Article From News From Bangladesh archives

'Supply safe drinking water' to all people to check arsenic - 9 Nov 02

Speakers at a seminar in the city called Thursday for supplying safe drinking water to the people of all strata to check water-borne health hazards, report BSS. The seminar on "new drinking water quality management systems that could be applied for arsenic mitigation" was attended by representatives of the Bangladesh Government, World Bank (WB), UNICEF, Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) and other concerned agencies interested in arsenic and water quality. Held at Dhaka Community Hospital, it was organised by the AusAID- funded Bangladesh Australia Centre for Arsenic Mitigation Project. The new management framework is based on the principles of `Hazard Analysis' and `Critical Control' points used internationally in the food industry, and the international quality management system (ISO 9001). Dr Nadebaum, a Technical Director of Bangladesh-Australia Centre for Arsenic Mitigation, said, "The new approach uses a risk-based approach and ensures that the major risks in any water supply system are identified and controlled at the most appropriate point in the system. The approach can reduce costly monitoring of water quality." The new framework was developed in Australia to provide for best practice management of drinking water supplies, and the systems are already in place in some of Australia's water authorities. Australia is working in close coordination with the World Health Organisation (WHO) in this regard. The aim is to apply the principles of this management approach to the selection and management of appropriate community-based water supply systems in Bangladesh within the Arsenic Mitigation Project. This centre has been established within the Dhaka Community Hospital as part of the AusAID project. The centre has programs to determine the most effective way of addressing the serious groundwater arsenic problem in Bangladesh. Dhaka Community Hospital has been implementing the programs, built on the community health care work, across the country. Chairman of the Hospital Trust Dr Quamruzzaman, said, "The Centre is carrying out important research to determine the most effective way of providing water free of arsenic to villages throughout Bangladesh and determining whether residual arsenic in soils and food crops could be a problem. - BSS

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