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DEGREE PROJECT IN TECHNOLOGY, FIRST CYCLE, 15 CREDITS
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN 2020
Interactive Local Driller Mapping
for Different Hydrogeological Areas
of Bangladesh
Enabling Access to Information
CELINA ANKARSTIG
VICTORIA BERGGREN
KTH ROYAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Interactive Local Driller Mapping for Different
Hydrogeological Areas of Bangladesh
Enabling Access to Information
Celina Ankarstig (celinaa@kth.se) Victoria Berggren (vberggr@kth.se)
Degree project in technology, First cycle, 15 credits Supervisors: Prosun Bhattacharya and Md Tahmidul Islam
Examiner: Monika Olsson KTH Royal Institute of Technology
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Abstract
Exposure to arsenic in drinking water can cause several types of cancer and numerous
cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. A country that suffers from widespread contamination of arsenic in drinking water is Bangladesh, where the contamination has been classified as the largest mass poisoning of a population in history. Around 90 percent of the existing tubewells used for drinking water in Bangladesh were installed by the private sector and local drillers, which makes their knowledge on drinking water contamination crucial in order to make them contributory for scaling up access to safe drinking water.
The aim of the thesis was to develop an interactive map model to enhance the access to information for the local governments, communities, and private sector in three upazilas (sub-districts) of Bangladesh: Assasuni, Daudkandi, and Gowainghat, regarding how they can access safe drinking water in their local areas. The interactive map model for this thesis was developed in ArcGIS with supporting information from local drillers’ survey and Arsenic Safe Union project implementation data. The resulting maps contain information such as wells located in the upazilas, drillers’ working areas, years of working experience, contact information, certification and driller hubs (hardware shops). The map model is expected to be operationalised by creating a digital water platform through a mobile application, in a stand-alone website, or to be integrated in a government information centre to enable access for the community, local technocrats, the private sector and other concerned stakeholders.Moreover, the map can easily be scaled-up in the future to include additional areas with similar hydrogeology and arsenic or trace elements
contamination problems, in other regions of South Asia, Africa and Latin America.
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Sammanfattning
Exponering för arsenik i dricksvatten kan orsaka flera olika typer av cancer samt ett flertal hjärt- och luftvägssjukdomar. Ett land som är utsatt för utbredd arsenikförorening i dricksvatten är Bangladesh, där föroreningen har klassificerats som den största massförgiftningen av en befolkning i historien. Ungefär 90 procent av alla existerande dricksvattensrörbrunnar i Bangladesh installerades av den privata sektorn och av lokala brunnsborrare, vilket gör deras kunskap om dricksvattenföroreningar avgörande för att de ska kunna bidra till att öka tillgången till säkert dricksvatten. Syftet med denna uppsats var att utveckla en interaktiv kartmodell för att öka tillgången till information för lokala myndigheter och samhällen, samt för den privata sektorn i tre upazilor (kommuner) i Bangladesh: Assasuni, Daudkandi och Gowainghat, angående hur de kan få tillgång till säkert dricksvatten i deras område. Den interaktiva kartmodellen utvecklades i ArcGIS och innehåller information från en enkät ifylld av lokala brunnsborrare samt data från projektet Arsenic Safe Union. De resulterande kartorna innehåller information om brunnar belägna i upazilorna, information om lokala brunnsborrares arbetsområden samt deras arbetserfarenhet, kontaktinformation, certifiering och brunnsborrarnav (järnhandlare).
Kartmodellen förväntas göras tillgänglig för samhället, lokala myndigheter, den privata sektorn och andra berörda aktörer, genom en digital vattenplattform i en mobilapplikation, på en fristående webbplats eller genom att integreras i ett statligt informationscenter. I framtiden kan kartan enkelt skalas upp för att inkludera ytterligare områden med liknande hydrogeologi och föroreningsproblem, till följd av arsenik eller andra spårelement, för regioner i Sydasien, Afrika och Latinamerika.
Nyckelord: Bangladesh, Arsenik, GIS, Brunnsborrare, Dricksvatten, Visualisering, Interaktiv karta.
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Table of Contents
Abstract I Sammanfattning III Abbreviations VII 1. Introduction 11.1 Sustainable Development Goals 1
1.2 The Importance of Safe Drinking Water 2
1.3 Drinking Water Scenario in Bangladesh 3
1.3.1 Safe Wells 6 1.3.2 Local Drillers 7 1.3.3 Policy Gaps 9 1.4 Study Area 11 1.5 Aim of thesis 13 1.6 Related Project 13 2. Methodology 15 2.1 Literature Review 15 2.2 Visualization of Data 15 2.2.1 ArcGIS 16 2.2.2 Data Collection 16 2.2.3 Strategy 17 2.2.4 Structuring Data 18 2.2.5 Specification of Layers 20 3. Results 24
3.1 Upazila Level - Driller Hubs 24
3.2 Upazila Level - Wells 25
3.3 Union Level - Connected Drillers and Driller Hubs 25
3.4 Driller Level - Driller and Connected Driller Hubs 26
4. Discussion 28
4.1 Interactive Map Model 28
4.2 Future Scopes 30
4.3 Limitations of the Study 31
5. Conclusions 33
Acknowledgements 34
References 35
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Appendix A. Upazila Level - Driller Hubs 38
Appendix B. Union Level - Connected Drillers and Driller Hubs 39 Appendix C. Driller Level - Driller and Connected Driller Hubs 40
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Abbreviations
The following is a list of abbreviations, and their meaning, used in this thesis. AAN Asia Arsenic Network
ASMITAS Arsenic Mitigation at Source [mobile app] ASU Arsenic Safe Union
BBS Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics BDWS Bangladesh Drinking Water Standard DOC Dissolved Organic Carbon
DPHE Department of Public Health Engineering, Bangladesh DTW Deep Tubewell
EPRC Environment and Population Research Centre
FY Fiscal Year
GBM Delta Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna Delta GIS Geographic Information System IDTW Intermediate Deep Tubewell
IPAM-WS Implementation Plan of Arsenic Mitigation for Water Supply LGD Local Government Division
LGI Local Government Institute
MoLGRD&C Ministry of Local Government Rural Development and Cooperates MoWR Ministry of Water Resources
NGO Non-Governmental Organisation
NPSWSS National Policy for Safe Water Supply and Sanitation PSB Policy Support Branch
SASMIT Sustainable Arsenic Mitigation SDG Sustainable Development Goal SDP Sector Development Plan STW Shallow Tubewell
VERC Village Education Resource Center WHO World Health Organization
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1. Introduction
The introduction aims to give an insight on the status in the world concerning drinking water, and specifically in Bangladesh. Firstly, it focuses on the importance of safe drinking water and how it is connected to the Sustainable Development Goals. Secondly, it continues with brief information about wells, local well drillers and drinking water related policies in Bangladesh. The last part of the introduction concretizes the aim of this thesis and its relation to an ongoing project.
