion) to 58% (3.6
billion), respectively (WHO/UNICEF, 2004). The majority of people in the world who lack water and sanitation live in
Asia and Africa. A respective comparison between the total investment in water supply and sanitation during 1990-
2002 shows the relative disregard of sanitation related problems (WHO/UNICEF, 2004).
Target number 10 under the Millennium Development Goals to Ensure Environmental Sustainability aims to halve
the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water by 2015. In addition, sanitation target
number 11 under the same goal as amended by the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) held in
Johannesburg aims to halve the proportion of people without adequate sanitation by 2015. Additionally, other goals
to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women along with reducing child mortality, water resource
management and other issues for sustainable development are all linked with management of safe drinking water
and sanitation (IMF/World Bank, 2003).
The water and sanitation problems are chronic in developing countries, and there is a great urgency to address
them. Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation particularly emphasize the importance of increasing
access to safe drinking water and sanitation as a central element of poverty reduction efforts. The countries
have to play the leading and key roles in addressing the situations, while the international community and development
partners will provide support as much as possible. The Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) has
assigned the year 2004-2005 for water, sanitation and human settlement. This means that it is high time that the
challenges of sustainable water and sanitation are addressed based on proper consideration of information from
real examples.
In this report, we present a case study on water and sanitation (WS) improvement among the urban poor in Bauniabad,
Dhaka, Bangladesh between 1993 and 2004, which was based on the experience gained from either conducting
the interventions and/or this case study. This case study has both global and local implications. Rapid and/or
unplanned urbanization together with the growth of the urban poor who face WS problems is a major challenge of
poor settlements in most developing countries.
The objectives of the case study were to: (i) describe the water and sanitation situations and options between 1993
and 2004, (ii) determine the functioning conditions of the existing water and sanitation options, (iii) document the
process and results obtained in the WS efforts during the period, (iv) draw the lessons and, (v) disseminate the findings
among the local, national and international stakeholders. The report is structured in the following order: Chapter
1: Introduction, which introduces the background and purpose of this report in addition to brief information
of the case study site. Chapter 2: Historical Effort to Improve Water and Sanitation Conditions, which documents
all the water and sanitation projects/studies since 1993. Chapter3: Methodology, which deals with data collection,
water analysis and data management. Chapter 4: Social Variables, which presents an analysis of selected social and
related variables. Chapter 5: Water, which deals with water supply and its use, performance of the options, water
quality, institutional aspects and costs, community and other stakeholder participation, conclusions and further
steps to be taken. Chapter 6: Sanitation, which includes information related to excreta disposal practices, performance
of the options, environmental sanitation and costs. Chapter 7: People’s Knowledge and Hygiene Practices,
which presents an analysis of selected WS related knowledge, attitudes and practices at personal and community
levels. Chapter 8: Lessons Learned and Recommendations, which presents the lessons learned and recommendations
based on field observations, the case study and the national dissemination workshop. In addition, the appendix
section includes a summary of the questionnaire used to collect the data, selected detailed analysis, and the
programme and summary report of the national dissemination workshop.
1.2 Brief Information of Case Study Site
Bangladesh lies in the northeastern part of South Asia. It got its independence in 1971. It has an area of 147,570 km 2 .
It is one of the most densely populated countries of the world, with a population increasing from approximately 74
million in 1973 to 129 million in 2001. In addition the annual growth rate was 1.48% and the population density was
876 persons per km 2 in 2001 (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 2002). Despite a steadily declining birth rate because
of intensified efforts for population control, it is estimated that the country’s population may exceed 176 million by
2025, increasing the population density to about 1200 persons per km 2 (Ahmad, 2000). The effects of population
18

growth will continue to be felt most severely in the urban sector, where the growth rate over the past two decades
has been between 5 and 6% per annum, and is likely to be similar for many years to come. Currently, the urban
population accounts for about 20% of the total population, and the proportion is expected to rise to 53% by 2025
(Rasheed, 2000).
Bangladesh is also overburdened with an extremely high rate of poverty. According to the Human Development
Report released by UNDP in 2003, the GDP per capita was 1,610 PPP $US, the Human Development Index Rank was
139, the adult literacy rate (age 15 and above) was 40.6%, the population living below $US 1 a day was 36.0%, the infant
mortality rate was 51 per every 1000 live births, the rates of mortality for children aged under 5 was 77 per every
1000 live births, and children under the age of 5 who were underweight for their age group was 48% (UNDP, 2003).
Bangladesh, a disaster prone country, is experiencing one of the highest rates of unplanned urbanization. Except
for the hilly regions in the northeast and southeast parts, the whole country consists of low and flat land formed
mainly by the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna river systems. It has three broad types of landscapes: floodplains
(80%), terraces (8%), and hills (12%). Floods are a recurrent phenomenon. Nearly 20% of the area is inundated, even
in a year of normal precipitation. The 1988 and 1998 floods affected about 60% of the land area and about half the
population was directly affected. The economic development of the country depends upon a host of factors, one of
which is high and stable level of agricultural production. Most of the people earn a living from agriculture related
activities. However, agricultural growth, critically depends upon weather conditions. Bangladesh is likely to be one
of the worst climate change/variability affected countries of the world (Huq et al., 1999).
The WHO-UNICEF Assessment Report in 2004 showed that the percentage of people with access to improved
drinking water in Bangladesh was 71% in 1990, and later rose to 75% in 2002 (WHO/UNICEF, 2004). The relatively
low figures regarding the access of improved drinking water to the people of Bangladesh is due to arsenic contamination
of groundwater. Massive arsenic contamination of groundwater has been publicly discussed and indicated
since 1997. According to the British Geological Survey and Government of Bangladesh sampled survey conducted
in 1998 and reported in early 1999, 35 million people were believed to be exposed to an arsenic concentration in
drinking water exceeding 0.05 mg/l, and 57 million people were exposed to a concentration exceeding 0.01 mg/l
(DPHE and DFID, 2000) 2 . This contamination of groundwater (drinking water) is one of the current most demanding
and complex challenges of the country. However, Dhaka city, the town where the case study was conducted, is not
affected by arsenic contamination and thus this issue is not included in this study.
Dhaka is the capital city. It experienced a growth of 314% during 1974-1991 (Rasheed, 2000). According to a 1995 survey
in Dhaka, the absolute poverty line and the hard-core poverty line of Dhaka are 54.9% and 31.9%, respectively.
In addition, with an estimated 9 million people living in an area of 1,339 km 2 in metropolitan Dhaka (Islam et al.,
1997), the population density is calculated to be roughly 6720 persons per km 2 . According to the same survey, only
about 3.2% own land, and 89% of households, whose average size is 4.2 persons per household, live in a single room.
Nearly 30-40% of the population of Dhaka lives in slums. Slums are informal houses, built with very poor structural
quality, to supply low-cost dwellings to the poor in densely populated areas. The slum houses in Dhaka usually have
minimum or no sanitation or utility services and have extremely poor environmental conditions (Islam et al., 1997).
The poor of Dhaka city in general have little access to sanitation, street lighting, garbage disposal, drainage and other
services. Water supply and sanitation situations in Dhaka are presented in Table 1.1. It shows that in 2000, 100%
of both the slum and non-slum dwellers drank tap/tube well/dug well water, but there was no absolute certainty
that this water was considered safe.
As presented in Table 1.1, majority of the poor people of Dhaka in 2000 did not have access to improved sanitation
facilities such as water seal toilets, flush toilets and pit latrines. At that time, they mainly had access to hanging
latrines, which is a facility in where defecation takes place where the excreta goes directly into water bodies or
ditches without any treatment. Pit latrines include holes lined by concrete rings and a slab on the top of the rings.
The water seal or flush toilets may have been connected to one of three treatment options; these options included
the Dhaka sewerage system, septic tanks and biogas facilities. However, these types of connections are only accessible
to an extremely minute number of the slum population.
Table 1.1: Water supply and sanitation situations in Dhaka.
Category Drinking water sources Sanitation facilities
Tap/Tube well/Dug well Water seal/ Pit latrines Hanging latrine/
Flush toilet
Open defecation
% % % %
Dhaka slums 100 1.6 20.3 78.1
Dhaka non-slums 100 61.5 8 .7 29.8
Source: UNICEF, 2000
2 WHO guideline value for arsenic in drinking water is 0.01 mg/l.
19

Bauniabad was established as a special resettlement for the poor in Dhaka by the Government of Bangladesh. The
location is shown in Figure 1.1 (maps of Bangladesh and Dhaka city are shown in Map 1.1 and 1.2). The settlement
was built under an agreement between the Government of Bangladesh and the United Nations Capital Development
Fund in the late 1980s or early 1990s. The project resettled 2600 squatter families in an area of 0.36 km 2 ;
arranged in 5 blocks on the side of an embankment. The high soil embankment was constructed to protect the city
from the river ‘Turag’. The resettled families were mostly slum dwellers from Bhasentak, another slum settlement
of Dhaka, and moved to Bauniabad due to development activities which had begun there. Each family was allotted
an area/plot of about 8.88 m 2 , approximately 2.4 m (width) by 3.7 m (length). The occupants received contracts for
the plot with specific installments to be paid over an agreed period after which they would own the premises.
The plots were arranged in five blocks, A, B, C, D, and
E (Figure 1.1). Each block has 22 lanes, except Block D,
which has 24 lanes. There are about 12 plots on each
side of each lane, and each plot was occupied by
one family during its development (Photo 1.1). Every
household was provided with an improved sanitation
provision; alternate pit latrine. The latrines were built
in a separate structure that was attached to the dwelling
units; each consisted of a platform with a squatting
pan and water-seal structure, two separate adjacent
pits and a cover slab. The platform with the squatting
pan was to be placed on the pit that was in current use.
When that first pit filled up, the squatting pan was to
be moved to the top of the second pit. It was expected
that this alternating provision would allow adequate
time for the contents of the pit to decompose, allowing
safe handling of the sludge when taking it out of the
pit for disposal. One shallow hand pump was installed
for every row, or 12 households. Although originally
land/plot contracts were awarded to 2600 families,
according to local leaders, currently there may be more
than 7000 families. The size increased due to normal
family growth and some families renting out a part of
their house.
As mentioned earlier, the residents of Bauniabad were provided with access to water and an improved sanitation
provision. However, the people of the settlement were still not able to live in a healthy and sanitary environment
due to the inadequate operation of the available sanitation facilities.
In order to address the sanitation problem the country has set a goal for ‘Total Sanitation by 2010’. We believe sharing
the experiences and results gained while conducting the WS evaluations, interventions and this case study in
Bauniabad will contribute towards both the management of knowledge and further development of sustainable
water and sanitation solutions in Bangladesh as well as other developing countries experiencing similar challenges.
20

Chapter 2 Historical Effort to Improve Water and Sanitation
Conditions
The main activities related to Water and Sanitation (WS) projects observed since 1993 are shown in Figure 2.1.
They included evaluations of the existing environmental health situation, educational intervention, research and
development of technologies, the promotion and installation of the developed technologies, and WS case study.
WS activities in Bauniabad have provided a rare opportunity for the research and development (R&D) of drinking
water, sanitation and hygiene improvement programmes among poor for almost a decade; all programmes were
demanded by the people and involved their participation. The activities included a few separate projects funded
by different donors and organizations.
There have been needs for: (i) documenting the experiences gained during the activities in various projects and
(ii) proper knowledge management of the knowledge gained through the documentation. This case study is an
attempt towards achieving these needs.
2.1 Water and Sanitation Evaluation: 1993
During the early 1990s, after the construction of the resettlement with WS and other provisions, Concern, an Irish
NGO, was mainly involved in water, sanitation, drainage and other environmental health improvement efforts in
the area. Their WS programme mainly included education and motivation about sanitation, latrine use, and health
interventions. In addition, under the same programme, they installed and taught about the use of deep tubewells
(Tara pumps) as the original shallow tube-wells had problems in discharging water. They also attempted to
develop a technology and/or establish a mechanism for emptying the pits of the latrines as they filled up with
sludge. Concern commissioned Bilqis Amin Hoque to evaluate the WS situation in 1993 (Hoque et al., 1994a). It
was observed during the evaluation that the installed WS options were fully used by the people. However, the pits
were maintained so poorly that concentrated human waste pollution from the latrines created a serious and huge
problems within the community; the pits were overflowing, leaking or broken (Photo 2.1).
Although all of the houses in the blocks were provided with alternate pit latrines, 74% of the houses surveyed
during this period reported that they had been using only one pit instead of alternating between pits since the
installation of their latrines. They emptied the contents of the pit 1-4 times per year; 69% carrying the contents in
a bucket and dumping it in drains in the settlement, with the rest of them dumping the contents indiscriminately
in other water bodies. In 28% of the houses that were surveyed, the kitchen area was extended into the structure
that included the pits, hence the use of only one pit by the residents. However, the unused pits inside the extended
kitchen areas in the surveyed houses were also found to be full of wastewater and cockroaches (Photo 2.2). The
risks for the transmission of diseases by the insects and leaking pits were high. The people in the community were
found to be lacking in environmental health and WS related operation and maintenance knowledge. Both Concern
staff and the people of the community claimed that they were not involved in the planning and installation of the
original water and sanitation options of the area.
The local social leaders and housewives claimed that the main barriers to the improvement of WS and
environmental conditions were, (i) absence of appropriate WS options (though there were some WS options
available, they were considered inappropriate by the residents), (ii) no involvement of the people in deciding which
WS option was to be installed, or the technological improvement of the installed options from the beginning
of the settlement until the present time (when the interview was conducted), and (iii) limited interest for WS
condition improvement among the more than a dozen government and non-government organizations working
there. The local people, Environmental Health Committee and the then Mayor made a special request to the then
project investigator (Bilqis Amin Hoque) and Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority (DWASA) to transform the
evaluation into an action research project with the aim of helping the community to solve the existing water and
sanitation related biological disaster.
21

