As we approached the gates from inside our hotel there was a sea of men and women chanting as they marched towards us. Police in riot gear following behind. This was the start of the dawn to dusk hartal for the opposition party.

During the hartal only the government workers break the strike, almost all others do not go to work. Those that are in fixed employment do not have their monthly wages docked, but must make up the time during that month. The strike affects the desperately poor to a greater degree, as the day labourers and rickshaw pullers only receive an income for the days they work. The loss of the daily income of 200 Taka or the equivalent of two pounds, can have a massive impact for the desperately poor.

Our visit today was to a post intervention urban slum in Custom Basti, Khulna. As we walked into the slum we were greeted warmly by a gaggle of women and children. The first thing we noticed was the women walking confidently through the village, smiling in their beautiful saris. The slum was clean with open spaces. It had brand new concrete latrines, painted with handwashing symbols, which were fed by a rainwater harvesting system. The newly installed compost unit provided fertiliser for the village garden. It was a clear contrast to the pre-intervention slum we saw in Dhaka on the previous day.

Before the project started this slum was similar to the slum in Dhaka - the community used a water source that gave the family diarrhea, dysentery and skin diseases. The only sanitation facilities were hanging latrines. WaterAid Bangladesh's local partner Nabolok, formed a Community Based Organisation from 13 women from the slum. The women gathered the community to find out the issues people faced with their current facilities, by drawing a community map and a body map. This started the basis of their action plan to improve their village.

Case Study:`Taslima Begum at Custom Batsi
Taslima is a housewife and CBO committee member, living with her husband, mother and her eleven year old son. Her husband lost his job in the shipping industry, which made life particularly difficult in the slum. Taslima says 'Before the project, life here was critical, there was bad smell, flies, disease such as dysentery and diarrhea. No one could walk without a tissue to their nose. The water source was half a mile away, which would take one hour to fetch. Now life is good. I  have time to take my children to school, time to prepare food and time to talk to you.'  Taslima used to be afraid that her son would fall off the hanging latrines and spent time watching him, now she is happy in the knowledge that he can use the new latrines safely. Taslima says 'Women used to suffer from women violence, but now that we have plenty of time to do all the housework and food to prepare, we no longer suffer mental and physical violence'. The extra time that Taslima has saved has allowed her to teach five school children, which earns her 500 Taka a month and she now makes blankets out of old saris, which she sells for 150 Taka. The project has provided the physical infrastructure but has also provided training and capacity building for the women in the CBO, so that they have the knowledge and confidence to plan, organise and deliver projects in their community. The women used to be embarrassed about the toilet facilities and felt shy in inviting friends or relatives to the village. Now they are very proud of their facilities.

I am always amazed to learn that only fifteen pounds provides someone with safe water and sanitation for life, but there are also the unintended benefits from schemes which are priceless. For Taslima and the other people in her slum, they now feel proud of their community, they have more free time to spend earning an income or spending time with their families and they have more money available as they no longer need to visit the doctor for water born diseases.

Case Study: Custom Basti
The access to sanitary products and the provision of facilities to manage menstruation hygienically is one aspect of the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH) sector that is often overlooked. Socio-cultural restrictions, taboos and a sense of dignity can stop girls from learning safe menstrual hygiene practices and can limit projects by not providing adequate facilities for women.






Low cost sanitary napkin


The CBO are looking to expand the production of the low cost sanitary napkins and train others in local communities on the benefits.

Today we visited one of the slums in Dhaka to interview a family that has a limited water supply and poor sanitation facilities. As we drove into the slum in Molla'r Bostee there was a man in the middle of the road preparing his halal chicken.  The bird was killed with the blood dripping onto the middle of the dirt road where everyone was walking.


Case Study: Rashida Shamur Begum

Rashida in her home

Rashida rents two 10ft by 10ft rooms in the Molla'r Bostee slum, sharing a bed and small table with her husband Nuru Mia and her four children. The rubbish strewn walkway between the corrugated iron houses is less than a meter wide with open drains from the upstream factories running down towards a pond. Rashida's house has a concrete floor and is immaculately clean. Paul and I ask questions to Rashida through an interpreter to find out about the problems she faces living in a private slum, which has not yet had any intervention from any charities or government organisation.

The family moved to the slum area 10 years ago to improve their economic situation and due to the revolution. They migrated from Bhola, as there were no job opportunities for the whole family. Nuru Mia works as a rickshaw delivery driver, Rashida is a housewife and their two sons work as a tailor and a garment factory worker. One of their daughters is married and the youngest daughter is still at school. The daily wage of a rickshaw driver is 300 Taka, which is more than a garment factory worker who earns 1600 Taka a month. The family are in close proximity to the water and sanitation facilities, as the bathing unit and hanging latrines are only 10 meters from their house. They are provided with an intermittent piped water supply, which is shared with five other households, but is only used for washing, bathing and cooking. Fortunately the local MP, who lives near the slum,  has a continuous water supply and allows the slum dwellers to use his safe supply for free. The cost of the intermittent water supply is included in the rent.

Water stored in the house

Bathing water facility

The bathing facility is quite private and clean with a concrete base, however there can be queues as it is shared by both the male and female members of the five households. Females working in the garment factories use it first thing in the morning, people working in offices use it before 10am, housewives use it at noon and all others use it after 2pm. The real challenge is storing sufficient water for people to use the bathing facility, as the piped water supply is only available between 8am and 1pm and on some days it is not provided at all.