1.1 Sustainable Development Goals
The United Nations has established 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to achieve by 2030 in order to attain a better and sustainable future for all (General Assembly of the United Nations, 2015). Following are the three SDGs that are considered especially relevant for this project.
Goal three, “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages”, including the target: ○ “3.9 By 2030, substantially reduce the number of deaths and illnesses from hazardous
chemicals and air, water and soil pollution and contamination.” (General Assembly of the United Nations, 2015).
Goal six, “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”, including the targets:
○ “6.1 By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all.
○ 6.a By 2030, expand international cooperation and capacity-building support to developing countries in water- and sanitation-related activities and programmes, including water harvesting, desalination, water efficiency, wastewater treatment, recycling and reuse technologies.
○ 6.B Support and strengthen the participation of local communities in improving water and sanitation management.” (General Assembly of the United Nations, 2015).
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Goal eleven, “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”, including the target:
○ “11.1 By 2030, ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services and upgrade slums.” (General Assembly of the United Nations, 2015).
To meet the SDGs, the United Nations General Assembly has declared 2018 - 2028 as the international decade for action “Water for Sustainable Development” (General Assembly of the United Nations, 2016).
This bachelor thesis is designed to contribute in the attainment of these SDGs and specifically mentioned targets, and especially for Bangladesh where different hydrogeological areas struggle to provide safely managed drinking water due to arsenic contamination and trace metals.
Furthermore, there is limited access to reliable information, and therefore limited knowledge, and engagement of the private sector in Bangladesh in improving their access to safe drinking water.
1.2 The Importance of Safe Drinking Water
Access to safe drinking water is crucial to human health and is a basic human right (WHO, 2011a). Approximately, 2.2 billion people around the world (one in three people globally) lack access to safely managed drinking water services (WHO, 2019). According to UNICEF, a safely managed drinking water source is, “one that is improved, free of faecal or priority contaminants, located on premises and available when needed.” (UNICEF, 2018). Mere access to basic
drinking water services is not enough due to the lack of equality in the accessibility, availability and quality of the services. Whereas a safely managed drinking water source offers higher service than a basic drinking water source to address these components of human rights (UNICEF, 2018). The World Health Organization (WHO) and its member states have stated that one of their main goals is that “all people, whatever their stage of development and their social and economic conditions, have the right to have access to an adequate supply of safe drinking water.” (WHO, 2011b).
Arsenic contamination is one of the major drinking water problems, WHO has mentioned arsenic as one of the ten chemicals of major public health concern (WHO, 2018). Arsenic is a metalloid that occurs naturally in the crust of the Earth. It is considered as a dangerous substance and can
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be found all over the planet in multiple forms (from solid to dispersed in water). Arsenic can occur both in organic and inorganic forms, although it occurs more often in its more hazardous and highly toxic inorganic form in natural water (Ahmad et al., 2017). More than 140 million people in the world are exposed to arsenic concentrations above the recommended limit of 10 µg/L in drinking water established by the WHO. Moderate to high levels of arsenic exposure in drinking water has been proven as a source to an increased risk of lung, bladder and skin cancer, numerous cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, developmental effects, pulmonary disease and an increased all-cause mortality (WHO, 2018).
A country where the problem with arsenic contaminated drinking water is at an extreme extent is Bangladesh. The arsenic contamination of drinking water in Bangladesh was first recognized in the 1990’s and has then been stated as a public health emergency. Moreover, it has been
classified as the largest mass poisoning of a population in history. In 2000, estimates on how many people of the population of Bangladesh were being exposed to a high level of arsenic varied between 35 to 77 million (Smith et al., 2000). Since the problem with arsenic
contamination in Bangladesh was first discovered in the 1990’s, a great amount of studies and mitigation measures have been done. Consequently, it has enabled Bangladesh to make
considerable progress in ensuring access to safe drinking water sources. Despite the progress, an estimate of 39 million people in Bangladesh were still being exposed to arsenic concentrations above the WHO’s recommended limit of 10 µg/L in 2012. The problem still remains; several more mitigation measures, including educating and engaging the private sector, are needed in order for Bangladesh to ensure access to safe drinking water for all of its population (WHO, 2018).
1.3 Drinking Water Scenario in Bangladesh
Bangladesh is situated in South Asia north of the Bay of Bengal and south of the Himalayas, with borders to Myanmar and India (Figure 1) (BBS, 2018). The country spreads across 147 570 square kilometres and has a population of 168,1 million people, making it the eight most
populated country in the world, but also one of the most densely populated (UNFPA, 2019). The capital of Bangladesh is Dhaka, and is located in the centre of the country. In 2018, 63.4 percent of the population lived in rural areas (World Bank, 2018). However, Bangladesh has made progress in reducing poverty from 44.2 percent of the population living in poverty in 1991, to
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14.8 percent in 2017 (World Bank, 2020). The official language of Bangladesh is Bangla, also known as Bengali, but English is also well spoken (BBS, 2018). The country is located in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) Delta, a part of the Bengal Basin. Underlying the delta there is groundwater in shallow aquifers with seasonal flow fluctuation varying at a range of two to eight meters (Shamsudduha et al., 2009).
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Bangladesh had major problems regarding contaminants in drinking water and tried to improve the access to safely managed drinking water through a variety of initiatives. Before the 1970’s most of the population used surface water as their main source of drinking water. Due to a widespread diarrheal disease caused by the surface water, it was replaced with groundwater sources (Ravenscroft, 2019). In recent years, Bangladesh has enhanced access to common improved drinking water, and currently only two percent of the population lacks access to
improved drinking water sources (BBS and UNICEF, 2018). An improved drinking water source is defined by UNICEF and the WHO as: “‘improved drinking water sources’ includes sources that, by nature of their construction or through active intervention, are protected from outside contamination, particularly faecal matter. These include piped water in a dwelling, plot or yard, and other improved sources.” (UNICEF and WHO, 2008). The most common improved drinking water sources in Bangladesh is tubewells and piped water. Today, the majority of the population in Bangladesh uses drinking water from tubewells, 96 percent of the rural population and 70 percent of the urban population (BBS and UNICEF, 2018).
Although contaminants in drinking water have declined in line with the increased amount of improved drinking water sources, approximately 65 percent of the population lacks access to arsenic and microbial safe drinking water (BBS and UNICEF, 2018). A safe drinking water source is defined as “one that is improved, free of faecal or priority contaminants, located on premises and available when needed.” (UNICEF, 2018). Unfortunately, groundwater from shallow sandy aquifers, which is the most common type of aquifer in Bangladesh, often contains high concentrations of arsenic (Shamsudduha et al., 2009). A majority of the population of Bangladesh collects drinking water from such aquifers through improved drinking water sources (Ravenscroft, 2019). One of Bangladesh's main issues concerning safe drinking water is
accordingly; arsenic contamination (BBS and UNICEF, 2018).