2.2 Water and Sanitation Educational Intervention Research: 1995-1997
An environmental health educational intervention (applied research project) in Bauniabad funded by United
States Agency for International Development (USAID-Washington) and Johns Hopkins University, was conducted
by the Environmental Health Programme of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh
(ICDDR,B) in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University (Prof. R. Black), DWASA (Dr. A. Huq), Dhaka City
Corporation (DCC), the Ministry of Local Government and the Rural Development and Co-operatives (LGRD&C) (Mr.
A. F. Chowdhury, Mr. Qashem) and, Urban Slum Project of ICDDR,B. The WS project was undertaken based on the
need felt by the principal investigator of the 1993 evaluation project and on the request from the then Mayor of
Dhaka City. The objectives of the project were to study the needs of the people and improve their WS situations
through a community based educational intervention.
Pit latrines and hand pumps were commonly regarded as the most appropriate options for the poor settlement,
and as these options were already available to them, an educational intervention concerning knowledge, attitude
and operation and maintenance improvement related to these WS options was conducted during 1996 (Hoque
et al., 1998). The main activities under the intervention included; (i) a baseline and needs assessment survey, (ii)
training of volunteers; consisting of interested males, females and NGO members, (iii) community WS education
by trained volunteers and project workers, and (iv) follow-up surveys.
Under this project, an Environmental Health Committee of elected members and local leaders was formed under
the leadership of the elected Ward Commissioner in order to involve and build the capacity of possible local
informal institutions. The members of the project and the Environmental Health Committee worked closely in
implementing the educational intervention. The Committee support was helpful in ensuring the educational
campaign through monthly courtyard meetings by the local volunteers. The Committee met regularly once or
more a month to discuss the WS and other issues. It became an effective mechanism for discussing, planning
and addressing WS, social and other issues such as electricity, drain cleaning, etc. However, it could not develop/
establish any sustainable sanitary solution to the improvement of the WS conditions based on the existing
technologies, and so the poor WS practices continued.
The baseline and follow-up surveys conducted during this period showed that about 100% of those surveyed
drank hand pump water, and 98% of them used the same one pit of the sanitary latrine. Most of the sampled
households had changed to one pit latrine use, as the other pit was in an area included inside their respective
kitchens. It was once again observed that although the excreta was confined inside the pits in majority of the
latrines (71%), the pits were not maintained in sanitary way. Many of the pits were observed to be leaking and/
or overflowing with waste. Reportedly, the local people had no proper option to empty the contents of the pit.
Professional scavengers (sweepers) asked for unaffordable costs, and consequently as mentioned earlier, most
the people continued the practice of emptying the contents of the pits in the neighborhood drains and water
bodies during the night. The project members or the local Environmental Health Committee could not make any
acceptable arrangement between the scavengers, DCC or other organizations about emptying the contents of the
pits.
Even though the level of knowledge among the people of the settlement regarding the relation between health
to safe water and sanitation improved significantly and they understood the importance of it, they did not
appreciate or follow the project message about burying the contents of the pit. They felt this way as they all
only owned or rented small plots and lived in a densely populated area, and thus there was no space to burry the
contents.
2.3 Research and Development of Technologies: 1995-1999
2.3.1 Sanitation
A research and appropriate technology development (R&D) project was conducted from late 1995 to 1999 based
on the needs expressed by the people and the experience gained during the educational intervention. The same
local Environmental Health Committee was present and participated in the planning and implementation of the
project with the research team. The research was conducted by ICDDR,B in collaboration with the Local Government
Engineering Department (LGED) (Ms. Tahera and Mr. Gofran), DWASA (Dr. A. Huq), DCC, Johns Hopkins University
(Prof. R. Black), the Ministry of LGRD&C (Mr. A. Hye), and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (Mr. Lokman).
This project was financed by Johns Hopkins University, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the World
Bank. The main objective was to test and develop appropriate community involved WS technologies and systems
starting from the comparison of the locally available technologies modified to address the local conditions.
22

Parallel to the education intervention in 1995, R&D
by ICDDR,B with LGED on human waste based
household connected biogas system started in
Bauniabad. Initially 3 different kinds of biogas
systems were studied; (1) system with a primary
settling tank for the purpose of settling the
untreated wastewater before it enters the biogas
chamber, (2) system with a final settling tank for
the purpose
of settling the treated wastewater
after it exits
the biogas chamber, and (3) system
without
either a primary or final settling tank.
It was concluded
that the inclusion of the tanks
improved the performance, but when a comparison
was made between the costs of operation and
maintenance requirements between systems with
and without tanks (soak pits) in the local context,
it was considered to be quite expensive. However,
later in 1997, it was observed that the environmental
condition of the water bodies surrounding
Bauniabad was deteriorating due to them receiving
raw sewage from the city. It was then decided that
the biogas facilities may be upgraded to include
a soak pit in order to improve the environmental
condition of the surrounding water bodies of
Bauniabad. ICDDR,B then further conducted research
from 1997 to 1999 on the comparison of different
sanitation options including the biogas based
sewerage system, pit latrines and septic tanks in
order to find the most appropriate system that
would be favorable to both the people and the
environmental condition of the surrounding water
bodies of Bauniabad.
From 1997-1999, two approximately 6 m deep
single pit latrines (Agargao, which is another slum
settlement of Dhaka), two 6 m deep twin pit latrines (Agargao and Bauniabad), 3 septic tanks (Agargao and
Bauniabad) and 3 biogas based sewerage systems (Agargao and Bauinabad) were installed and studied.
The pits of the pit latrines were constructed with concrete rings that were about 1 m in diameter and 0.3 m
high. The single pit latrines were used by 3 families and the twin pit latrines by 6 families. Simple drawings and
photographs of tested single pit latrines are presented in Figure 2.2 and Photo 2.3. A schematic drawing of the
twin pit latrine is shown in Figure 2.3.
The rates of decomposition and reduction of the sludge in the pits were slow. The single pits filled-up in about
6 months, and the twin pits filled-up in approximately 8 months. Concerning the twin pit latrine, once the first
pit filled up, a plate was used to shut the connection to the first pit, while another plate initially used to block
the connection to the second pit was removed, allowing the waste to flow into the second pit. However, in all of
the cases, when the second pit was to be used it was already about half filled with wastewater. This may have
been due to either wastewater seeping from the first pit, or due to the water table rising during the rainy season.
Furthermore, during the rainy season, when the water table rose, the filled-up pits became a nuisance. In addition,
another factor contributing to the undesirability of the pit technologies were, as mentioned earlier, the problem
concerning of an appropriate mechanism for the disposal of the sludge.
Thus, the pit technologies were not appreciated compared to the septic tank and biogas facilities, which are both
described in the following section below.
A septic tank is a water-tight single storied, underground tank in which sewage is retained sufficiently long
enough to permit both sedimentation of suspended solids and partial digestion of the sludge by anaerobic
bacteria. A schematic illustration of a septic tank is presented in Figure 2.4.
Three septic tanks were installed and studied in Agargao as a trial to judge its effectiveness before installing the
Figure 2.2 Drawing of tested single pit latrine.
23

system in Bauniabad. For the
trial, two small septic tanks,
each for about 6 families, and
another big one, for about 60
families, were installed. Two
latrines were connected to each
of the small septic tanks. Two
separate rows of latrines were
connected to the big septic tank.
Each row consisted of several
latrines installed on the top of
the tank (Photo 2.4). Both the
septic tanks were rectangular
in shape and included two
chambers separated by a baffle
wall. The first chamber was
about two times the size of the
second chamber as the bigger
(first) chamber included scum boards near the inlets and outlets. About 0.8 m 2 area was assumed for every 10
persons when constructing the first chamber of the tanks. The septic tank system allows the waste/wastewater,
once discharged from the latrines, to enter the septic tank from one end and go through the system where it has
a chance to decompose, and once decomposed, the effluents of the tank are then discharged in a nearby ditch.
However, the septic tank system installed and studied in Agargao, was deemed inappropriate due to the nuisance
of insects and bad odors, leading to the system not being adopted in Bauniabad.
A biogas facility is an anaerobic system, and consists of an inlet pipe and tank, an anaerobic reactor (often
referred to as a biogas chamber or a fermentation chamber), and outlet pipe. As an anaerobic reactor, many types
of the digesters have been promoted, such as the floating drum digester known as the Indian type, the fixed
dome digester known as the Chinese type, the Deenbandhu model, the bag digester, the plug flow digester, the
anaerobic filter, and the up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket .
The anaerobic digestion, which is the main reaction of the biogas facility, is summarized in the three stages,
namely Stage 1: hydrolysis, Stage 2: acidification and Stage 3: methanation. Human waste mainly consists of
carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and inorganic materials. In Stage 1, large molecular complex substances are
solubilized into simpler ones with the help of extra cellular enzymes released by bacteria. This stage is also known
as the polymer breakdown stage. In Stage 2, the monomer, such as the glucose which is produced in Stage 1, is
fermented under anaerobic conditions into various acids with the help of enzymes produced by acid forming
bacteria. During this stage, the acid-forming bacterium breaks down molecules containing six atoms of carbon
(glucose) into molecules containing less atoms of carbon (acids), which are in a more reduced state than glucose.
The principal acids produced in this process are acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid and ethanol. In Stage 3, the
principle acids produced in Stage 2 are processed by methanogen to produce methane. It is reported that the gas
production potential of human waste is 0.020-0.028 m 3 /kg (United Nations, 1984).
Biogas facilities for producing renewable gas from animal waste has been promoted for over a decade by
more than one government department in Bangladesh; various designs were promoted. Recently it has been
encouraged through a subsidized programme to install and use on-site batch type biogas facilities for energy
production and treatment of combined animal and human waste. As the main objective is energy production, the
subsidy is only allowed for families that have at least two cows or enough numbers of other animals to produce
the gas. However, most of the people could not afford to have the required number of animals.
From 1997-1999 the research and development of biogas based sewerage system was simultaneously done
under two conditions: (1) community latrine, and (2) household latrine connections. Three biogas based sewerage
systems were studied for community latrines; one in a rural school hostel for about 300 residential students in
Singair of Manikganj District, and two in the Agargao for about 80 families. It included a few community latrines
that were connected to collection pipelines of various dimensions, a connection pit, a fixed dome shaped digester
(biogas chamber), a joint hydraulic chamber, and a soak pit. The biogas based sewerage system connected to
poor households in Bauniabad using the small-bore sewerage system under the household condition, was
also connected, and had components, similar to that of the communal system; this type of connection to
individual households is a pioneering project. The two types of biogas based sewerage systems were observed
and compared with the other options for about 3 years during 1997-1999. It was found to be performing highly
satisfactory compared to the studied different types of pit latrines and septic tanks. However, there were limited
24

25

scopes (financial resources) to observe the water quality performance during the period and the research ended
before its completion due to an unavoidable circumstance.
A schematic drawing of the biogas facilities in Bauniabad and a photo of a biogas facility under construction in
Bauniabad are presented in Figure 2.5 and Photo 2.5.
The Bauniabad option was arranged as a gravity flow based small-bore sewerage system by connecting the
existing individual latrines on each plot; this system uses the power of gravity to aid the flow of the wastewater
through the system. A schematic drawing of the layout of the tested sewerage system is presented in Figure 2.6.
About 90 household latrines were connected to one biogas facility. The wastewater from 24 latrines is collected
through a pipe 0.1 m in diameter, which directs the flow of the wastewater into a square type connection pit at
the end of each lane; this type of connection pit at the end of each lane is about 1 m 3 in volume. The wastewater
from all the connection pits, at the end of each lane, is then collected by a pipe 0.15 m in diameter and guided into
the inlet tank of the biogas facility. There are also other pits within the system, which are used to aid the direction
of flow, cleaning blockages and other maintenance purposes. Experimental biogas facilities originally included an
inlet tank, a biogas chamber, a hydraulic chamber, and a soak pit.
Mr. Jainal, a local contractor, was trained to construct the first system and contracted to construct all the systems.
He was trained as a part of a community participation and local capacity building effort.
The wastewater quality characteristics of the all options studied in Bauniabad and Agargao systems were only
observed over a period of approximately 6 months due to financial limitations. During this time, the biochemical
oxygen demand (BOD) and the chemical oxygen demand (COD) were measured because they indicate the rates
of organic pollution concentrations (the COD was measured using the potassium dichromate method). It was
observed that the average BOD and COD of influent (wastewater before entering the biogas chamber) were 1950
mg/l and 2800 mg/l, respectively, and the average BOD and COD of effluent (wastewater after exiting the soak
pit) were 210 mg/l and 301 mg/l, respectively (Hoque, 1999). The overall removal of the total BOD and COD varied
from 62%-87% and 70%-81%, respectively.
Overall, the biogas based sewerage system was found to be the most acceptable option; the per capita installation
cost was the lowest, it was assumed that there was no/minimum operation and maintenance requirement, and it
also produced biogas for cooking for about 12 families.
A survey concerning the willingness to pay for the installation, operation and maintenance of various options
for WS was conducted before the testing of the options. The median value for baseline willingness to pay for
a sanitary latrine per household/plot was almost nothing. Therefore, the first biogas based sewerage system
and other tested options were installed free, and two more systems were installed on a cost-sharing basis. The
clients/users of the system, installed on a cost-sharing basis, contributed an average of approximately $US 4 per
household towards the sharing of costs for the installation of the biogas based sewerage system, and agreed to
bear 100% of the costs associated with the maintenance of the drainage systems and pipelines.
2.3.2 Water supply
The people of Bauniabad were simultaneously facing extreme scarcity of domestic water. They demanded piped
water supply for a sustainable solution. DWASA had no provision to install deep tube-well and supply piped water
to the slum at that time. The installation of a deep tube-well and a distribution system was estimated to cost
about $US 10,000. At that time, more than 11 other NGOs were in Bauniabad working on health and welfare issues,
with most of the organizations also carrying out micro-credit and saving-loan related activities. Various possible
arrangements or investments for the capital costs were discussed with the communities and the many NGOs that
were working there. However, none worked out to be acceptable to the stakeholders, as there was no way that the
local people could pay that amount of funds needed for the installation of a piped water system to DWASA.
The Investigator of the project, the elected Ward Commissioner (the then Chairperson of the local Environmental
Health Committee), members of the Environmental Health Committee, people and senior officials of DWASA
approached Mr. Z. Rahman, Mr. Maya and Mr. Hanif, the then Honorable Ministers and State Ministers of Ministry
of LGRD&C (lead ministry of water and sewerage) and DCC, with the request for piped water under the applied
research project.
The Ministers, senior political leaders and government officers visited the area. After the visit, the Ministers
approved a piped water system, but announced a condition that the people will pay 100% of the connection fees
26