Hanging Latrines

The most shocking sight is the hanging latrine area. At the end of the path there is a pond, where bamboo structures have been built with concrete slabs. The latrines overhang the pond, where all of the sewage drops into the water 2 meters from the closest house. The smell is incredible. There is festering rubbish in the area around the latrine and sewage sludge is visible in the pond. Cockroaches were crawling over our feet and Paul stepped into a pile of maggots. As Rashida says 'the hanging latrine is harmful to health and the environment, big trouble in monsoon'. During the monsoon period, the water level of the pond rises, even flooding some of the houses and contaminating the area with the fetid water. One of Rashida's wishes is to have a rubbish removal service. There is currently no bins or collection service, causing problems with mosquitoes and flies.

Rashida outside the bathing area

Intermittent piped water supply

On Sunday we met with the WaterAid Bangladesh staff to find out more about the challenges that Bangladesh faces in implementing projects to provide safe water and sanitation. The main challenges are rapid urbanisation, climate change, arsenic, social exclusion and sludge management.

Seventy percent of the population live in rural areas, but each year 6% of that population migrates to the cities. It has the most densely populated slum in the world with 3000 population per square kilometer. As you drive through Dhaka, you can see people everywhere, buses full to capacity with extra people sitting on the roof and hundreds of people setting up their businesses on the roadsides. 

The scale of urbanisation is phenomenal, as at Bedford sewage treatment works we have a growth scheme where we will be increasing the capacity of the works by 30,000 for 2015, however Dhaka only has one main sewer network and one sewage works and in the next 15 years the urban population in all of the cities will increase to 50% of the total population. It is impossible to imagine how you could upgrade the current assets in 15 years to accommodate up to an additional 20 million people!

In the UK the water industry is privatised with the geographical location determining who provides your water supply and sewage treatment. In Bangladesh there are five different types of water provision:

• Cities: Water and Sanitation Authorities (Similar to Anglian Water)
• District Town: Municipality Supply
• Small Town: Mainly Individual Supplies - Tubewells
• Villages: Individual and Community Supplies - Handpumps and Tubewells

 The main benefit of the City water supply is the large subsidy provided to customers.

Cost of 1,000 litres: 6.5 Taka
Cost of Production: 25 Taka

Cost of Bottled Water (1.5 litres): 20 Taka

The poorest community members that are unable to access the safe City water supply are further disadvantaged by having to pay more for bottled water.

Climate change will also have a dramatic impact on Bangladesh, as the country will be affected from the snow melting from the Himalayas in the north and the sea level rises in the south. Already areas in the south are affected by saline intrusion, where salt water is entering the aquifers making the water unsuitable to drink. In the north, there is evidence of desertification and lowering of the groundwater tables. Later on in the week, we will be visiting projects where WaterAid and their local partners have helped to find solutions to some of these issues.

We will meet with the WaterAid Bangladesh staff to learn more about the country programme and theWaSH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) sector in Bangladesh. We will also be giving a presentation on what we and our companies do to fundraise and raise awareness of WaterAid's work and how 2.6 billion people don't have somewhere safe, private or hygienic to go to the toilet and 884 million don't have a safe water supply.

• Discuss with the Community about theWaSH situation and livelihood conditions.
• Visit slum households to observe their living conditions and water and sanitation facilities.  
• Listen to the slum dwellers and understand the challenges they face. 

• Visit rural families and observe how and from where they collect potable water and learn about the plight of the drinking water crisis.
• Help the family in collecting water from apond and other available sources.
• Observe the sanitation facilities and talk to women and children to understand their sanitation and hygiene practices.
• Visit a school compound in the nearby community and talk to the students and teachers.

Day 4 - Wednesday 1 December: Shyamnagar, Satkhira - Visit to the Rural Programme

Due to the low lying nature of the land, people are affected by the severe monsoon flooding which can

displace huge numbers of people and impact on livelihoods. We will be visiting the rehabilitation of  a disaster

resilient pond and visiting the water supply and sanitation infrastructure work that has been suported

by WaterAid:  

• Visit the Pond sand filter, low-cost rain water harvestingsystem and and community / market latrine
• Interacting with user groups and caretakers
• Meeting and discussion with CBO leaders, Management committee and local leaders

Day 5 - Thursday 2 December: Khulna - Visit to Urban Activities

We will be visiting the urban slum areas to see where projects are being delivered. We will:

• Discuss with CBO leaders and slum people
• Visit water points, community latrines and see the production of low cost sanitary napkins.
• Visit and take part in construction of community latrine.

Day 6 - Friday 3 December: Dhaka - Visit to post-intervention slum

Today's visit will be a complete contrast to Monday's visit and will show the difference that is made through

the completion of a scheme. We will:

• Visit water and sanitation facilities developed by WA funding
• Discuss with CBO leaders and beneficiaries
• Visit a latrine complex for differently able people

 

I have been fortunate to be chosen to represent Anglian Water on the 2010 WaterAid Supporter's Trip to Bangladesh. I will be joining representatives from other water companies, agencies and WaterAid staff to see how the money raised by water company employees, suppliers and customers is used by WaterAid to provide safe water, effective sanitation and hygiene education.

Representatives attending the trip

During the trip we will visit a community that desperately requires a practical solution to provide a safe water supply and sanitation facilities, so that we can experience what a day is like for a family in that community. We will also spend time with the WaterAid Bangladeshi staff and visit the local partners to see a project in progress and see how people's lives have been transformed by the completion of a community managed project.

I can't wait to see how people lives have benefited from the WaterAid programmes, but I am nervous about visiting the crowded city centre slums. Bangladesh has a population of over 160 million and is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. A staggering 24% of deaths are due to water related diseases. I hope through this blog, I will be able to share what I see and feel before, during and after the trip.