In 1997, the Government of Bangladesh published the “Bangladesh Drinking Water Standard” (BDWS), containing guidelines for acceptable concentrations of contaminants in drinking water (Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, 1997). The guideline is used until this day and recommends to not consume drinking water with arsenic concentrations exceeding 50 µg/L. Although, 12.4 percent of the households, or 19.4 million people, used arsenic contaminated drinking water transcending the standard during 2012 (BBS and UNICEF, 2018). In comparison, the current WHO guideline recommends only 10 µg/L, which is a fifth of the BDWS (WHO, 2018). The extent of households in Bangladesh consuming drinking water with arsenic
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contaminations exceeding the guideline established by the WHO are approximately 24.8 percent, or 38.8 million people (BBS and UNICEF, 2018).
Arsenic is a metalloid ubiquitous in natural environments. The contamination of arsenic in groundwater can be due to either or both natural and anthropogenic processes. The arsenic contamination in Bangladesh is due to the geology of the sediments, which originates from river sediments with eroded particles from the Himalaya. The arsenic in Bangladesh is mostly found in its inorganic form arsenite (As III), and appears in higher concentrations in the first few tens of meters of the sediments. When arsenic reduces in groundwater during the reduction process it produces high concentrations of manganese, iron, ammonium and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) (Ravenscroft, 2019).
The occurrence of high levels of manganese in drinking water is an additional drinking water problem in Bangladesh, which further reduces the access to safe drinking water services in the country. In two out of five tubewells in Bangladesh the manganese concentration exceeds the WHO health-based guideline of 0.4 mg/L, and in one out of three wells with acceptable arsenic concentrations, the wells instead have unsafe manganese concentrations. High manganese exposure can cause impaired cognitive function in children, as well as decreased performance and verbal skills (BBS and UNICEF, 2018).
1.3.1 Safe Wells
Drinking water in Bangladesh is mainly collected from hand pumped tubewells. It is the most preferred source for drinking water since it is considered easy to install, operate and maintain (Hossain et al., 2017). Normally, the rural areas collect groundwater from shallow tubewells (STWs) with a depth of 10-50 meters, whilst urban areas more often collect groundwater from deep tubewells (DTWs). Research has shown that DTWs, dug wells and rainwater harvesting obtain lower concentrations of arsenic than STWs. Although, dug wells increase the risk for pathogens if not chlorinated, and only DTWs and rainwater harvesting have been found having a low risk for high arsenic concentrations and pathogens. Rainwater harvesting is more expensive than collecting water from DTWs. This in combination with the more positive mind-set regarding tubewells within the population, has resulted in a majority of interventions focusing on DTWs. There are existing techniques for removal of arsenic dissolved in water. However, the techniques are regarded as expensive, therefore DTWs are generally a more suitable alternative
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DTWs, with a depth of more than 200-250 meters (Hossain et al., 2017), decrease the chance of toxic arsenic concentrations. The probability for the water in DTWs to exceed the limit of 50 µg/L is only one to two percent, whilst the probability to exceed the limit of 10 µg/L is five percent (Ravenscroft, 2019). Unfortunately, DTWs cost approximately four to five times more to install than STWs. Therefore, an increasing amount of tubewells are drilled to depths of
approximately 120 meters. These are called intermediate deep tubewells (IDTWs), and according to the Sustainable Arsenic Mitigation (SASMIT) project most of the IDTWs have been proven to be safe regarding concentrations of arsenic and manganese (Hosssain et al., 2017).
In this thesis, a safe well is considered as a tubewell that fulfils the criteria of a safe drinking water source (as described in section 1.3). To be specific, this includes drinking water with arsenic concentrations lower than 10 µg/L and manganese concentrations lower than 0.4 mg/L. Additionally, a safe well obtains drinking water with concentrations of other toxic substances that do not exceed limits established by WHO in “Guidelines for Drinking Water” (WHO, 2011a). As previously mentioned, such concentrations can be avoided by drilling a DTW or IDTW. Another alternative is to drill the well in an aquifer with sediments with low risk for arsenic- and
manganese concentrations. Studies have proven that the colour of the sediments can indicate the concentration of arsenic (Hossain et al., 2017). Therefore, drillers with knowledge about the connection between the sediment colour and arsenic concentrations can be an effective way to reduce the risk of installing new wells in sediments containing toxic arsenic concentrations. 1.3.2 Local Drillers
Local well drillers play a significant role in ensuring access to safe drinking water for the population of Bangladesh due to the increased dependence on groundwater for drinking. The local driller community has been recognised as the main driving force for installation of
tubewells. Since arsenic contamination poses as the main challenge for tubewell installation, the drillers’ knowledge of hydrogeology and priority contaminants is essential to ensure the drillers’ capability of targeting safe aquifers and installing safe tubewells. Surrounding conditions and sediment samples of a potential well location can give an indication of the quality, including the level of arsenic contamination, of the groundwater. Therefore, the local drillers’ perceptions on the nature of the sediments are crucial (Hossain et al., 2017).
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The “Sediment Colour Tool” is a support tool that local drillers can use (Figure 2). The tool has been developed during the SASMIT project by harnessing local driller knowledge and was used for targeting arsenic-safe aquifers when drilling tubewells. This tool helps a driller to match the colour of the sediment and compare the sample with “Munsell Colour Chart” and determine the Munsell colour and the Munsell code. The sediment sample can then be assigned to one of the four broad colour groups of aquifer sediments: black, white, off-white or red. The different colours indicate the risk of elevated concentrations of arsenic in the groundwater (Hossain et al., 2017). Black indicates a high risk with average arsenic concentrations of 239 µg/L, white
indicates a medium to high risk, off-white indicates a medium to low risk, and red indicates a low risk with average and median concentrations of arsenic below the WHO’s recommended limit of 10 µg/L (SASMIT, 2014).
Figure 2. The Sediment Colour Tool (SASMIT, 2014).
Over 90 percent of the existing tubewells in Bangladesh are funded by the private sector, whilst less than ten percent were ordered by the public sector (Hossain et al., 2017). Since the majority of the tubewells in Bangladesh are installed by the private sector, the private sector's knowledge of drinking water contamination and local drillers is essential prior to hiring a local driller and making decisions regarding enhancing the access to safe drinking water in the local areas. This type of information, such as drillers’ education and certification, is currently inaccessible for the
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public and private sector in Bangladesh. A policy regarding a certification verifying a driller’s competence is also currently lacking within the country (BBS and UNICEF, 2018).
1.3.3 Policy Gaps
In order to enable safe drinking water for the population in Bangladesh, several key interventions have been suggested by different stakeholders, such as UNICEF, the WHO and the Government of Bangladesh. For example, UNICEF together with the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) have in their “Drinking Water Quality Thematic Report” suggested interventions that aim to concretize what actions can be taken by the government of Bangladesh and its development partners in order to decrease the disparity between access to improved drinking water and access to safe drinking water. One of the suggested key interventions are:
“Build the capacity of the private sector to construct arsenic and microbiologically safe water
points. Majority of the wells drilled in Bangladesh is provided by the private sector. It is
important to regulate local driller activities by facilitating three key interventions: (a) mapping of local drillers (b) registration with the local authorities (c) training and certification.” (BBS and UNICEF, 2018).