and bills to DWASA like other common consumers in the city. After the people of the settlement accepted this,
DWASA installed a pump in 1999. The installation of the distribution system and informal household connections
is still on-going.
2.4 Promotion and Installation of Options: 1999-ongoing
The applied research and service initiatives at this stage, included: (i) handing over of the responsibility of applied
research of sanitation to another NGO during late 1999, (ii) promotion and installation of sanitation systems by
the NGO; the investigator (ICDDR,B) handed over the schematic drawings of the biogas facility and other related
documents to them, and (iii) continuation of the installation of household connections to the biogas based
sewerage systems. There was minimum initiative to institutionalize the piped water system; particularly to form a
mechanism for collecting and submitting revenues to DWASA.
Several biogas based sewerage systems were installed from 1999 by the NGO (Plan International). Each system
was connected to about 100 existing household latrines, irrespective of the number of users per latrine. The
old pits of the connected latrines were covered-up with cement, and the environmental condition of the area,
in particular related to the human fecal matter, significantly improved. As of 2002, the required amount for
the sharing of costs for the installation of the system shifted from about 20% to 40%, with the NGO (Plan
International) providing the rest of the cost. Currently about 100% of the cost is being asked for, and people have
expressed inability to pay the amount, so the installation has almost stopped. There are no soak pits in most of the
biogas facilities that have been installed recently.
2.5 WS Case Study: 2002-2004
EPRC and UNU-IAS conducted this case study between 2002 and 2004. The main objective of this study was to
document and describe the water and sanitation situations and options from 1993 to 2003. The case study also
aimed to determine the functioning conditions of the then existing water and sanitation options during the case
study period. Furthermore, the study aimed to gain the peoples’ perceptions of the available options and their
willingness and ability to pay for improved options. Their knowledge regarding both general WS practices and the
relation between sanitation and health was also of major concern, and thus it also was studied as another major
objective of the case study.
The final objective of this study, once completely documented, was to disseminate the findings and outcomes
to local, national and international stakeholders in order to assess the effectiveness of the earlier options and
the later introduced improved options. It also aimed to evaluate the overall acceptance of the old and new
technologies by the people of the settlement. The aim of both these evaluations is to see if it is viable to replicate
the installations of the options that were installed in Bauniabad to other urban poor settlements facing similar
situations and conditions.
27

Chapter 3 Methodology
The cross-sectional survey was conducted by systematically choosing households to interview. In addition, focus
group discussions, in-depth consultations, and environmental laboratory analyses were adopted based on the
types of indicators.
3.1 Household Based Survey
There were approximately 22 lanes and 24 plots per lanes (12 plots on each side of a lane) in a block. As the number
of families on a plot varied, plot based systematic and proportional sampling was conducted as shown in Table 3.1.
As mentioned earlier, although 1 plot was allotted to 1 family there were sometimes more than 3 families on a plot,
as some families grew from the children of the owners, and some owners rented out a part of their household.
Table 3.1: Sampling arrangement.
Block A B C D E Total
Total number of plots in each block 528 528 528 576 528 2688
Number of families interviewed inside blocks 44 44 44 47 43 222
A lottery system was used in order to find the first respondent, and then every 12th household was interviewed.
If there was more than one family in a plot, the first family on the right side of the plot was approached for an
interview. The housewife or main female member of the first family from the selected plot was requested for the
interview. When the woman was not interested or not at home at the selected plot, the woman in the adjacent
household was approached for the interview.
Thirty families outside the blocks, from the neighborhoods of the respective blocks were interviewed to
investigate their WS practices. However, due to budget constraints, an effective and in-depth analysis could not be
conducted, therefore only vital information concerning the neighborhood is referred to throughout the text.
The neighborhood consisted of dwellings on the side of each block, whose owners are even more poverty stricken
than the residents of the blocks; their dwellings appeared and disappeared on a regular basis, as they do not have
rights to the land. Six neighborhood households from each block were systematically selected to be interviewed
using the same systematic sampling technique used to find respondents in the block.
A Semi-structured draft questionnaire was prepared, pre-tested and improved after 3 key informants (2 female
and 1 male) conducted in-depth consultations, before it was finalized for conducting the survey. Trained female
interviewers in teams of two conducted the surveys. The surveys were conducted between 10am and 1pm, and
between 3.30pm and 5pm. Each survey required approximately 1 hour, including explaining the purpose of the
survey.
The questions in the survey concerning WS were grouped into three periods where WS projects were undertaken:
before 1995, from 1996 to 1999 and from 1999 to Present. The information was collected mainly concerning the
current socio-economic status of the respondents, practices about drinking water, types of latrines, cost and
financial aspects, local community participation, hygiene practices, and other WS issues. The original survey
questionnaire is presented in Appendix 2.
3.2 Participatory Information Collection
Two rounds of focus group discussions were conducted among the local women. The purpose was to understand
their views and refine the historical information. The first round of focus group discussions were conducted
before the household interview. It helped in the collection of information as well as both developing the survey
questionnaire and planning the survey. The women were targeted for the household surveys based on claims
made during the first round of focus groups discussions, where they claimed that they managed the WS practices
and options while men were often busy earning incomes. The second round of focus group discussions were done
after the interview survey to further collect data and clarify certain views expressed in the surveys.
3.3 Supplementary Information Collection
Besides the focus group discussions that were held among the residents of the settlement, two rounds of
key informant interviews were held. The first and second rounds were held respectively before and after the
28

household surveys were conducted.
In addition to aiding the authors in creating the household survey questions, these interviews also gave the
authors the opportunity to verify the historical information concerning all the efforts that had taken place in the
community. Other than these purposes, another purpose of these interviews was to aid the authors in observing
how effective the efforts had been from the perspective of the organizations/people involved.
These interviews were held individually with NGO workers, local Environmental Health Committee members,
social leaders, and DCC workers that worked in the area. In addition to these participants, a local contractor was
also interviewed. In total 9 participants were interviewed for this process.
3.4 Environmental Laboratory Analysis
Environmental laboratory analyses were conducted in order to check water samples from water supply systems
and wastewater samples from biogas based sewerage systems and pit latrines.
In total, 17 drinking water samples were collected, from the main pump (1), taps (6), tanks (4) and storage
containers (6), and were tested for fecal coliform (FC) bacteria counts following the standard methods (APHA et
al., 1989); the sampling points in the drinking water supply system are presented in Chapter 5. The samples were
collected between 9am and 12pm, stored at a temperature of approximately 4 degrees Celsius in a sampling-box
and transported to the ICDDR,B laboratory within 30 minutes. The standard method of using the membrane filter
technique for the FC count was applied on the same day. Every test was performed in two dilutions (1:4 and 1:1 per
100 ml water). The count was determined based on the average of the two dilutions.
Wastewater samples were tested from 4 different biogas based sewerage systems. Five to six samples were
collected from various locations of a tested system. The locations included the connection pit at the end of a
lane, an inlet tank before entering the biogas chamber (influent), hydraulic chamber, the soak pit or just after
hydraulic chamber when there was no soak pit (effluent), and the canal or water body into which the effluent was
discharged. Four samples were collected from pit latrines; the description of the locations of the samples, and the
results of the samples themselves, are presented in Chapter 6. The wastewater samples were tested for BOD, COD,
nitrogen compounds, FC count and other variables. The samplings were done in different bottles and in different
amounts as suggested in the standard method for the different parameters (APHA et al., 1989). The BOD, COD and
nitrogen tests were done by the Bangladesh University of Engineering Technology (BUET). The test for pH, electric
conductivity (EC), and temperature were all done on-site, and the FC count was conducted at the environmental
laboratory at EPRC. The physical and general observations were performed on site by the EPRC research team
during the sample collection.
The important results are analyzed and presented in the relevant sections of the report. The detailed results of the
test samples are included in the Appendix 3.
3.5 Dissemination Workshops
Two separate types of workshops were held to disseminate and discuss the findings of all the WS projects that
were undertaken.
The first series of workshops were held at the local level in each block to inform all the residents of each respective
block of the outcomes of the study. Then, on 19 February 2004, a workshop was held at the national level,
where politicians and other decision and policy makers at the national level along with representatives from
international organizations were invited. In addition to these participants, local specialists in the area of WS,
senior members of the Bauniabad community and both local and international NGOs were also invited to attend.
The workshop, jointly organized by UNU-IAS, EPRC and DWASA, was entitled “Water and Sanitation Issues of Urban
Poor” and was attended by 78 participants. The workshop had three main objectives, they were:
(1) To share and discuss the water and sanitation experience in Bauniabad.
(2) To discuss water and sanitation issues facing the urban poor among policy and programme professionals.
(3) To develop recommendations for water and sanitation improvement among the urban poor.
After the many informative presentations about the WS conditions of Bangladesh, and Bauniabad in particular,
there was a discussion session where many recommendations were derived with the aim of improving the
conditions of Bauniabad. The programme and the summary report including the recommendations of this
workshop are included in the Appendix 1.
29

Chapter 4 Social Variables
The socio-economic conditions facing the poor in urbanized areas are often harsher than those facing the poor in
rural areas because of the dense urban living conditions. Rural to urban migration has been the most dominant
component of urban population growth. Rural impoverishment and landlessness brought about by disasters like
floods, cyclones and river erosion acted as the triggering factors (Islam et al., 1997). The Government of Bangladesh
is yet to adopt an explicit urban policy. The inequalities of wealth and utility services in urban areas are reflected
in the inequalities in health status; six times more people per thousands die in the urban slum communities than
in urban areas in general (Islam et al., 1997). In general, communicable diseases arising out of poor environmental
conditions and poor personal hygiene are the most prevalent. In the next section, we present both the results
of a few selected demographic, economic and WS cultural characteristics of the surveyed families based on the
questionnaire survey, as well as information concerning the work being carried out by welfare organizations in
Bauniabad.
4.1 Demographic Characteristics
The demographic characteristics of the area are summarized and presented in Table 4.1. The ranges of mean
and median values of the size of the families in the blocks were between 5.0- 5.9 and 5.0-6.0, respectively. The
average mean and median values of the blocks were 5.6 and 5.0, respectively. The average sizes of the families in
Bauniabad are bigger than the national average, which is 4.8 according to the 2001 census (Bangladesh Bureau of
Statistics, 2002).
The overall rates of less than 2 years of schooling for females and males over 20 years old were 1.0% and 0.3%,
respectively. The rates of education of more than 5 years of schooling among females and males over 20 years old
were 44.5% and 64.8%, respectively.
Table 4.1: Selected demographic characteristics of the families surveyed.
30

4.2 Economic Characteristics
The indicative economic characteristics of the population in terms of income per month and possessed assets are
presented in Table 4.2. The overall median income for the families in the blocks was TK 3150 and the maximum was
TK 9000. That means the overall median income per day per person was crudely TK 20 per day per person (=TK
3150/30.5 days/5 median family size), which is $US 0.34 per day per person ($US 1=TK60). The number of families
that were earning an average of $US 1 per person per day was quite low.
The data concerning the possession of TVs or radios in those areas were not accurate. Focus group discussions
revealed that many families did not give the correct information about TVs, as they did not pay the yearly tax
that
is required for the ownership of TVs. Those who
had a TV were
likely
not to have
a radio. The possession of
radios
and TVs implied that certain residents of the
settlement
had access
to mass
communication,
in addition
to
indicating
their economic status.
More
than 70% of the sampled interviewees in the
Bauniabad
blocks
owned the
households
they
resided in,
and
the
rest rented the rooms/houses they lived in. Overall,
the
sampled
households
represented
a permanent
urban
settlement
that was in poverty.
Table 4.2: Selected economic characteristics of the families surveyed.
4.3
WS Cultural Characteristics
The women were the main collectors and managers of water. They were also responsible for cleaning the toilets,
and collecting water to be kept in the toilets for washing purposes, as the people of the settlement, similar
to most people residing in Asian sub-continent countries, cleaned them with water after defecation. Women/
housewives conduct cooking and all other domestic indoor/outdoor activities. Additionally, they are also expected
to take care of the children and elderly members in a family. Therefore, they are also the main users of water
irrespective of whether they use it for themselves or for the others.
Water issues and its collection by women were openly discussed
by the people. The importance in reducing the
hardship on the women in collecting the water was evident when there was a willingness to pay for it. However,
any defecation related issues were not openly discussed. Human waste is regarded disgusting and the act itself is
regarded very private, and that is why the defecation sites are always covered, irrespective of the type or location
of a latrine. Though there was a strong demand for improved sanitation among the people in 1995, there was
almost no willingness to pay for the then available sanitation options according to the baseline survey conducted
that year. This was because most of the residents found those options to be inconvenient and dirty. However, later,
31

when the people found the biogas based sewerage system to be clean and convenient, they had a willingness to
pay for it as much as possible.
4.4 Work of Welfare Organizations
The area is rich in regard to the presence of schools, health clinics and non-government welfare organizations
(Hoque, 1998). There were more than a dozen NGOs, which were mostly involved in micro-credit, loan and/or
health promotion, and implementation activities. As the area was crowded with thousands of poor people, the
micro-credit and loan activities were high and regular over several years. There were also a few primary health
care and primary educational NGOs. The health NGOs promoted safe water use, sanitation and hygiene practices
as part of their educational programmes, but only one/two NGOs were there to support the installation and/or
operation and maintenance of WS provisions. They provided limited support towards the costs of the installation
of improved and demanded WS options that were not affordable by the people.
32

