Organization: Development of the Rural Poor (DORP), World Bank, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

In 1993, Bangladesh learned its main source of freshwater was tainted with naturally occurring arsenic, posing a health risk to millions. Since then, the country has partnered the World Bank and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to find safe water using isotope hydrology techniques.

DORP’s project focus was Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) for the most impoverished section of people living in some selected remote localities of rural Bangladesh. DORP is trying to ensure the Right to Water and Sanitation through a bottom-up approach involving community at local level to create demand and also influencing the national policy makers to fulfill this demand. The project was a UN Decade for Action: Water for Life 2005-2015 Best Practices Award Finalist (2013 Category 2)

Keywords: water and health, water quality.

Location: Bangladesh, Asia and the Pacific

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