The Sector Development Plan (SDP), fiscal year (FY) 2011-2025, for the Water Supply and Sanitation (WSS) Sector in Bangladesh, is a plan that was developed through a bottom-up approach involving stakeholders representing governmental, non-governmental and private organisations and agencies. Together they decided on the priorities for the government of
Bangladesh to provide water, sanitation and basic services for all. The SDP analysed the drinking water issues in Bangladesh and established future interventions and investments, as a basis for the government of Bangladesh and the development partners on which they can make decisions on their involvement in the sector. The SDP analysed Bangladesh’s existing legislations, policies and strategies regarding the WSS sector and identified the policy gaps and the needed
amendments to the existing legislations, policies and strategies accordingly, as well as suggested new ones (LGD, 2011).
Currently, Bangladesh lacks a systematic legal framework to manage the water sources,
especially that of groundwater sources. Therefore, the SDP has suggested a few points focusing on groundwater management should be added to the “Bangladesh Water Act”, a document with
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regulations according to the “National Water Policy”, drafted by the Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) in Bangladesh. One of these points are:
“Establishing licensing for well drilling that should allow for time- bound licenses and exemptions for specific categories of drilling technology or well size.” (LGD, 2011).
Furthermore, the SDP has suggested that the MoWR should formulate a “National Groundwater Management Strategy” under the framework of a revised “Bangladesh Water Act”. The strategy should include distinguishing responsibilities of the regulation and abstraction of the groundwater resources. This is due to the overall lacking regulations of roles and responsibilities of policy makers, service providers and customers in the development of the WSS sector (LGD, 2011). Moreover, a similar strategy regulating the roles and responsibilities of the local water agencies, the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the private sector, including local drillers, has been suggested by the SDP should be added to the existing policy “National Policy for Safe Water Supply and Sanitation (NPSWSS) 1998”. Additionally, the SDP has suggested strategies including the elements to “Set up a monitoring and coordination mechanism at community, local government and central levels” and “Continue encouraging the private sector as a major player in the rural WSS” should be added to cover the existing policy gaps of the WSS sector (LGD, 2011).
The Implementation Plan of Arsenic Mitigation for Water Supply (IPAM-WS), states that one of the challenges in arsenic mitigation in Bangladesh is data management. Data management is essential for planning, designing, monitoring and evaluating mitigation measures. Therefore, The IPAM-WS states that data needs to be continuously updated and the intended users among stakeholders need to be ensured access to the information. Furthermore, the IPAM-WS has stated “Development of Supporting Planning Tools” as one of the potentials and opportunities in arsenic mitigation. Area-wise “Technology Mapping” is an important tool that the WSS sector has
acquired, and that is being produced into dynamic documents by the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) in Bangladesh, which are used as planning tools. So far, the mapping is limited to water points and water technology. The main users of the dynamic documents will be the action planners, but there will be several more beneficiaries, such as program planners, managers, researchers, and eventually local institutions. Consequently, the documents will facilitate planning and feasibility of arsenic mitigation at the local level (LGD, 2018).
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1.4 Study Area
The country of Bangladesh is divided into mainly five different administrative levels and consists of: one nation, eight divisions, 64 districts, 492 upazilas and 4554 unions (Bangladesh National Portal, 2020). The study area for this thesis consisted of three upazilas (sub-districts): Assasuni, Daudkandi and Gowainghat. The upazilas are located within three different divisions: Khulna, Chattogram (Chittagong) and Sylhet, which have the highest proportion of inhabitants using drinking water sources with an arsenic contamination transcending the national standard of 50 µg/L. More than one out of five people in these divisions have arsenic concentrations higher than 50 µg/L in their stored drinking water (BBS and UNICEF, 2018).
The Assasuni Upazila is located within the Satkhira District under Khulna Division, and consists of eleven unions: Anulia, Assasuni, Baradal, Budhhata, Durgapur, Kadakati, Khajra, Kulla, Pratapnagar, Sobhnali and Sreeula. Assasuni Upazila is located in the South West of Bangladesh (Figure 3). In 2011, Assasuni had 268 754 inhabitants, of which 71.5 percent used tubewells. The literacy rate in the upazila is 49.83 percent (BBS, 2015a).
The Daudkandi Upazila is located within the Cumilla District under Chattogram (Chittagong) Division, and consists of 16 unions: Barpara, Biteshwar, Dakshin Elliotganj, Daudkandi Paurashava, Daultatpur (Purba Panchgachh), Gauripur, Goalmari, Jinglatali, Maruka,
Mohammadpur Paschim, Mohammadpur Purba, Padua, Paschim Panchgachhia, Sundalpur, Uttar Daudkandi and Uttar Elliotganj. Daudkandi Upazila is located in the South East of Bangladesh (Figure 3). In 2011, Daudkandi had 349 910 inhabitants, of which 89.5 percent used tubewells. The literacy rate in the upazila is 50.69 percent (BBS, 2015b).
The Gowainghat Upazila is located within the Sylhet District under Sylhet Division, and consists of nine unions: Alirgaon, Doubari, Fatehpur, Lengura, Nandirgaon, Paschim Jaflong, Purba Jaflong, Rustampur and Towakul. Gowainghat Upazila is located in the North East of Bangladesh (Figure 3). In 2011, Gowainghat had 287 512 inhabitants, of which 45.3 percent used tubewells. The literacy rate in the upazila is 32.7 percent (BBS, 2015c).
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Figure 3. Map over Bangladesh with the area of study highlighted: the upazilas and their
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1.5 Aim of thesis
The aim of this thesis is to enable access to information for both the public and private sector to enhance their capacity to scale-up access to safe drinking water in their local areas in three upazilas in Bangladesh: Assasuni, Daudkandi and Gowainghat. To enable access to information, the aim is to create a visualisation of data on local drillers in an interactive map model of the three upazilas.
The aim includes the following targets:
● Study the current drinking water scenario and related policy gaps for Bangladesh. ● Visualise the information in a comprehensive manner through an interactive map model. ● Model a decision support tool.