Chapter 5 Water
5.1 Overview
The area was supplied with hand pumps when the settlement was established. Hand pump water, in general, is
regarded safe as its source is groundwater, and bacterium is rarely found in groundwater. In addition, there was
no arsenic contamination detected in Dhaka city, which justified the system as an appropriate water solution,
as it was both safe and met the needs of the people of the settlement. However, as the groundwater table of
Dhaka city lowered, water scarcity related problems occurred, which led to the strong demand for piped water.
Subsequently, installation of piped water, under the project activities and partnerships, was established.
5.2 Sources and Use of Water
There are three separate big ponds in the area and a canal beyond the embankment. The people used shallow
hand pumps (groundwater) for drinking and cooking purposes during the early periods of the projects, and despite
the availability of pump water at that time, some of the people still used the surface water for all purposes.
A summary of water use practices of the families surveyed inside the blocks by source of water over the studied
periods (before 1995, 1996-1999, and 1999-Present) is presented in Figure 5.1. The detailed analysis of the sources
of water used and the practices conducted using these sources, by the families surveyed, both inside and outside
the blocks, are included in Table A-4.1 in Appendix 4.
As shown in Figure 5.1, all the families interviewed, both inside and outside the blocks, changed to the use of piped
water when it became available, and this was a significant improvement from their earlier water use practices, as
piped water was the safest option for them.
Even though there were, and still are, big ponds present, none of the families surveyed claimed they used it for
domestic purposes. Yet, based on the information gained from the focus group discussion, families from the
neighborhood outside the blocks, and a few families inside the blocks who did not have access to piped water,
were still using the ponds. However, some families who had access to piped water still washed cooking utensils
and heavy cloths in the ponds as piped water was only available for certain hours of the day, and if those families
could not finish their activities within those certain hours that the water was available, they had no choice but to
use the pond water. These particular families were most probably forced to carry out this practice because they
could not afford the costs involved in building a storage tank to store the water when it was supplied.
It was also ascertained from the focus group discussions that sometimes some families, though having access to
piped water, liked to bathe/swim in the ponds during the hot weather.
5.3 Acceptance of Water Provisions
In general, majority of the people claimed they encountered problems in accessing domestic water before the
installation of the piped water system in the year 1999 (Table 5.1). Before the year 1999, most of them used hand
pumps, as there was no access to piped water. They had to undertake physical stress to collect the water from
the pumps, and the stress was particularly severe during the dry season. They suffered from overwhelming pain
throughout their bodies, as they experienced great difficulty in pumping the hard levers. They experienced these
great difficulties as the groundwater table fluctuated between a few meters to more than 25 m quite often.
Furthermore, another problem was that the breakdown rate of a pump was high, and often people could not
repair it, so there were many broken hand pumps. Due to this problem, the residents of the settlement sometimes
had to walk for 10-45 minutes one-way to a pump, far from their settlement, that was barely working to collect
their water.
Fifty-seven percent of the people surveyed claimed that the water system was acceptable during the 1999-Present
period. Those who claimed problems during this period mainly mentioned that the water was not available in
adequate amounts in Block C and that it was only supplied over a few hours of a day. They also mentioned that
they had to replace or fix the taps quite often, as they were stolen or frequently broke.
33

Table 5.1: Physical performance and problems related to the options.
34

5.4 Quality of Water
Microbiological quality of water is regarded as one of the most common indicators of safe water. E. coli
and thermo-tolerant bacteria/FC bacteria are commonly used in many countries, including Bangladesh, as
microbiological indicators for drinking water quality. There should be no FC bacteria count (colony forming unit)
per 100 ml sample. Figure 5.2 shows the schematic drawing of the piped water distribution system and the
household water storage facilities.
The water was directly
pumped to the taps,
without the use of an
overhead tank. Water was
pumped
for 3 to 4 hours in
the morning and for about
the same period during
the afternoon. Some
households
constructed
a
small brick or concrete tank
around a tap, as shown
in Figure 5.2, while some
others did not and left it as
it is. The households that
constructed these tanks did
so because, they wanted
to store the water for the
use of carrying out various
domestic activities during
the hours the water was not being pumped. Figure 5.2 also shows a schematic drawing of a storage container, and
these were used to collect the water directly from the tap during the hours of when the water would be pumped;
after which these containers would be stored inside the houses.
Five water samples were collected from taps in Blocks A (Pt. A-1 and A-2), B (Pt. B), C (Pt. C) and D (Pt. D), and
another sample was collected outside of Block C (Pt. Outside-1). Sampling points in Block A, B and C were close to
the main pump, which were in the middle of the distribution system, and the sampling point in Block D was away
from the main pump at the end of the distribution system. In addition, where available, water samples of storage
tanks and containers, both in and outside of the blocks, were also collected; water from these tanks and containers
come from the taps that were sampled. Furthermore, a water sample from an underground storage tank installed
outside the blocks by Dushtha Shasthya Kendra (DSK), a Bangladeshi NGO, was also collected.
The FC count from the sample collected directly at the main pump house was zero, meaning that the quality of
the
ground water was safe when extracted. The quality of water at household taps, storage tanks and storage
containers
are shown in Table 5.2.
The results indicate that the water at the tap point was contaminated. In addition, the level of contamination
increased significantly in majority of the storage containers at the households where the sampling
was
conducted.
Table 5.2: Quality of water at household taps, storage tanks and storage containers.
35

As the supply was not continuous, the risks of not maintaining the pressure balance in the system existed, leading
to the possibility of the safely pumped out water becoming contaminated. In addition, as mentioned above, since
the pressure balance in the system is not stable, there is a possibility of the contaminated water to back flow
into the system, especially when a tank is constructed around a tap as shown in Photo 5.1. The possibility of the
back flow occurring happens when the water level goes above the tap, which occurs quite easily when a tank is
constructed around a tap and not beneath it, leading to the contamination of the distribution system. The storage
tanks between the taps and storage containers were introducing highly unacceptable contamination risks to the
safely supplied drinking water.
It may be pointed out that the main distribution system with primary (from the pump) and secondary (inside
the blocks) branches were installed by DWASA. Usually the connections are made by DWASA after the users
make payments. However, most of the households did not pay the connection fees and made illegal connections
themselves which extended over a few meters. The illegal connections that led outside the blocks included tertiary
branches from Block A, which were more than 30 m long and were not done properly. When the connections are
not done properly, another form of contamination may occur through leakages, where pollutants may be sucked
inside the system by negative pressure created in the system when a pump starts. This problem poses a serious
threat, as there is no provision for chlorination or disinfection of water.
Pt. Outside-1 in Table 5.2 refers to an illegal tap/connection as mentioned above, installed by the people of
the neighborhood outside the blocks, which was further down the distribution system. There was also a big
underground tank installed in one of the neighborhoods outside the blocks by an NGO to store and supply water
to several families (Pt. Outside-2). The tap supplying water to the underground tank was connected to the same
piped distribution system that was connected to the taps supplying water to the residents inside the blocks. Many
people used the underground tank water for drinking and all kinds of washing purposes. However, unacceptable
high levels of contamination were detected at both the illegally installed tap/connection and the legally stored
underground tank outside the blocks (Pt. Outside-1 and Outside-2). After discussions with the users of the
underground tank, it was revealed that there is no mechanism for the regular cleaning of the tank.
5.5 Cost Implication
A summary of the reported costs invested in water supply for drinking purposes by the people surveyed inside
the blocks is presented in Figure 5.3. Invested installation costs by the people for various options during different
periods are presented in detail in Table A-4.2 in Appendix 4.
It is estimated that during the period of hand pump use, the cost of a hand pump and deep-set tube well was
about $US 200. In most cases the pumps were installed free by Concern before 1995. In Figure 5.3, the maintenance
and repair costs are not included, as the residents shared the minor repair costs for hand pumps, and most of the
respondents could not remember how much they spent. They did not do any major repairs, as the costs associated
with doing so were equivalent to that of installing a new pump. According to the focus group information,
36

during 1996-1999, the major repairs and installation of a few new pumps were done mainly by some welfare
organizations; in some cases, the costs associated with both the installation and repairs were shared between
the organizations and the people. The main pump and main distribution system installed by DWASA in 1999, cost
families $US 25-28 per connection.
Figure 5.3 indicates that the amount of installation costs shared/given by the people increased significantly with
the change of the type of option over the periods. The costs shared during the 1999-Present period for piped water
were significantly higher than the amount shared for hand pumps before 1995, and although many people had
illegal piped water connections, more than 60% of them made some payments for the connections. There were
many families who were willing to pay the connection fee, but reportedly, they did not have the access to DWASA.
According to the families, some had already paid a part of the fee with additional handling charges to unknown
DWASA staff.
Another kind of intermediary convinced them that they would give them the connections at a lower rate, which
many people agreed to. When DWASA came to know about these illegal connections, they sent them bills for the
connection fee and monthly charges.
Overall, the willingness to pay was present among most of the families, but the amount was thought to be too
expensive to be paid in one payment. Accordingly, a process about the regularization of the system has been
initiated as an action research project (described later).
An NGO has taken a legal connection from DWASA and is providing water services to the people outside the blocks
in the neighborhood. It has constructed a big underground tank that fills-up and stores water when it is supplied.
A few families have paid about $US 20 per family through micro-credit installments for use of the underground
tank water as needed. Approximately $US 0.016 per bucket is paid by the other users, and this money is used to
pay the monthly DWASA bills.
5.6 Community Participation and Institutional Aspects
The local people and community leaders had limited roles in the water supply planning and implementation
before 1995. After 1995, they took an interest in it, and they were able to express their interest through the
Environmental Health Committee. According to them, since the water and sanitation educational intervention
during 1995-1997, they got an opportunity to build their capacity as well as to participate in the improvement of
their water and sanitation issues. They were empowered to consider a sustainable solution such as piped water,
and to raise collective demand for it in an effective way through the applied research conducted during 1997-
1999 (R&D of Technologies). The local community leaders, under the leadership of the elected Local Government
Ward Commissioner, remarkably played the key role for coordinating the issue at the field level as well as making
suggestions based on the technical advice of the applied research project investigator (Bilqis Amin Hoque) to
the Mayor, Minister and senior level DWASA officials. The Ward Commissioner lost his seat in the last election,
and now there is a new Commissioner. The new Commissioner is interested in WS issues but is not involved in
the Committee due to some local politics, so the Environment Health Committee is not functioning regularly.
However, the community leaders are continuing the water and sanitation management process as required.
The process for community management in water includes two levels: (1) Bauniabad level, which covers all the
blocks for awareness and motivation, in addition to brokering agreements between the people, leaders and
concerned organizations, and (2) block level, which is for the final planning and implementation. EPRC is currently
providing free technical assistance as a part of action research on community managed WS systems. During the
period of using hand pumps, the option was managed through personal initiatives. When the piped water system
was installed, there was unavoidable pressure from the people on DWASA for connections in their blocks. Some
people took connections through the legal process, but many of them obtained it through an illegal mechanism.
During 2000, majority of the households got tap connections in their blocks. DWASA sent legal notices and due
bills to the people with illegal connections around 2001. The people who had legal connections also received
bills, but did not pay them; reportedly, they did not get the bills. Thus, the billed amount became quite high, as it
covered several months. The people had questions about the bills, as there was no meter. The local leaders then
requested Bilqis Amin Hoque of EPRC in late 2001 to help them in this regard.
It may be mentioned here that between 1999 and 2002 there were no funds for research, and in early 2002 EPRC
resumed the applied research/follow-up field activities using its own resources. EPRC collected situational data
through focus group discussions, and started operations and technical support in coordination and collaboration
with the local people and DWASA (ongoing).
37

It was observed that initially those who paid for the connections, paid for connection and a meter, but they were
not provided with the meter, as DWASA did not have many meters to supply. Although majority of the households
were connected, many could not show papers. As mentioned earlier, some claimed that they had given money to
‘middlemen’ (intermediaries), who never gave them the papers. There were no DWASA records or any existing local
documents that existed that showed the actual number of connections. After a few consultations, DWASA agreed
to settle the issue through installment payments.
After discussions with the local people, it was decided that a general approach and a local institutional
development approach about water management would be attempted. Accordingly, a local institution was
formed at Block A, as it showed the immediate interest for it. The main objectives of the institution are to resolve
the illegal connections, outstanding water billing problems and other sanitation related issues, and develop a
local institutional model for the others. In view of the suggestions, a 21–member committee was announced
on 21 December 2002 named “Turag Samity”. Out of the 21 members, there are 8 female and 13 male members
in the committee. The committee has a 7-member executive committee (3 female and 4 male members) having
the following portfolio: Chairperson-1, Vice Chairperson-1, General Secretary-1, Treasurer-1 (female), Organizing
Secretary-1 (female), and Executive Members-2 (1-female). The 21-member Turag Samity will operate the overall
water billing system of DWASA and conduct local simple repair work as requested by the people.
DWASA could not formally accept the Institution at its current stage, as it did not fulfill the WASA rules,
regulations and requirements. It was agreed that Turag would work under the umbrella of EPRC as it continues to
maintain the technical advisor/research role, while EPRC will build the capacity of ‘Turag’. Turag, EPRC and DWASA
will form a team to address the situation.
5.7 Conclusions
The access to safe water provisions changed from hand pumps to piped water over the period (1996-Present).
All the residents of the settlement are currently using piped water for almost all-domestic water. DWASA, also
a partner of the research project, made special provisions to install the piped water system for the poor as part
of action based research based on the request of the community and senior political leaders. This has been a
significant achievement for the people and the project.
The quality of water was observed to be safe at the pump house. However, the samples from a few points in
the distribution system indicated fecal coliform contamination. As mentioned earlier, there are no provisions for
chlorination or any other kind of disinfection for the water, which is the same situation with most of the piped
water systems in Bangladesh. The contamination in the system may have occurred due to faults in the distribution
system caused by inappropriate household connections or the storage of the water in the constructed brick/
concrete tanks that caused the contaminated water to back flow into the system because of the unstable pressure
in the system. However, only minor indicative water testing was conducted in Bauniabad, and it was not enough
for drawing conclusive results.
Usually water is collected and managed by women. Piped water has reduced the work and time load on them as
they no more have to stand in a queue or walk and work hard to collect the water from hand pumps. However, the
educational component about the sanitary management of water by the women was missing.
The majority of the households had got personally arranged connections which were not approved by DWASA,
which is regarded illegal. The institutional aspects in this regard are very important for the sustained availability
of safe piped water. A local institution within the settlement, ‘Turag Samity’, for managing the connections, billing,
common repair and other issues is being piloted, but it is too early to conclude if such an arrangement would work
adequately.
5.8 Further Steps to be Taken
There is immediate need to study the sustainability potentials of the piped water system in Bauniabad, and this
type of study could be replicated in some other parts of the country facing similar situations.
The following suggestions could aid in conducting an effective study:
To conduct technological/engineering investigations and test the quality of water through a properly designed
method in order to determine the associated risks factors of contamination and guide through possible
mitigation, if found contaminated.
38

