Untitled - UNU-IAS - United Nations University

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
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