1.6 Related Project
KTH Royal Institute of Technology in collaboration with UNICEF Bangladesh, University of Dhaka, Ramböll and ExcelDots are implementing a project titled “Enhancing private sector capacity for scaling up access to safe drinking water - policy, systems strengthening and sustainable service delivery” funded by Sida, UNICEF, and KTH. This project has close collaboration with local relevant authorities in Bangladesh, such as: DPHE, Policy Support Branch (PSB) of Local Government Division (LGD) under Ministry of Local Government Rural Development and Cooperates (MoLGRD&C), UNICEF WASH officers in six zone offices, Local Government Institutes (LGIs), private drillers and local NGOs and WASH Sector partners. The project has been ongoing since 2019, and KTH will continue the endeavour until 2021 (Islam, 2020). This thesis is strongly related to this project and was designed to contribute to it. The UNICEF and KTH project aims to provide safe drinking water by strengthening government systems and enhancing the private sectors capacity, in order to improve the health of the rural and urban population in Bangladesh. The project is concretised by several outputs, such as developing relevant policies for enhancing the capacity and responsibilities for private and public sector drilling, reviewing the SASMIT protocol in order to integrate it with the DPHE-UNICEF Arsenic mitigation protocol, and implement a registration and certification system for local drillers. The outputs were chosen according to indications of insufficient progress in the enhancement of providing access to safe drinking water due to social behaviour and limited governmental
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regulations, such as policies. Moreover, regulating and enhancing the capacity of the private sector is essential due to the private sector being the main driving force for installation of water points (Islam, 2020).
Two previous projects concerning arsenic mitigation in Bangladesh that KTH has been involved in are the Arsenic Project at Matlab (AsMat) and the Sustainable Arsenic Mitigation (SASMIT). The SASMIT project developed “a community based and cost efficient strategy for installation of safe drinking water tubewells in arsenic affected regions of Bangladesh” (SASMIT, 2014). During the SASMIT project, the “Sediment Colour Tool” (Figure 2) was developed to facilitate local drillers to target safe aquifers when installing tubewells (SASMIT, 2014).
KTH in collaboration with ExcelDots is developing a digital water platform called ASMITAS (Arsenic Mitigation at Source), which is a mobile application and digitalised version of the “Sediment Colour Tool” (Figure 2). This application is designed to use artificial intelligence, and targeted to be used by local drillers and other stakeholders in order to facilitate the installation of tubewells at safe aquifers for mitigating of arsenic at source (Sharma et al., 2018).
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2. Methodology
The methodology section describes the steps behind the development of the interactive map model. Firstly, it describes the literature review, including what type of literature was used and for what purpose. Secondly, it is followed by the strategy behind the map model and an elaborate description of the workflow, collection of data, structuring of data and ArcMap layers.
2.1 Literature Review
The literature review provided an introduction to the issue and an overview of previous research considering safe drinking water options in Bangladesh. The literature review was done in order to analyse what information the private sector, and other local stakeholders, currently lacks in order to make informed decisions on how they can enhance access to safe drinking water. The review also motivates the relevance of such study. The information in the introduction was mainly collected from stakeholders and organisations active in the area, for example the WHO, UNICEF and the government of Bangladesh. Other relevant sources that were used were the KTH projects “Enhancing private sector capacity for scaling up access to safe drinking water - policy, systems strengthening and sustainable service delivery” and SASMIT, and internal (unpublished) and published research documents about safe drinking water and tubewells in Bangladesh.
The information that was collected online, was either found on the organisations’ websites or in established research databases, such as ScienceDirect, Scopus and Web of Science. Several keywords were used in order to find relevant information through the organisations’ websites and mentioned research databases. Words such as “Bangladesh”, “Arsenic”, “Drinking Water”, “Tubewell”, “Driller”, “Assasuni”, “Daudkandi” and “Gowainghat” were combined in various ways. The results were constrained by publishing date, and most of the research used for this thesis was consequently published in the 21st century.
2.2 Visualization of Data
The ambition was to create a comprehensive visualization of data which a user with no prior knowledge of the subject could easily manage and acquire information. To ensure these
requirements a list of necessary information was created as desired inputs. The method that was chosen to enable a visualization of the data was to create a map in ArcMap, an application to the
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program ArcGIS developed by Esri. The strategy used to create the map, including the desired inputs and outputs, are illustrated under section 2.2.3 and in Figure 4.
2.2.1 ArcGIS
There are various programmes associated with, or called, Geographical Information System (GIS). The common denominator of GIS programmes is that they can connect data or attribute information with geographical areas, in order to create geospatial data. The GIS programme chosen for this bachelor thesis is ArcGIS. ArcGIS consists of various applications, and the one chosen for this bachelor thesis was ArcMap, since it makes it possible to create maps and manage geographic data which later on can be shared. To create the map for this thesis, a basemap was downloaded to the programme from ArcGIS Online, which consisted of the boundaries of all the unions in Bangladesh. Furthermore, data was added to the map model manually about local registered drillers, local wells and local driller hubs (also known as hardware shops). 2.2.2 Data Collection
The data on drillers used within the map model was collected from a survey conducted by the KTH team, with support of University of Dhaka under “Enhancing private sector capacity for scaling up access to safe drinking water - policy, systems strengthening and sustainable service delivery” project. The purpose of their survey was to collect and compile data of the local drillers and register them in a dataset in order to educate them with arsenic contamination related issues. The survey reached 19 drillers within the upazila Assasuni, 18 drillers within the upazila
Daudkandi and 27 drillers within the upazila Gowainghat. The survey consisted of 39 questions (Appendix D) regarding the driller’s contact information, working experience and local
hydrogeological understanding. Their survey was conducted during the period of January and February in 2020. Not all questions and their respective responses from the survey were included as data within the map model, only the information that was considered relevant for this thesis was included. This is due to the survey having a larger scope, and it was conducted not only for the purpose of this thesis.
In order to collect information regarding local hardware shops, field facilitators from Dhaka University involved in the UNICEF and KTH project visited physical shops in the concerned upazilas. They prepared a list of hardware shops and a preliminary list of connected drillers. This was later on confirmed with the drillers’ responses to the survey that the UNICEF and KTH project sent out. The data regarding wells located in the upazila Gowainghat were collected from
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DPHE and UNICEF’s Arsenic Safe Union (ASU) project in association with Village Education Resource Center (VERC), Environment and Population Research Centre (EPRC), and Asia Arsenic Network (AAN) funded by Sida and UNICEF. Newly installed wells after 2017 under the ASU project was considered for this operation. The data was displayed in the map model, including a set of additional attribute fields for information that was not included in UNICEF’s well assessment, but for information that was considered relevant to add later on when new data will be collected in the future. Therefore, these additional attribute fields are currently empty, and only show “-”, in the map model.
2.2.3 Strategy
A strategy was developed to be able to conceive a workflow in order to create the map model. The map model is expected to be operationalised by creating a digital water platform through a mobile application, in a stand-alone website, or to be integrated in a government information centre to enable the access for the community, local technocrats, the private sector and other concerned stakeholders. Since there was an existing purpose for the resulting map, a backwards approach was practiced. The desired resulting map was decided to be an interactive map with three outputs: information about local drillers, local driller hubs and local wells in the selected area. The input variables were chosen from available data from the drillers’ survey conducted by the UNICEF and KTH project of enhancing the private sector for scaling up access to safe drinking water and according to the desired outputs and relevance for the users of the map (the public and private sector). The strategy for and workflow of creating the interactive map model, as well as the inputs that were chosen and considered relevant, is represented in the flowchart below (Figure 4).