To study the impact of piped water on the livelihood of the urban poor women.
To pilot the integration of educational components on the operation and maintenance of the piped water system
and proper hygiene practices based on the needs of the various stakeholders and study its impacts.
To help ‘Turag Samity’ in building its capacity as a local institution, linking it with DWASA, concerning the
following aspects: (i) establishing a system for regular billing and collection of the tariffs, (ii) minor repairing not
under DWASA responsibilities, and (iii) reducing water losses and pollution.
To develop the ability of “Turag Samity” to be able to both negotiate with DWASA and address other management
aspects, which can be achieved through training that should be followed-up every few years. After capacity
building efforts, the people of Block A could independently assume these important responsibilities, and a similar
arrangement may be extended to all the blocks, leading to better application of institutional issues.
39

Chapter 6 Sanitation
Sanitation problems have been chronic in the settlement from the early years of its construction; in spite of
an alternate pit latrine being connected to every plot. The frequent filling up of the pits and the indiscriminate
emptying of them were the main problems. Due to the lack of any appropriate provisions for disposing the waste
of the pits, the raw waste was often dumped in drains and other water bodies or was left to purposely leak out
or overflow, leading the household compounds and living areas to be heavily contaminated. The people of the
settlement, for a long time had demanded the Government, political leaders or any organizational representatives
that visited the area to make their living environment habitable.
The main objective of the sanitation component of the project, providing a sanitary and hygienic environment,
progressed through situation analyses, educational intervention, and research and testing of appropriate
technology. During the course of the projects three options: (1) deep pit latrines (both single and twin pit latrines),
(2) septic tanks (Agargao only), and (3) biogas based sewerage systems were pilot tested. The biogas based
sewerage system was found to be the most appropriate and demanded option in both areas (Bauniabad and
Agargao: see chapter 2 for more details). The following sections present the performance of the options, the
sanitation practices of the residents of Bauniabad, cost implication data, and the current situational status as
observed during this case study.
6.1 Sanitation System Options
In Bangladesh, pit latrines and septic tanks are promoted for urban areas. The capital city, Dhaka, has the only
water borne sewerage system in the country based on an aerobic pond treatment system. Usually various kinds
of pit latrines are promoted; such as, single pit, twin pit, alternate pit and offset pit latrines. There are no formal
mechanisms in rural or urban poor areas to empty the contents of the pits as they fill up, and as mentioned
earlier, costs to empty the pits were very high, therefore, the users were expected to empty and bury the contents
of the pit by themselves or with the help of other residents. However, as Bangladesh has the one of the highest
population density levels in the world and is also very flood prone, there is limited space available to bury the
contents. There are often complaints that pits fill up within short periods and that it is difficult to empty them
hygienically. It is also difficult to construct pits in flood prone areas, as they have to raise the land. In addition to the
cost affordability on the part of the people, available space, maintenance, and other issues also affect the hygienic
disposal of human excreta.
It was attempted to incorporate the demands of the residents during the research and development of the biogas
option. By doing so, the existing latrine pits were abolished, and the squatting place was connected to a biogas
based sewerage system. This process provided the residents who were badly in need of space to have additional
room for living without experiencing the health hazards they had to while they had pit latrines. They were told that
the option would have the provision for basic sanitation, a cleaner environment, and rid them of the responsibility
of disposing the excreta themselves. The history and interventions about sanitation are included in Chapter 2.
6.2 Sanitation Practices
The sanitation practice data indicates that overall, majority (73%) of the families surveyed inside the blocks
changed their option from pit latrines to
biogas based sewerage systems over the
periods as shown in Figure 6.1. Almost all of
the families were using ring slab pit latrines
or other options until the year 1999. The
details of the analysis can be found in Table
A-4.3 in Appendix 4.
After 1999, 14% of the surveyed families
inside the blocks and 80% of the surveyed
families outside the blocks from the
neighborhood were still using pit latrines
(Figures 6.1 and 6.2). Most of the pit rings of
the pit latrines being used by these people
were observed to be leaking or broken,
thereby contaminating the living area.
Almost all of the respondents (more than
40

80%) of Blocks C, D and E were connected
to biogas based sewerage systems. The
rates of access to biogas based sewerage
systems in Blocks A and B were significantly
lower than those in Blocks C, D and E as the
access in Blocks C, D and E was subsidized,
first through research conducted by the
Ministry of Health and the World Bank,
and then later through welfare services
by Plan
International. These blocks were
given preference for the access over the
others as these blocks were relatively socioeconomically
backward compared to the
others.
After the installation of the biogas based
sewerage systems the living areas in and
around the households, in general, were
reported to be highly satisfactory by the
families of the blocks. They claimed that they had access to a sanitation option, which did not require frequent
operation and maintenance, unlike the pit latrines. Overall, the provision provided hygienic and sustainable basic
sanitation, and due to this, there was even a high demand for the option among the local families who still did not
even have access to the option.
There were 20 biogas based sewerage systems in working condition, and each of them were connected to between
72-120 households latrines (Table 6.1). The community shared from 20% to 40% of the installation costs except for
systems No. 1 and 20, which were installed free for the purpose of testing. As all the systems were producing gas,
they were connected to a few cooking stoves in some dwellings, and in some instances more than one family were
using the stoves for cooking and melting wax to make candles to sell at the local market.
Table 6.1: Summary of selected variables about biogas based sewerage system.
41

6.3 Costs and Financial Aspects
The details in relation to the costs
shared by the people surveyed inside
the blocks for the various sanitation
options are included in Table A-4.4 in
Appendix 4. Figure 6.3 summarizes the
costs during different periods. It may be
recalled that during the presentation
of the survey results in relation to
willingness to pay, it was found that
almost nobody was willing to share
costs for sanitation, and accordingly
Figure 6.3 indicates that before the
biogas option, most of the people did
not want to share costs or invest money
into sanitation. However, during the
1996-1999 period, when the biogas
option was first introduced, it may be
noted that though there was more of a
willingness to pay for sanitation among
the people, the invested amount for
the biogas option was still quite low as
most of the people did not have access
to it. During the 1999-Present period,
there was an increase in the amount
people invested into sanitation due to
the accessibility of the biogas facilities.
During the first testing of the option no
cost was requested, but subsequently,
the community was asked to share
the costs. The costs were shared by
the relevant users of a biogas bases
sewerage system, and the amount
paid by plot owners were not the
same; it varied according to how much
each plot owner could afford. The cost
sharing for the biogas system increased
significantly over time. Figure 6.4 shows
the trend in relation to the sharing of
the biogas system installation costs (it
may be noted here that the installation
cost shared among the people during
1999 varied between either 20 or 30%).
The people were reportedly satisfied with the performance of the
biogas option as most of them claimed that it
was acceptable in the 1999-Present period (Table 6.2). Before the
year 1999, almost all expressed dissatisfaction
with the then available option, which were pit latrines.
Table 6.2: Claimed performance of the sanitation options*.
42

The human excreta and domestic
wastewater from the living areas has
been routed towards water bodies
outside the living area, and thus the
basic aspect of sanitation in providing
hygienic living standards to the
poor in Bauniabad has almost been
achieved. However, proper treatment of
wastewater is an increasing challenge
for sustainable environmental
development.
6.4 Wastewater Analysis
The wastewater samples from the biogas based sewerage systems were collected by a team consisting of
the project research officer, laboratory research officer and a laboratory technician from EPRC during 1st-4th
December 2003. Additional assistance was also provided by Mr. Joinal, local labors and people of the settlement
during the collection of the samples. Four different biogas based sewerage systems installed in Blocks B, C, D
43

and E in different years (1996-2002) were sampled. The systems in Blocks C (1996) and D (1996) were old and from
the R & D phase and the systems in Blocks B (2001) and E (2002) were from the promotion and installation phase.
Out of the 4 systems, soak pits were present in the systems of Blocks B and C and absent in the systems of Blocks
D and E. Samples from each of the biogas based sewerage systems were collected from the locations as shown in
Figure 6.5.
The wastewater was collected for testing from the following points: (1) from inside a connection pit at the end of
lane collecting waste from 24 plots, (2) from inside an inlet tank just in front of the biogas chamber, (3) from inside
a hydraulic chamber, and (4) from inside a soak pit. When there was no soak pit, sample 4 was collected from the
outlet pipe of the hydraulic chamber as it discharged wastewater into the canal or big surface drain of the area.
Sample 5 was collected from the canal at the point where the effluent was discharged. Raw wastewater was also
collected from the connection pit of a pit latrine that was not connected to the biogas based sewerage system.
In most of the following collection points 2 (inside inlet tank), 3 (inside hydraulic chamber) and 4 (inside soak pit),
the wastewater was found in a solidified state in most of the facilities except for the facility in Block D. Thus, the
sampling was done by either rubbing/cutting the solidified waste or by collecting the overflowing wastewater.
It was observed during the sample collection that most of the sampling points, particularly biogas chamber,
hydraulic chamber and all the soak pits, were buried a few to several meters under the surface as concrete roads
were constructed on top of them. The digging and breaking of the roads to such depth was not an easy task, as
much care was necessary not to damage the system itself while digging up the road. Due to this difficulty, it was
not possible to reach a biogas based sewerage system in Block A to collect samples, thus excluding Block A from the
analysis.
According to the local people, the systems were not cleaned or opened since their installation. This was due to the
fact, as mentioned earlier, that it was not an easy task to reach the systems.
It appeared that the sewage was solidifying and being deposited in the different chambers, leading the untreated
wastewater to flow over the solidified sewage in the biogas chamber and hydraulic chamber in three out of the
four sampled systems (this occurrence is known as short-circuiting). Therefore, the waste was not given a chance to
sufficiently decompose, which indicated inadequate treatment. In addition, one of the systems was
also observed
to
be leaking wastewater from the hydraulic chamber.
The
results of this chemical analysis are summarized
in Table 6.3. The bio-chemical
condition
of the systems can
be observed from the data in Figures 6.6-6.9. Referring to Figures 6.6-6.9, the overall treatment of wastewater in
general
showed problems, as very little difference was observed when the influent (point 2) and effluent (point 4) of
the
different biogas systems were compared. It is not easy to comment on the merits of the individual components
of each of the systems, because there were too many operational variations on how each system was functioning
and the size of the sample was too small for a concise comparison (4 out of 20 systems).
Table 6.3: Results of the chemical analysis of the wastewater from each biogas based sewerage system.
44

According to the structural guideline for the human-waste treatment facilities using anaerobic digestion, Japan
(Japan Waste Management Association, 1978), the appropriate conditions to achieve the removal of BOD by 80% or
to below 2,500 mg/l by anaerobic digestion are as follows;
• Retention time: 30 days
• Temperature: 37±2°C
• pH: 6.5-8.2
• Carbon/Nitrogen ratio: 25-30
Considering these appropriate conditions, it seems that the retention
time of the biogas chamber of the systems in
Bauniabad was not enough. Furthermore, this problem of insufficient
retention time possibly became more serious
due to the solidification of waste inside the chambers that was
observed in some cases, causing the waste to shortcircuit
through the system.
45

The effluents from the systems of Block D were discharged into
a canal and the effluents from the other blocks
were discharged into two different ponds. The canal had flowing
water and looked in relatively better condition
than the other water bodies. The condition of the ponds, particularly the pond that received wastewater from the
system of Block C was very poor; many open latrines were on the banks, and heavy eutrophication was noticed.
Wastewater from dye, ceramic, glass and other industries were being discharged into both the canal and the ponds.
It was reported that fish were dying in the ponds and canal, and people expressed concern about it, but it is not
clear as to exactly why the fish were dying.
In addition to conducting a wastewater
analysis of the biogas based sewerage system, another analysis of the
raw wastewater in pit latrines that were not connected to biogas based sewerage systems was also conducted.
In total, one pit latrine from every block except Block A was tested. As shown in Table 6.4, the BOD and CODCr
ranged from 1200 mg/l to 4000 mg/l, and 2270 mg/l to 8670 mg/l, respectively. It clearly indicated that the organic
concentration of the pit contents varied significantly, partially due to the state of decomposition.
Table 6.4:
Results of the chemical
analysis of the raw wastewater from pit latrines that are not connected to
biogas
based sewerage
system.
In the case of Japan, the average generation of the human waste alone (without flushing or washing water) is
0.0014
m 3 /person/day, and the average quality is shown in Table 6.5 (Japan Waste Management Association, 1978).
It is assumed that the BOD concentration of the
wastewater in the pit latrines of Bauniabad is approximately 10
times more diluted than the human waste in Japan, and this is evident when comparing Tables 6.4 and 6.5. This
may
be due to the use of a large amount
of water for flushing
and washing
after
defecation.
Assuming
that the
amount
of human waste alone (without
flushing or washing
water) per
person
per day in Bauniabad
is
almost the
same as Japan, it is estimated that about 0.63 m 3 /day (=0.0014 m 3 /person/day x 4.5 person/family x 100 family) of
human
waste is flowing
into
one of the biogas chambers in Bauniabad, which have an approximate volume of 11
m 3
. From
this amount
of waste
going into each of the biogas chambers,
it can be
assumed
that the retention time
can
be
calculated to be
approximately
17 days (=11 m 3 /0.63 m 3 /day), which is clearly insufficient for proper anaerobic
digestion.
Furthermore,
the large amount of the flushing and washing water that is going into each of the biogas
chambers also contributes to making the retention time much shorter than 17 days.
Table 6.5: The quality of human waste in Japan.
6.5 Community Participation
The
community participated
in the sanitation
component
of
the project
through the
Environmental
Health
Committee
and through respective
biogas
committees.
The
operation
and maintenance
of the lesser
complicated
elements
of the system, as
well as its cost
sharing,
were done
by the users
through
biogas committees;
one Biogas
Committee was formed for every system during 1997-2000. Through major coordination during the planning and
installation of the options, these Committees were able to maintain close links with the Environmental Health
Committee. However, recently these types of committees are not being formed, and previously formed committees
are not functioning, leading concerned citizens to directly conduct negotiations concerning the operation and
maintenance
of
the system with
Plan International.
Due to this reason, the discussions on a possible solution of
the recent problems concerning the systems are facing various kinds of delays and coordination gaps. It may be
46

mentioned here that only two committees were trained on operation and maintenance of the R&D options under
Mr. Jainal, and the other committees were not trained as the research stopped abruptly. Mr. Jainal and a few of his
colleagues are taking the interest in addressing the problem within the case study.
6.6 Conclusions
The people of Bauniabad were closely involved in the selection of an appropriate technology for their basic
sanitation by comparing a few locally available demonstration sanitation options. They chose the biogas system
based on its cost and functional merits. The initial biogas facility used for research showed about 70% BOD removal
efficiency, and was cheaper than pit latrines or septic tanks in terms of per capita costs. Another positive aspect of
the system was that it had potentials for producing renewable energy, biogas, which is used for cooking.
However, the systems in general, were inefficient in the treatment of wastewater. The systems were exposed
to the following problems: (i) the original design of the biogas facility was developed by the research group on
the assumption that there would be less than 100 family connections per system, and later in the installation
phase (after 1999 by another NGO), the same design was used for connecting about 300 or more families, leading
to significant overloading of the systems. (ii) It was assumed that the biogas chambers would not require any
maintenance; therefore, there was no entry point in the chamber to check the inner workings of the chamber or
remove any sludge if necessary. Due to this limitation in not being able to conduct maintenance in the chamber,
the waste in the chamber started to solidify, and this eventually lead to the wastewater short circuiting through
the chamber. (iii) Piped water availability resulted in the discharge of high volumes of domestic wastewater into
the system, which diluted the wastewater and may have also contributed to the overloading of the systems. Finally,
(iv) community participation in the form of biogas committees were introduced to look after the maintenance
of the lesser complicated elements of the biogas based sewerage system, such as the connection pits, but these
committees did not function properly, or in some cases, did not function at all, and this lead to the maintenance of
such elements being neglected.
6.7 Further Steps to be Taken
Sanitation is the most complex and pioneering component of the projects. In Bauniabad, biogas based sewerage
systems have been developed and introduced as an option. Biogas based sewerage systems, like most technologies,
cannot be a universal solution; the solution will vary with location and time. It has shown the potentials for a
crowded urban population. Bangladesh and most of the developing countries are in need of appropriate solutions
for sanitation, and it is important that the research be completed in this regard. At least, the following research
activities may be considered in two phases:
i) Emergency phase
• Conduct action research to make the closed/back-flowing biogas based sewerage systems work under
emergency conditions, as the fish farms have closed the effluent discharge into the leased water bodies.
• The cost sharing scopes among the users and other local stakeholders for these emergency activities should be
studied.
• Minimum monitoring such as, wastewater influent and effluent flow rates, pH, nitrate, and COD with the use of
a field test kits should be considered.
ii) Technology development research
The following research activities may be carried out:
• Conduct sampling and testing of wastewater flow and quality, following proper and reliable methods to
understand the process and performance, in order to determine the problems of the existing options.
• To develop the capacity of local technicians and laboratories to be able to conduct accurate sampling and
wastewater testing.
• To carefully investigate how the sanitation options are affecting the surrounding water bodies. The ecological
implications of the options should be studied in the immediate and long-term perspectives. The actual reasons
for the fish farm problems should be investigated as well.
• Improvement of the engineering design of the biogas based sewerage system should be investigated, taking
into account the actual situations of influent and operation/maintenance of the biogas facilities.
• The local community should be trained and involved in planning, implementing, monitoring and operation and
maintenance of the option.
• The possible scopes of renewable energy production and reduction in greenhouse gas emission related to the
biogas based sewerage system should be studied.
47

48
• There should be research and development of guidelines about the operation and maintenance of the options.
• The consideration of possibly redefining ‘community’ cost sharing to include the users and others in the area
who benefit from the installations. In addition, people/organizations who work in the area for the purposes of
health or social welfare advancement should also be included, as opposed to only the residents sharing the
costs. This may contribute to increasing the affordability capacity of the residents.

Chapter 7 People’s Knowledge and Hygiene Practices
7.1 Overview
People’s knowledge concerning the various aspects of WS is essential for sustainable behavioral improvement.
The knowledge concerning the operation and maintenance of options is also important in order to provide the opportunity
to improve sustainable behavior. Both knowledge and technological improvements may be attempted
in phases based on the programme and available resources. In Bauniabad, the main challenge was to provide
basic sanitation as demanded by the people based on the local context, and the limited available resources. As of
1999, the people who were surveyed had access to the improved WS options; all for piped water and over 70% to
biogas based sewerage system. The environmental and institutional situation as well as the needs changed with
time. However, significant knowledge and attitude improvement, and related applied research scopes about the
new concepts, could not be attempted due to financial limitations, leading to challenges in both piped water and
wastewater management, which was observed during the case study.
In the following sections, we will discuss the knowledge and hygiene practices of the people of Bauniabad.
7.2 Knowledge and WS Practices
The people of Bauniabad were provided with a water
and sanitation educational
intervention
during
1995-1997.
As reported earlier (Chapter 2), the proper knowledge
concerning health
impacts and
its relation
to the use
and
maintenance of WS options improved significantly during the educational intervention project. At that time, the
willingness to pay for sanitation was almost nothing, but there was a demand for safe water and the willingness
to pay for it. However, also at that time, the behavior of the residents of the settlement concerning sanitation did
not improve much due to the lack of access to appropriate technological options (Hoque et al., 1998).
After 1997, though there was no education intervention about WS, there was both a demand for the improved
technologies, and a willingness to use it among the people based on the results of the R&D project, in which the
people were able to observe the testing of different
types of sanitation options. Furthermore, it was shown in
Chapter 6 that the people had shared, and were willing
to pay, a significant amount for the improved sanitation
option (biogas based sewerage system), proving their
demand and acceptance of it. This demand and acceptance
of the improved option was a result of them being given the opportunity to observe the testing of the various
options, from which they were able to recognize that the biogas based sewerage system was the best, in terms
of both its capability in the reduction of organic pollutants, and its cost effectiveness compared with the other
options. In addition, when the piped water system was installed in 1999, many people had paid more for the safe
piped water option than they did for the pump water option (Chapter 5), also proving their demand and acceptance
of the piped water system. Therefore, the main reasons for the change in practice was due to the availability
of new (piped water and biogas) options and their acceptance of them, which was a result of their participation in
helping recognize the need for improved technologies.
7.3 Knowledge Concerning the Roles of Water and Sanitation
Table 7.1 shows the responses of the women
surveyed concerning the effects of water
and sanitation in health. Most of the women
knew that drinking of polluted water or the
use of unhygienic latrines might cause diarrhea.
However, a significantly lesser proportion
of women knew the effects of these
practices in relation to other health impacts.
It is interesting to note that the people of the
area were highly concerned about the dirty
appearance of their living areas caused by
poor latrines. This indicates that the people
were more concerned about human waste
disposal due to placing more importance on
cleanly appearance and/or aesthetic purposes
than health reasons. Similar results were
observed from a successful rural sanitation
project in Bangladesh (Hoque et al., 2004).
Table 7.1: Knowledge concerning health impacts
(sample size 222).
49

7.4 Observations of Water Use Practices
Hundred
percent of the surveyed families claimed that they used piped water for drinking and cooking purposes,
but
we have observed that some people were still using the surface (pond) water for washing cooking utensils
(Photo
7.1). It is interesting to note that they were carrying out the activities on the side of a hanging latrine,
meaning the knowledge about water contamination was poor among at least some of the people, even in 2002.
During focus group discussions, it was revealed that some families who could not afford to install the water storage
tanks still used the ponds. The piped water was available for certain hours of a day, and as mentioned earlier
(Chapter 5), if families couldn’t finish their activities within those specific hours, they had no choice but the use
the pond water.
7.5 Hand Washing Practices
Hand washing is an important hygiene practice for both personal and family reasons in relation to health. Proper
hand washing has been reported to significantly control diarrhoeal diseases in Bangladesh (Khan, 1982). The
people of the Indian sub-continent; including Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Nepal, clean themselves after defecation
with their hands using water due to cultural reasons. The people of Bauniabad are no different in that they
follow the same custom, but it also could be that they are forced to follow the custom due to the fact that they
can not afford toilet paper. They eat food using their hands; therefore, if the hands are not properly washed it can
contaminate their food, water and many other things, which can lead to the transmission of fecal-oral pathogens.
The hand washing practices, in general, were poor (Table 7.2). More than half of the women washed one hand as
opposed to washing both hands before eating, but this may be due to cultural reasons, as many people living in
the Indian sub-continent only use one hand to eat. On the other hand, after defecation, majority of the women
washed both of their hands.
Regarding the use of the soap, only just over half of the women
washed their hand/hands with the use of soap be-
fore eating. In contrast, roughly only 10% of the women washed their hand/hands using soap after defecation.
Previous
studies have reported that the
hands of rural and urban
women in Bangladesh are heavily contaminated
(Hoque
et al., 1994b; Hoque et al., 1995).
It is important that
both hands
are properly
rubbed with an agent and
rinsed with an adequate quantity of water to clean them (Hoque, 2003). The women of Bauinabad claimed that,
even though they had access to safe water, it was still a financial burden to buy soap as it was quite expensive, and
thus
they used it sparingly when ever they could afford it. According to focus group discussions, it was revealed
that
the women of Bauniabad were not aware of the need for washing both hands, or even using the importance
of using
soap.
Table 7.2: Hand washing practices.
50

7.6 Conclusions
WS educational intervention alone could not improve the WS related behavior of the people. The lack of access to
the appropriate WS technology options was also a contributing factor. However, during the period of no regular/
programmed educational intervention after the initial WS educational intervention period, people became willing
to share the cost for the improved WS technologies due to their acceptance of the technologies as a result of their
participation in recognizing the need for improved appropriate WS technologies.
Most of the women surveyed knew that drinking of polluted water caused diarrhea. They also knew that diarrhea
could be the cause of using an unhygienic latrine. However, when considering an appropriate hygienic option for
the disposal of human waste, they seemed to be more concerned about the dirty appearance of their living area
caused by poor latrines from an aesthetic point of view, rather than being concerned about the possible health
hazards the latrines could cause.
Hand washing practices were observed to be poor, as most of the women surveyed were only washing one hand
before eating. Additionally, though most of them were washing both of their hands after defecation, roughly only
10% were doing so with the use of soap. The reason for the washing of only one hand, as mentioned earlier, maybe
due to cultural reasons. Furthermore, the inadequate use of soap maybe due to financial reasons.
Based on the hand washing practices that we observed and the information we ascertained from the focus
groups, it was evident that the women of Bauniabad were not aware of the need for the washing of both hands,
or the use of soap, to reduce the rate of transmission of fecal-oral pathogens into their food and water.
Overall, the hygiene practices were observed to be poor. The lack of practical and applicable knowledge probably
hampered the effective use of water for hygienic purposes. This may have been a result of the lack of dissemination
of knowledge relating to the importance of hygiene among the women of Bauniabad. It is also clearly evident
that there is a strong need for the development of hygiene promotion methods. If such methods could be developed
into a pilot programme, it could greatly aid in the development of guidelines to improve hygiene practices
in connection with the improved options among the women of Bauniabad.
51

Chapter 8 Lessons Learned and Recommendations
Through the Bauniabad study, we learned the following lessons and came up with the recommendations.
8.1 Needs for Appropriate Systems
Lessons Learned
The study revealed that unless appropriate systems are adopted, WS projects cannot be sustainable. In Bauniabad, two
systems: (i) hand pumps for water supply and (ii) alternate pit latrines were equipped in all houses. The hand pumps
did not work as the water table of the area in one of the fastest growing capital city, Dhaka, lowered to almost beyond
manual pumping level. Since there was no provision for supplying piped water to poor settlements like Bauniabad
where billing system did not exist, the people had to walk for long distance to a pump that was barely working to
collect their water and/or had to use contaminated pond water. The alternate pit latrines also did not work well
due to poor maintenance and improper use of the pits. It indicates that appropriate systems should be considered,
taking into account various issues including technological, financial, cultural and social factors. For instance, people
did not want to remove sludge from their latrine pits by themselves because they were not socially accustomed to
do so directly by themselves. There was no committee or other formal system to empty the contents of the pits. The
commission fees for sludge removal were too high for them and both pits were almost full with liquid especially in
the rainy seasons. Moreover, due to the severe space constraints, the people could not use the pits in turn as required.
In order to address all such issued, a multidisciplinary team, involving scientific/engineering, economic, cultural and
social disciplines as appropriate, is required.
The biogas based sewerage system worked relatively well in Bauniabad. The factors for success and its replicability
should also be investigated by this multidisciplinary team. The main factors may be: (i) the new design of the system
based on people’s sanitation needs and developed through people’s participation, (ii) relatively small-scale, gravitybased
waste water (excreta) collection system, which can only be applied to densely populated areas with slopes
that are of a certain angle (difference of height), and (iii) minimum space used for the system because the plant were
constructed underground.
The installed piped water system provided safe drinking water to the people. But the institutional and water safety
issues were poor until recently when an action research has started again.
Recommendations
- Adoption of an appropriate system is the key for successful WS projects. The system should be selected with not
only technological considerations but also economic, cultural and social considerations. The following factors
should be considered when we adopt appropriate systems.
• Engineering performance (pollution removal rate etc.);
• Initial costs for installation;
• Operation and maintenance of the system and its associated costs;
• Community management mechanism(s) to construct and operate the system; and
• Social and cultural acceptability of the system.
- A multidisciplinary team may need to be established to consider appropriate technologies for a specific site.
This team should document the factors as to why the technologies are adopted in the specific site and investigate
replicability of the technologies.
8.2 Collaboration with Scientific and Engineering Experts
Lessons learned
In considering technological and engineering aspects of the system, particularly when the technology is not the
conventional one, it is important to involve competent scientific and engineering experts. They should be continuously
kept involved during the operation stage as well. In the case of biogas based sewerage system in Bauniabad, the
research and development (R&D) stopped before its completion. This created the following problems in engineering
design and operation of the projects.
- Quantity of inflowing waste water was much bigger than originally planned, which caused insufficient retention
time in the biogas chambers, leading to both a lesser removal rate of pollutants and generation of biogas.
- Lack of effluent monitoring resulted in the delay to find heavily polluted discharge, leading to the inability to take
the necessary measures in time to combat the adverse environmental consequences. Engineering design was
based on the idea that no maintenance was required, which made appropriate maintenance, especially periodic
cleaning of biogas chambers and removal of sludge, quite difficult.
- Biogas generation optimization was to be included in the second phase of the R&D after meeting the immediate
sanitation need of the people. However, the second phase did not occur. More efficient biogas generation and
52