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Figure 4. Flowchart of map development strategy.
2.2.4 Structuring Data
The chosen input data from the survey was sorted and compiled into tables in different sheets in four Excel-workbooks per upazila in order to be able to transfer the data into ArcMap. The tables were constructed according to the desired attributes, the information that was to be used and visualized, in the outputs of the map model.
Each driller, driller hub and well was assigned a specific identification number (ID) for
convenience. An individual ID was considered more convenient than names for the user of the map to apprehend as well as to avoid confusion when visualizing data with similar names within the map. The IDs were chosen to consist of the first letter of the district, the upazila and the category; driller hub, driller or well. For example: the first driller hub located in Daudkandi, Cumilla was assigned the ID “CDDH-01”; C = Cumilla, D = Daudkandi, DH = Driller Hub, 01= assigned ID number (following the sequence of survey).
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The four Excel-workbooks that were created per upazila to sort the data into tables in different sheets were the following (the workbooks are created based upon the inputs and outputs in Figure 4):
Workbook 1: “Unions”
This workbook consists of the same number of sheets as the amount of unions in the respective upazila. The sheets contain a table of information for every union regarding what driller hubs and wells are in the union and which drillers work within the union. This workbook does not include longitude and latitude coordinates due to the fact that the sheets were joined to polygon data of the unions in ArcMap.
Workbook 2: “Driller Hubs”
The first sheet in this workbook contains a table of all the driller hubs within the upazila and their respective contact information as well as their respective longitude and latitude coordinates. It also contains information regarding local drillers connected to the hub. The other sheets contain a table with the same information, but only for each individual driller’s connected driller hubs. The longitude and latitude coordinates are included in this workbook, since the sheets were added as point data in ArcMap so that the driller hubs could be visualized as points on the map in their respective geographical location.
Workbook 3: “Wells”
This workbook contains tables of all the wells within the upazila with their respective
information and longitude and latitude coordinates. The wells are divided into three different sheets sorted by what interval of arsenic concentration the water of the wells have. The first sheet with “Green” wells consists of wells with arsenic concentrations up to 10 µg/L, which is
acceptable concentrations according to the recommended limit by the WHO. The second sheet with “Blue” wells consists of wells with arsenic concentrations between 11 µg/L and 50 µg/L, which is acceptable concentrations according to the BDWS but higher than the recommended limit by the WHO. The third sheet with “Red” wells consists of wells with arsenic concentrations over 50 µg/L, which is considered as unsafe concentrations according to the BDWS and the recommended limit by the WHO. The longitude and latitude coordinates are included in this workbook since the sheets were added as point data in ArcMap, which makes it possible to visualize the wells as points on the map in their respective geographical location.
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This workbook consists of one sheet for each individual driller containing a table with their respective contact and working information. This workbook does not include longitude and latitude coordinates since the information on the drillers was joined to existing polygon data of each individual driller’s working area in ArcMap.
The Excel sheets and workbooks were saved as CSV-files (Comma Separated Values) or as XLS-files (Microsoft Excel 97-2003 Worksheet), two different types of XLS-files accepted by ArcMap, and then added as new data in new layers or joined to existing layers in ArcMap. The specifications of layers are displayed and explained in the following section.
2.2.5 Specification of Layers
This section represents the datasets and layers per upazila used in ArcMap. The “Source” subheading explains where the data was acquired, and the “Format” subheading if the data was uploaded as points or as polygons (usually in the form of one or several unions). The “Joined data” subheading explains if the layer was joined with additional information from an Excel workbook. The “Function” subheading explains the purpose the layer was created, and the “Attributes” subheading tells what data the layer contains.
Table 1. Specification of Layer 1.
Layer 1: Upazila
Source Shapefile “Union_Bounday (2016)” (Information accessed via ArcGIS Online, 2020).
Format Polygon data, basemap. Joined data None.
Function Visualize the upazila and the boundaries separating different unions. Used as a basemap.
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Table 2. Specification of Layer 2.
Layer 2: Unions
Source Shapefile “Union_Bounday (2016)” (Information accessed via ArcGIS Online, 2020).
Format Polygon data.
Joined data Excel Workbook 1: “Unions”.
Function Visualize the unions to enable choosing areas to get information within.
Attributes Union name, driller ID and driller hub ID.
Notation This “layer” consists of several layers - one layer per union.
Table 3. Specification of Layer 3.
Layer 3: Driller Hubs
Source Excel Workbook 2: “Driller Hubs” (Information accessed via the UNICEF and KTH project, 2020).
Format Point data. Joined data None.
Function Visualize the locations and spread of driller hubs within the upazila. Displays one point per driller hub.
Attributes Driller hub ID, name of driller hub, proprietor, proprietor mobile, shop address, latitude, longitude and connected drillers.
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Table 4. Specification of Layer 4.
Layer 4: Wells
Source Excel Workbook 3: “Wells” (Information accessed via the UNICEF and KTH project, 2020).
Format Point data. Joined data None.
Function Visualize the locations and spread of wells within the upazila. Displays one point per well. The points are colour coded and are either green, blue or red, visualizing the interval of arsenic
concentration in the water of the well: green is ≤10 µg As/L, blue is 11-50 µg As/L, and red is >50 µg As/L.
Attributes Well ID, project well ID, old well ID, installation date, type of well, well depth, water level, arsenic concentration, iron concentration, manganese concentration, sediment colour, sediment type, owner or ownership, caretaker name, caretaker mobile, driller ID, driller name, driller number, location in union and latitude and longitude
coordinates.
Table 5. Specification of Layer 5.
Layer 5: Driller’s Working Area
Source Shapefile “Union_Bounday (2016)” (Information accessed via ArcGIS Online, 2020) and Driller Survey (Information accessed via the UNICEF and KTH project, 2020).
Format Polygon data.
Joined data Excel Workbook 4 “Drillers”.
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highlighted unions, and to enable choosing areas to get the drillers information within.
Attributes Driller ID, driller name, mobile number, upazila, working unions, driller hub ID, driller hub name, certification, experience, drilling method, maximum drill depth, well type, working for.
Notation This “layer” consists of several layers - one layer per driller.
Table 6. Specification of Layer 6.
Layer 6: Driller’s Connected Driller Hubs
Source Excel Workbook 2: “Driller Hubs” (Information accessed via the UNICEF and KTH project, 2020).
Format Point data. Joined data None.
Function Visualize the locations and spread of the driller hubs each driller is connected to within the upazila. Displays one point per driller hub. Attributes Driller hub ID, name of driller hub, proprietor, proprietor mobile,
shop address, driller ID, driller name.
Notation This “layer” consists of several layers - one layer for each drillers’ connected driller hubs.