more complete removal of pollutants should be investigated.
- When unexpected population growth and industrial development happened in the area, the design of the biogas
based sewerage system was not modified to deal with unexpected inflow of waste water from industries.
Some mechanisms need to be developed to ensure continuous involvement of such experts not as an individual but in
an institutional manner.
Recommendations
- Scientific/engineering experts should be involved in the projects from the initial stage and continuously kept
involved throughout the R&D stages and during the operational stage in an institutional manner. Collaboration
with scientific/engineering institutions with reliable water quality laboratories, such as engineering faculties of
universities is strongly recommended.
- Regarding biogas based sewerage system in Bauniabad, the following issues may need to be further investigated.
• Engineering design, especially regarding inflowing waste water quality and quantity;
• Water quality monitoring plan to check the performance of the system;
• Guidelines for operation and maintenance, especially to clean biogas chambers and remove sludge;
• Guidelines to more efficiently generate biogas; and
• Design modifications to deal with industrial wastewater inflow where necessary.
- The R&D activities conducted in this area should be completed to create a model for similar situations.
- Regarding water supply, community based institution should be developed to manage the system in coordination
with the existing city provision, such as Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority in the case of Dhaka City.
8.3 Participatory Approach
Lessons learned
Community people have been involved from the R&D stage of the biogas based sewerage system in Bauniabad, which
enabled the needs and desire of the community people into the design of the system and significantly enhanced
acceptability of the system by community people. Such a participatory approach has been used for developing
the billing system for water supply in a Block, which seems to result in the success of consensus building. In these
processes, explanatory meetings, collection of information of community needs, views and comments of community
people through surveys, interviews, and discussion sessions were used. Since the participatory approach seems
to be the key for success of community based WS project, methodologies for community participation need to be
established.
Recommendations
- Participatory approach should be adopted for all community based WS projects.
- General guidelines for community participation may be developed. A multidisciplinary team, as mentioned in
Section 8.1, will consider adoption of the guidelines to a specific site, taking into account various specific social,
cultural and economic conditions.
8.4 Integration of Hygiene Education and Awareness Raising
Lessons learnt
The Bauniabad case study revealed that the introduction of the new improved options changed the behavior of
the people in relation to sanitation and source of water. It was also evident that the hygienic benefits that the new
options provided increased their willingness to pay for them. It may be noted that only education without making
access to appropriate technological solution cannot bring about behavioral changes among poor people.
Improvement concerning the sanitation situation was successful in that the people now had access to the biogas
based sewage system, which provided them with a sanitary form of human waste disposal that was acceptable to
them. Though many of the people were satisfied with the hygienic benefits that the biogas based sewage system
provided, it was evident from sections of the case study that some of the people were satisfied with the option from
an aesthetic point of view rather than a health point of view. This may have been due to a small percentage of the
people not understanding the importance of using a hygienic latrine from a health perspective, indicating that further
education about hygiene may be required.
The problem of access to safe hygienic water was also accomplished with the introduction of the piped water
system. The demand for the piped water system from the people arose from them recognizing the benefit of safe
hygienic water from a health perspective, indicating that they understood the importance of it. However, though
53

the people had access to safe hygienic water, their management of the water was unsatisfactory, which led to the
water becoming contaminated before they used it. This was most evident with the method in which they constructed
the brick tanks around the tap, leading contaminated water to back flow into the system. In addition to this factor,
the people were also not aware of the importance of keeping their water containers cleaned to avoid further
contamination. Though these factors hindered some of the people’s utilization of the safe hygienic water, another
factor was that since the water was only being pumped for a certain amount of hours a day, some people were forced
to use the pond water when they could not finish their water related activities within the time the water was pumped.
From this experience we can see that there is a strong need for hygiene related education programmes among the
people, especially concerning sanitation and the safe management of water. It is evident that the introduction of new
options alone is not sufficient to change the behavior of the people. The introduction of new options must be coupled
with adequate education programmes in order to inform the people the important health related benefits these
options will provide them. The education programmes must also do more than just inform the people, they should
aim to educate the people how to best utilize the options in the most appropriate way and also cultivate a sense of
responsibility among them when it comes to hygiene. Furthermore, it is very necessary to re-conduct these education
programmes regularly in order to remind the existing residents and to especially inform possible new residents. It is
vital to carry out such programmes to effectively achieve the major objectives of WS projects, namely providing both
hygienic safe water and sanitation. Installation of improved WS options alone, without effective awareness raising/
education programmes, cannot be expected to achieve improved WS conditions.
Recommendations
- Community WS projects should be coupled with appropriate awareness raising and education programmes to
more effectively achieve the objectives of the projects.
- Awareness raising and education programmes should be conducted regularly in order to inform existing residents,
and especially new residents, about the importance of hygiene and safe water in relation to a healthy life style.
8.5 Need for Adequate Documentation
Lessons learned
Various attempts have been made to improve water and sanitation conditions in Bauniabad in the past ten years,
which gives us important lessons to be learned through success and failure stories. However, through this study, it
was found that much information had been lost. Due to the unplanned interruptions and financial crisis, the R&D
stopped before its completion. The data collected during the R&D phase was not properly preserved. For instance,
we investigated the detailed information of the tests, including performance, test methodologies and results during
the R&D in order to provide us insight on the comparison of the biogas based sewerage system and the septic tank
system. However, data obtained by limited tests over a few months were lost except the main reported values. The
data could possibly provide us with an insight as to why the systems did not show expected performance during the
scaled up stage.
Since the same system would not be able to be replicated at sites with different social, cultural and economic
conditions, not only adoption and implementation of the WS projects, but also the documentation of the adoption
processes with detailed technological/engineering as well as social, cultural and economic information are vital for the
next step towards replication.
Recommendations
- Not only adoption and implementation, but also process of adoption should be considered crucial for community
based WS projects.
- All community based WS projects should undertake documentation of adoption processes with detailed
information including technological/engineering as well as social, cultural and economic aspects.
54

Appendices
Appendix 1 Summary report of the final workshop
55

Appendix 1
Summary Report of the Final Workshop “Water and Sanitation Issues of Urban Poor”
Introduction
This report presents the summary of the outcomes of a national workshop entitled “Water and Sanitation Issues
of Urban Poor”. It was jointly organized by Environment and Population Research Centre (EPRC), United Nations
University Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS) and Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority (DWASA) on 19 February
2004 at the DWASA Auditorium, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The workshop had three main objectives, they were:
(i) To share and discuss water and sanitation experiences in Bauniabad.
(ii) To discuss the water and sanitation issues faced by the urban poor among policy and programme professionals.
(iii) To develop recommendations for water and sanitation improvement among the urban poor.
The day long workshop included the following sessions: i) opening, ii) paper presentations followed by discussions,
iii) group discussions on Bauniabad and national issues in providing water and sanitation services to the poor, iv)
development of recommendations, v) adaptation of recommendations, and vi) closing session. The detailed programme
is attached in the Annex.
In total 78 participants, from the different backgrounds, namely politicians and other decision and policy makers
at the national level, representatives from international organizations, local specialists in the area of WS, senior
members of the Bauniabad community and both local and international NGOs attended the workshop.
Mr. Ziaul Haque Zia, Honorable State Minister, Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development Cooperatives
(LGRD&C) was the chief guest. Mr. Katsunori Suzuki, Senior Fellow, UNU-IAS and Mr. M. A. Hakim, Chairperson,
DWASA were both special guests. Mr. A. N. H. Akhtar Hossain, Managing Director, DWASA chaired the workshop.
Recommendations
The following recommendations were derived;
1. Technologies
1.1. Further develop the appropriate technologies (AT) for sustainable solutions, based on local conditions and
time.
1.2. Significant improvement on basic sanitation has been achieved, but further advancement in its improve
ment is an immediate objective.
1.3. Incorporate environmental sustainability as a long-term objective.
1.4. Involve competent professionals in the installation, replication and/or upgrading of the technologies.
2. Pro-poor governance and implementation of possible future projects
2.1. Legalize water connection and simplify water billing, etc.
2.2. Build local capacity to manage it. Form and empower local committees.
2.3. Establish links between local organizations and WS programmes.
2.4. Integrate water, sanitation, solid waste management, and drainage development.
2.5. Make education an essential component.
2.6. Involve local community participation.
2.7. Consider children and women issues properly.
2.8. WASA and other public organizations work with community.
3. Pro-poor financing
3.1. Redefine community, incorporating NGO, private organizations and others working in the area for planning
and cost sharing of the improvement costs. Up until now the full financial burden has been on the poor
people and the concerned project members, but all the local stakeholders have benefited from the improve
ment. So the organizations, as stakeholders, should contribute to the improvement efforts and costs.
3.2. Government can consider grants and long-term loans for water and sanitation infrastructure among the
poor. DWASA has made the infrastructure for the people of the city and is recovering the costs over a longterm
period, but it does not extend similar services to the poor.
3.3. Support research for developing appropriate solutions for the poor.
3.4. Formulate and implement effective strategies for slum dwellers.
56

4. Bauniabad Study
4.1. Bauniabad study be continued, and be further improved according to the local situations; completed as a
model urban project for developing guidelines.
4.2. Scientific community and competent experts be involved in the issues.
4.3. Build the capacity of skills of professionals such as engineers and planners at different levels.
Annex
Workshop on “Water and Sanitation Issues of Urban Poor” Programme
Date: Thursday, 19 February 2004
Venue: Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority (DWASA) Conference Room, 3rd Floor, WASA Bhaban, Kawranbazar,
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Organizers: Environment and Population Research Centre (EPRC), United Nations University Institute of Advanced
Studies (UNU-IAS) and Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority (DWASA)
Language: English
Programme:
8:30-9:00 Registration
9:00-9:45 Opening Session
9:45-10:00 Tea Break
Welcome Address - Mr. C. R. Barua, Deputy Managing Director (F&A), DWASA
Presentation on purpose of workshop - Dr. Bilqis Amin Hoque, Chairperson, EPRC
Address by Chair - Mr. A. N. H. Akhtar Hossain, Professional Engineer, Managing Director, DWASA
10:00-11:30 Technical Session I
Chaired by Mr. C. R. Baura, Deputy Managing Director (F&A), DWASA
Water and Sanitation Issues of Urban Poor (Dhaka and Adjacent Areas)
Mr. Mohammad Nural Huda Mian, Commercial Manager, DWASA
Technical Aspects of the Biogas Plant System in Bauniabad, Dhaka
Dr. Yuko Sato Yamamoto, Programme Associate, UNU-IAS
Experiences in Water Supply and Sanitation Interventions
Mr. Simom de Haan, Chief Component Adviser, DPHE-DANIDA
Urban Sanitation & IFSP SHAHAR Project
Mr. Syed Fazle Rabbi, Project Engineer, SHAHAR (Urban), CARE Bangladesh
Local Partnerships for Urban Poverty Alleviation Project
Eng. Amzad Hossain, Project Director, Local Partnership for Urban Poverty Alleviation Project,
LGED
11:30-13:00 Technical Session II
Facilitated by Dr. Bilqis Amin Hoque
Group Discussion
11:30-12:00 Bauniabad Issues
12:00-13:00 Experience and Issues of Other Areas in Bangladesh
13:00-14:00 Lunch Break
57

14:00-15:30 Technical Session II continued
Discussion and Recommendation
14:00-14:30 Issues in Bangladesh continued
14:30-15:30 Recommendation
15:30-16:30 Closing Session
Presentation of Recommendations - Dr. Bilqis Amin Hoque, Chairperson, EPRC
Address by Special Guest - Mr. M. A. Hakim, Chairman, DWASA
Address by Special Guest - Mr. Katsunori Suzuki, Senior Fellow, UNU-IAS
Address by Chief Guest - Mr. Ziaul Haque Zia, Honorable State Minister, Ministry of LGRD&C
Address by Chair - Mr. A. N. H. Akhtar Hossain, Professional Engineer, Managing Director, DWASA
Vote of Thanks
58

Appendix 2 Original questions for questionnaire
59

Appendix 2
Base Line Survey Form
Study Area: Bauniabad, Ward- 5, Thana- Mirpur, District- Dhaka
Survey period: November 2002
PRELIMINARY INFORMATION
Name of the Respondent: ______________________________________________Id No.: ___________
Name of Husband/Father of respondent: ________________________________________________
Sex: Male/Female
Block: ___________________________________________Lane: ______________________________
Name of the Interviewer______________________________
Date of Interview: _____________________________________
Start Time of Interview: _________________hr. ______________Minute___________________
End Time of Interview: __________________hr._______________Minute____________________
SOCIO ECONOMIC STATUS (SES)
Se-1: Family members’ description:
Se-2: How many members in your family are under or over the age of 5?
Se-2.1. Under 5 years old _________
Se_2.2. Over 5 years old__________
Se-3: What is the total/average income of the family? (Sum total of all members)_________________________
Se-4: Does your family possess the following items?
1. Almirah, 2. Table/chair/bench, 3. Wrist watch/wall clock, 4. Bed, 5. Bicycle/ricksha/boat,
6. Motor cycle/baby taxi, 7. Radio/cassette player, 8. TV, 9. Others___________
Se-5: Is the land where your house is built yours?
1. Yes, 2. Rented, 3. Not known, 4. Others_____________
COMMUNITY PARTICIPATORY ACTIVITIES
Se-6: Do you know how many committees/societies have been formed in your area? ______________
(e.g. Masjid committee, School committee, Environment committee, Water committee, Drainage/sanitation
committee, Biogas committee, Health committee, etc.)
Se-7: How many committees are you associated with?
Se-8: Are there many NGOs/GOs working in your area?
Yes=1, No=2
If yes, write the name and no. of NGOs/GOs.________________________________________________________
60

WATER
Before 1995
W-1: Use of water before 1995?
W-2: Before 1995, who was responsible for playing the major role in solving water problems?
1. Ladies of the area, 2. Males of the area, 3. GO, 4. NGO, 5. Community, 6. Others, 7. Nobody
1996-1999
W-3:
Use of water
during
1996-1999?
W-4. From 1996-1999, who was responsible for playing the major role in solving water problems?
1. Ladies of the area, 2. Males of the area, 3. GO, 4. NGO, 5. Community, 6. Others, 7. Nobody
1999-Present
W-5:
What sources
of water
do you
use now?
1. Tube well, 2. Piped line, 3. Pond, 4. Canal
a) If you are using a piped line, from when have you been using this supply system?_________________________
W-6:
Present Use
of Water
W-7: How many hours a day is the water supply available?______________At what times?______________
W-8:
Have you deposited
any money
for a water
meter?
Yes=1, No=2
W-9: Describe how the containers of drinking water are cleaned? ________________________________________
W-10: Do you want to participate in solving water related (meter) issues in your area?
Yes=1,
No=2
W-11:
Do you use rain water in rainy season?
Yes=1, No=2
If yes,
a. What
are the
different uses
you use rainwater
for? ___________________________________________________
61

SANITATION
S-1: Use of Latrine:
Type: 1. Ring slab, 2. Septic tank, 3. Biogas, 4. Off-set, 5. Drain/direct, 6. Hanging/open/bamboo, 7. Ditch & drains, 8.
Closed hole/partition or closed with slab, 9. Open but fixed place, 10. Others
S-2:
Is your latrine connected with a biogas system? Yes=1, No=2
If yes, then
a. How much money have you spent for a biogas connection? ____________________________
b. What amount did the community/you share for your biogas system which is installed in your area? _________
c. What are the advantages in a latrine that is connected to a biogas system? ______________
If the latrine is not connected with a biogas system,
a. Why didn’t you take the connection with a biogas system? ____________________________
b. Do you agree to spend money for your latrine to be connected to a biogas system? Yes=1, No=2
S-3: Have you got a biogas connection for cooking? Yes=1, No=2.
If yes, then
a. How much money have you spent for getting a biogas line connection for cooking? ______________
b. How many families have taken a biogas connection from the biogas facility that you use? ______________
S-4: Please write down the information about the agencies who supplied water and sanitation services.
HYGIENE
H-1: a. Do you wash
your
hands
before eating?
1. Don’t wash, 2. One-hand, 3. Two-hands
b. What do you use?
1. Soap, 2. Ash, 3. Mud, 4. Only water
H-2: a. Do you wash your hands after latrine use?
1. Don’t
wash,
2. One hand,
3. Two
hands
b. What do
you use?
1. Soap,
2. Ash,
3. Mud,
4. Only water
H-3:
Do you wash
your hands
before making
food?
1. Don’t
wash,
2. One-hand,
3. Two-hands
H-4:
Do you know
what
kind of
diseases
can affect
you if
you drink
polluted
water? ______________
From
whom
did you
learn this?
____________________________
H-5:
Do you know
what
kind
of diseases
can
affect you
when
do not
use a sanitary
latrine?
______________
From whom did you learn this? ____________________________
H-6: Do you know about arsenic? 1. Yes, 2. No
If yes,
then from
whom
did
you learn about it? __________________________________________
62

Appendix 3 Analytical data of the biogas based sewerage system
63

Table A-3.1: Results of the analysis of the wastewater from each biogas based sewerage system.
NOTE:
Point 1: Inside a connection pit at the end of lane, Point 2: Inside an inlet tank in front of biogas chamber (influent),
Point 3: Inside a hydraulic chamber, Point 4: Insider a soak pit (effluent), Point 5: The canal at the point where the
effluent
was discharged, Latrine:
Raw wastewater from
the pit
of a pit latrine
that
was not
connected
to the
biogas
based sewerage
system.
The
tests were
performed
by
the following
organizations:
(i) pH, EC, temperature (on-site) and fecal coliform bacteria count (FC) by EPRC laboratory, and (ii) the rest of the
tests by the environmental laboratory at
Civil Engineering Department of Bangladesh University of Engineering
and Technology (BUET).
Table A-3.2: Results of the analysis of the raw wastewater from pit latrines that are not connected to biogas
based sewerage system.
NOTE:
The tests were performed by the same organizations as shown under Table A-3.1.
64

Appendix 4 Detailed analyses of selected results
65

66
Table A-4.1: Sources of water use for various purposes.

Table A-4.2: Installation costs shared by respondents for water options during various periods.
67

Table A-4.3: Sanitation practices in different periods.
68

Table A-4.4: Costs shared by respondents for sanitation options during various periods.
69

70

Bibliography
Ahmad, Q.K. (2000): Bangladesh Water Vision 2025. Towards a sustainable water world. Bangladesh Water
Partnership.
APHA, AWWA and WEF (1989): Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater. Seventeenth
Edition. Edited by L. Clesceri, A.E. Greenberg and R.R. Trussell.
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (2002): Statistics Pocket Book of Bangladesh 2001. Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics,
Planning Division, December 2002.
British Geological Survey, DPHE and DFID (2000): Groundwater studies for arsenic contamination in Bangladesh.
March 2000.
Hoque, B.A., Hoque, M.M., Ali, N. and Coghlan, S.E. (1994a): Sanitation in a Poor Settlement in Bangladesh: A
Challenge for the 1990s. International Institute for Environment and Development, IIED (Environment and
Urbanization), Vol. 6, No. 2.
Hoque, B.A., Zeitlyn, S., Ali, N., Yahya, F.S.M. and Shaheed, N.M. (1994b): Promoting Sanitation in Bangladesh. World
Health Forum, Vol. 15.
Hoque, B.A, Mahalanabis, D., Alam, M.J. and Islam, M.S. (1995): Post-defecation Handwashing in Bangladesh: Practice
and Efficiency Perspectives. Public Health, UK. 109(1).
Hoque, B.A., Ahmad, S.A. and Black R. (1998): Environmental Health Intervention in Selected Poor Areas of Dhaka City.
A report submitted to ICDDR,B and Johns Hopkins University. Environment and Health Program,
Hoque, B.A. (1999): Sanitation and Performance of Biogas Plant in Poor Settlement. Environment and Health
Program News, 1999, ICDDR,B.
Hoque, B.A. (2003): Hand washing practices and challenges in Bangladesh. International J. of Environmental Health
Research, 13, S83-S89.
Hoque, B.A., Islam, S., Sufia, K., et al. (2004): Completion Report of Arsenic Mitigation Continued Safe Water Option
under the 15-Upazila Arsenic Mitigation Project in Kalia, Narail. Submitted to UNICEF, Bangladesh. January 2004.
Huq, S., Karim, Z., Asaduzzaman, M. and Mahtab, F. (Editors) (1999): Vulnerabilty and Adaptation to Climate Change
for Bangladesh. Kluwer Academic Publishers.
IMF/World Bank (2003): Progress Report and Critical Next Steps in Scaling up: Education for All, Health, HIV/AIDS,
Water and Sanitation, Addendum 3, Water Supply and Sanitation and the Millennium Development Goals. Joint
Ministerial Committee of the Boards of Governors of the Bank and the Fund on the Transfer of Real Resources to
Developing Countries (Development Committee), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, DC/2003-
0004/Add.3, April 1, 2003.
Islam, N., Huda, N., Narayan, F.B. and Rana P.B. (1997): Addressing the Urban Poverty Agenda in Bangladesh. The
University Press Limited.
Japan Waste Management Association (1978): Description of the Structural Guideline for Waste Management
Facilities-Structural Guideline for Human-waste Treatment Facilities.
Khan, M.U. (1982): Interruption of shigellosis by handwashing. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine
and Hygiene 76, 164-168.
Rasheed, K.B.S. (2000): Bangladesh Towards 2025: Urban Development and Water. In Bangladesh Water Vision 2025,
Towards a Sustainable World, edited by Q.K. Ahmad. Global Water Partnership, Bangladesh Water Partnership.
UNDP (2003): Human Development Report 2003. Millennium Development Goals: A compact among nations to end
72

human poverty. UNDP, New York.
UNICEF (2001): Progothir Pathey 2001. UNICEF, Bangladesh.
United Nations (1984): Updated Guidebook on Biogas Development-Energy Resources Development Series, No. 27,
United Nations, New York, USA.
WHO/UNICEF (2004): Meeting the MDG Drinking Water and Sanitation Target. A Mid-term Assessment of Progress.
WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme on Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP), 2004.
73

Glossary
English
Average: The result obtained by adding two or more amounts together and dividing the total by the number of
amounts (Cambridge University Press, 2004).
Baby Taxi: A three-wheeled vehicle designed for carrying passengers.
Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD): BOD is used to determine the relative oxygen requirements of wastewaters,
effluents and polluted waters. The test measures the molecular oxygen utilized during a specified incubation period
for the biochemical degradation of organic material and the oxygen used to oxidize inorganic material such as
sulfides and ferrous iron. Measurement of oxygen consumed in a 5 days test period (BOD5) is usually used (APHA et
al., 1998).
Chemical oxygen demand (COD): The amount of a specified oxidant that reacts with the sample under controlled
conditions. COD is used as a measurement of pollutants in wastewater and natural waters (APHA et al., 1998).
District: Administrative unit of the government above sub-district. There are 64 districts in Bangladesh.
Escherichia coli (E. coli): A member of the fecal coliform group of bacteria. This organism in water indicates fecal
contamination (APHA et al., 1998).
Eutrophication: The process by which a body of water becomes enriched in dissolved nutrients (as phosphates) that
stimulate the growth of aquatic plant life usually resulting in the depletion of dissolved oxygen (Merriam-Webster,
2005)
Fecal coilform (FC): A group of bacteria that are passed through the fecal excrement of humans, livestock and
wildlife.
Gross domestic product (GDP): An aggregate measure of production equal to the sum of the gross values added
of all resident institutional units engaged in production (plus any taxes, and minus any subsidies, on products not
included in the value of their outputs). The sum of the final uses of goods and services (all uses except intermediate
consumption) measured in purchasers’ prices, less the value of imports of goods and services, or the sum of primary
incomes distributed by resident producer units.
Hydrolysis: A chemical reaction in which one substance reacts with water to produce another (Cambridge University
Press, 2004).
Lipid: A substance such as a fat, oil or wax that dissolves in alcohol but not in water and is an important part of
living cells (Cambridge University Press, 2004).
Median: Median describes the value which is the middle one in a set of values arranged in order of size (Cambridge
University Press, 2004).
Monomer: A molecule that can combine with others to form a polymer (Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000).
pH: A number which shows how strongly acid or alkaline a substance is, in a range from 0 to 14; below pH 6.5 is acid,
above pH 7.5 is alkaline (Cambridge University Press, 2004).
Polymer: A chemical substance consisting of large molecules made from many smaller and simpler molecules
(Cambridge University Press, 2004).
Potassium dichromate method: A method of measuring COD using potassium dichromate (K2Cr2O7). There is
another method of measuring COD using potassium permanganate (KMnO4); the value of COD using potassium
permanganate method is generally smaller than potassium dichromate method (APHA et al., 1998).
Poverty line: An income level that is considered minimally sufficient to sustain a family in terms of food, housing,
clothing, medical needs, and so on.
Standard deviation: A statistic used as a measure of the dispersion or variation in a distribution, equal to the square
root of the arithmetic mean of the squares of the deviations from the arithmetic mean (Houghton Mifflin Company,
2000).
Bangladeshi
Almirah: Drawer or cupboard.
Masjid: Mosque.
Ricksha/rickshaw: A small covered passenger vehicle based on a tricycle.
Thana: Synonymous to sub-district. Bangladesh has 490 thanas. On an average each thana consists of 10-12 unions.
Union is the lowest level administrative unit of Bangladesh and the country is divided in to 4451 unions. Several
villages form a union.
Sources:
APHA, AWWA and WEF (1998): Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, 20th Edition.
74

Edited by L.S. Clesceri, A.E. Greenberg and A.R. Eaton.
Cambridge University Press (2004): Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, http://dictionary.cambridge.org
Houghton Mifflin Company (2000): The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition.
Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. http://www.bartleby.com/61/
Merriam-Webster (2005): Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, http://www.m-w.com/
75

This report was prepared by
Bilqis Amin Hoque, Environment and Population Research Centre (EPRC)
Katsunori Suzuki, United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS)
Yuko Sato Yamamoto, UNU-IAS
Sankareswaran Kalirajan, UNU-IAS
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank the following people and organizations for their contributions to the preparation
of this report. We also thank all Bauniabad Community for their participation and contribution.
Environment and Population Research Centre (EPRC)
Dhaka City Corporation (DCC)
Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority (DWASA)
Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), Bangladesh
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Bangladesh
Ministry of Local Government and the Rural Development and Co-operatives (LGRD&C), Bangladesh
Plan International
United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS)
Ms. Sufia Khanam, EPRC
Mr. Mohammad Nurul Huda, DWASA
Mr. A. N. H. Akhtar Hossain, DWASA
Mr. Jainal Abedin, Bauniabad Leader & a local contractor
Mr. Abul Kalam Azad, EPRC
Mr. C. R. Barua, DWASA
Mr. Gofran, LGED
Dr. A. Huq, DWASA
Mr. A. F. Chowdhury, LGRD&C
Mr. A. Hye, LGRD&C
Mr. Lokman, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
Mr. Qashem, LGRD&C
Ms. Tahera, LGED
Mr. Sanower Hossain, EPRC
Mr. Tofayel Ahmed, EPRC
77