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3. Results
This section presents the finalized version of the interactive map model that was created for this thesis. Furthermore, it describes the triggering functions of each map layer. The finalized version of the map model is expected to be accessible through a mobile application, in a stand-alone website, or to be integrated in a government information centre. It should be noted that personal information, such as names and phone numbers, has been excluded in all of the resulting maps due to privacy reasons.
3.1 Upazila Level - Driller Hubs
This map (Figure 5) displays each upazila’s driller hubs as individual points (as blue pentagons), and consists of “Layer 1” (Table 1) and “Layer 3” (Table 3). The function of this map enables the user to click on a specific driller hub and receive information in a pop-up on the chosen driller hub. The information listed in the pop-up is: name of the driller hub, name of the proprietor, shop address, mobile number to the proprietor and a list of drillers connected to the driller hub. See Appendix A for examples of this map for upazilas Assasuni and Daudkandi.
Figure 5. Example of Upazila Level, driller hubs in Gowainghat with a pop-up for driller hub
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3.2 Upazila Level - Wells
This map (Figure 6) displays each upazila’s wells as individual points (as green, blue and red points), and consists of “Layer 1” (Table 1) and “Layer 4” (Table 4). The function of this map enables the user to click on a specific well and receive information in a pop-up on the chosen well. The information listed in the pop-up is: Well IDs, installation date, type of wells, well depth, water level, arsenic concentration, iron concentration, manganese concentration, sediment colour, sediment type, owner or ownership, caretaker name, caretaker mobile, driller ID, driller name, driller number, location in union and latitude and longitude coordinates of the wells. Although, some of these attribute fields are currently empty in the map model, due to currently lacking data.
Figure 6. Example of Upazila Level, wells in Gowainghat with a pop-up for well SGW-250.
3.3 Union Level - Connected Drillers and Driller Hubs
This map (Figure 7) displays the upazila’s unions as individual polygons, and consists of “Layer 1” (Table 1) and “Layer 2” (Table 2). The function of this map enables the user to click on a specific union and receive information in a pop-up on the chosen union regarding which drillers
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work in the union and which driller hubs are located in the union. The information is listed by category and with the given IDs for the drillers, driller hubs and wells. See Appendix B for examples of this map for upazilas Assasuni and Daudkandi.
Figure 7. Example of Union Level, Gowainghat with a pop-up for union Lengura.
3.4 Driller Level - Driller and Connected Driller Hubs
This map (Figure 8) displays highlighted polygons for each driller's working area and individual points (as blue pentagons) for the driller hubs each driller is connected to. The map consists of “Layer 1” (Table 1), “Layer 5” (Table 5) and “Layer 6” (Table 6). The functions of this map enable the user to click on the highlighted area or driller hub and receive information in a pop-up on the chosen category. The data on drillers and driller hubs was integrated in this map in order to create a basis for a decision support tool. See Appendix C for examples of this map for upazilas Assasuni and Daudkandi.
The information listed in the pop-up when clicking on a driller’s highlighted working area is the driller’s general information: driller’s ID, name of the driller, the driller’s mobile number, name of the upazila, name of the driller’s working unions, driller hub IDs of the driller hubs where the
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driller shops, the name of these driller hubs, name of the driller’s certification, working
experience, drilling method, maximum drill depth, what type of well the driller drills, and who the driller works for.
The information listed in the pop-up when clicking on a driller’s connected driller hub is: name and ID of the driller hub, shop address, name of the proprietor, mobile number to the proprietor and the connected driller's name and ID.
Figure 8. Example of Driller Level for driller SGD-23, Gowainghat: Driller’s working area and connected driller hubs. Pop-ups for driller’s general information and driller hub SGDH-04.
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4. Discussion
This section discusses the results of this thesis. It begins with a discussion regarding the
interactive map model that was created: if it is a sufficient solution to fulfil the aim of this thesis and if there are areas of improvement to the design of the finalized map model. It continues to discuss suggested future studies and mitigation measures. The section ends with the limitations of this thesis.
4.1 Interactive Map Model
There can be several beneficiaries from the constructed interactive map model when it is
implemented. It can facilitate decision-making regarding enhancing access to safe drinking water on a community level as well as on policymaker level. The local communities of the study area can be benefited by receiving access to information that can help them make informed decisions when employing a driller, since the map will function as a tool to display and inform the private sector about certified local drillers in their area. Eventually, it can lead to the community
decreasing their usage of wells containing toxic arsenic concentrations. The interactive map can also benefit the local driller community by creating and opening up a market of their capacity and working area. Furthermore, the interactive map can benefit the local institutions and other
stakeholders by facilitating their work in hiring relevant drillers for a specific union and making decisions on where to install new wells. These assumptions can be made due to similar
technology mappings being developed and used as planning tools by institutions, such as DPHE. In the mapping of local drillers, information regarding their connection to local hardware shops are of significance in order to understand the drillers’ reach within an area. Hardware shops are where the local drillers buy their equipment for drilling, but also where the drillers get in contact with potential customers, and where the customers get in contact with drillers.
Therefore, mapping and recognizing the importance of local hardware shops as driller hubs, as they are referred to in this thesis, can facilitate the work of local drillers and local communities in enhancing access to safe drinking water within the local areas.
If the interactive map proves to be effective and used to a great extent in the study area, the map model is designed to be easy to scale-up so that it can include other upazilas in Bangladesh exposed to toxic arsenic concentrations. Moreover, the interactive map model can be scaled-up to
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include other areas of South Asia, Africa and Latin America that suffer from similar problems with arsenic contamination of drinking water due to similar hydrogeology. Since the model will be implemented in a digital platform, it can be easily updated once new data has been collected. For example, data on wells can be added according to the developed attribute fields of a well’s pop-up in the interactive map model, that are currently empty due to older wells lacking this data, when new wells are drilled in the future; such as manganese concentrations.
An advantage with the interactive map model is that it is assumed to be a relatively simple way for a user to assimilate the information linked to geospatial data. The pop-up function in ArcMap enables visualization clearly connected to a certain area or location, which is assumed to be a very effective way for a user to receive specific information related to that area. Since the data is sorted and related to specific locations and only visible when the user clicks on these locations, the map limits the amount of information the user can receive at a time. This makes it possible for each and every user to choose to only view the information relevant to them, which is believed to facilitate the user in finding and collecting the needed information.
A function that could have improved the map model, that was not available in the ArcMap program, is links connecting different layers and pop-ups of related categories. For example, it would have been favourable if the user of the map could have clicked on a link of a driller hub ID or driller ID in a pop-up window in order to take a shortcut to receive more information about the driller hub or driller. It would also have been convenient if the links could redirect the user to other layers within the map model.
When this study is completed, the interactive map model is expected to be operationalised by the UNICEF and KTH project, through a mobile application, in a stand-alone website, or to be integrated in a government information centre to enable access for the community, local
technocrats, the private sector and other concerned stakeholders.Hopefully, it can also contribute to the fulfilling of one of the three key interventions stated by UNICEF and BBS: “Build the Capacity of the Private Sector to Construct Arsenic and Microbiologically Safe Water Points”, since it will cover “mapping of local drillers”. Additionally, it can also hopefully help bridge the Bangladesh WSS sector’s policy gaps mentioned in the introduction by mapping the abstraction of groundwater, by acting as a platform for data management and data access, and by acting as a tool for decision-making and distinguishing the role and responsibilities of local drillers. Lastly, the map can contribute to the attainment of the SDGs number three, six and eleven, since it
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hopefully enhances the access to safe drinking water in Bangladesh, and therefore also reduces the number of deaths due to arsenic contamination in the future. Also, since it hopefully contributes to facilitating Bangladesh’s local communities’ capacity and participation in improving the drinking water management.
4.2 Future Scopes
Several future studies and mitigation measures need to be done in order to further the process of enhancing access to safe drinking water in Bangladesh. Enhancing the private sector’s capacity has by many different parties been mentioned as a key intervention in order to achieve access to safe drinking water for all of the population of Bangladesh, since they are the main driving force for the installation of safe drinking water sources. The developed interactive map model will hopefully contribute to creating more access to information for the private sector, and for other local stakeholders, but to what extent the map will be used in the future is yet to be determined. Therefore, the contribution of this map is limited and other studies and measures complementing this initiative will be needed to help further enhance the private sector’s capacity to access safe drinking water.
A supposedly effective study of such could be to evaluate the reach and use of the interactive map and the choice of method for visualization of data after the map is operationalised. This can be done through interviews or surveys with the local population while visiting the area.
Interviews or surveys could also contribute with information regarding areas of improvement of the map model. These improvements could then be added to the map model before furthering its implementation and up-scaling. Furthermore, in order to collect and provide information from local registered drillers in all of Bangladesh and its upazilas, similar studies to this bachelor thesis on other upazilas need to be conducted.
To improve the map model, and its applicability as a decision support tool, older data on local wells could be added to the map model. If older data is added, decision makers can use it to analyse if new safe wells have already been installed in areas with a lot of older contaminated wells. Therefore, they can avoid installing more safe wells than necessary in these areas and focus their measures on areas that still have a lot of contaminated drinking water sources. It would also enable analysing if there is a clear connection between the location of driller hubs and safe wells due to the availability of equipment and competent drillers.
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Another suggestion in order to improve the map model, could be to add layers to the map model with specific data regarding which wells were drilled by which driller. This would further display each driller’s reach within the area, and also show each driller’s experience. Furthermore, it would be favourable if a national system of well IDs was developed. Currently, various ID systems are used, which can be confusing and can make it difficult to compare data collected from different sources.
The map will presumably continue to have a role in the further work of the UNICEF and KTH project on enhancing the private sector’s capacity for scaling up access to safe drinking water. As mentioned, the UNICEF and KTH project will, amongst other things, contribute to the
development of relevant policies in Bangladesh. Additionally, the project attempts to establish a certification system for drillers, proving their competence and knowledge on the subject of safe drinking water and drilling safe tubewells. The drillers’ certification could for example include having received education in the Sediment Colour Tool (Figure 2). The policies and certification will help regulate the activities of the local drillers, making sure that all of the population of Bangladesh can receive access to a safe drinking water source. An attribute field labelled “Certification” already exists in the interactive map model created for this bachelor thesis, informing the user of the map of the driller’s certification. This attribute field currently says “None” for all drillers, but was created in line with the plan to establish a certification system for drillers, and can easily be added to the map later on.
4.3 Limitations of the Study
The limitations of this study mainly regard that there was no possibility to visit the study area, and that no local drillers or inhabitants were involved in the development of the interactive map model. This entails that the outcome of the interactive map model might be subjective, since the basis of the visualization and conceptualization of the situation and area, and the choice of what data to include or dismiss in the interactive map model, was limited to only the literature review. These limitations and the subjectivisms of the interactive map model can entail certain issues. For instance, it risks creating bias, which can arise due to different associations to the colours used in the map model, larger or smaller areas for the user to click on, or which local driller appears first in a list and so on. This is an issue that was taken into consideration to a large extent when
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creating the map model, but it is something that is difficult to fully avoid. The geographical distance between Sweden and Bangladesh, as well as the cultural differences, creates little understanding and a limited foundation to make assumptions on what to consider when creating the map in order to avoid bias.
An additional potential issue due to the limitations of the study could be that the language used in the map model is limited to English. The national language of Bangladesh is Bengali, but a large part of the population also speaks English. Therefore, the fact that the map model is constructed in English is not considered to be a significant issue. Although, several of the names of the
unions, upazilas and districts differ when translated from Bengali to English, which might entail a risk of confusion. Presumably, this risk of confusion is minimized due to the names being
distinctively connected to specific geographical areas or locations in the map, which the local population of the upazilas can be assumed to recognize and are familiar with. However, it could be beneficial to also translate the map to Bengali for future implementations.
Another issue due to the limitations of the study is the understanding of the literacy level of the concerned upazilas. As mentioned under section 1.4 Study Area, the literature review implied that the literacy rate of the population of the upazilas of the study area varies from 30 to 50 percent. This means that there is a risk that about half of the population of the upazilas cannot read the information visualized in the map. The literacy rate is an issue difficult to take into account since it is not something we can affect, and the purpose of this study was to visualize data which requires including a certain amount of text. Hopefully, even those who are illiterate can
assimilate the most important parts of the visualized data, or can receive help from a person who is literate.
Furthermore, limitations were made on what data to include when creating the map model. Data regarding wells in the upazilas Assasuni and Daudkandi, was not accessible for the time of this bachelor thesis. Therefore, only a map with data on wells was created for Gowainghat Upazila. In the future, similar data on wells should be added to the maps for the upazilas
Assasuni and Daudkandi. Also, social data was not included. If geospatial data on households in the unions and information on how many households rely on each well had been included, decision-making on where to install new wells could be made more efficient. Therefore, adding social data to the map model in the future could be beneficial for the intended users and improve the map model.
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5. Conclusions
There are a couple of conclusions that can be drawn from this study. One is that an interactive map model was a suitable choice to visualize data in order to create access to information. It made it possible to present large amounts of data in a comprehensive format as well as to
integrate information to design a decision support tool. When the map will be publicly circulated, several parties can be benefited from using it, including the private sector, the local drillers, the local institutions and other stakeholders. In the future, the map can be used for several different purposes, including being used as a decision support tool for enhancing access to safe drinking water in Bangladesh.
The interactive map model will be easy to scale up to include more upazilas in Bangladesh and to be adjusted according to future needs and demands. Furthermore, the applicability of the
interactive map model makes it possible to apply the model not only on a local level, but also on a global level over areas with similar hydrogeology, and arsenic or trace elements contamination problems, in other regions of South Asia, Africa and Latin America.
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Acknowledgements
First of all, we would like to express our gratitude to our supervisors, Prosun Bhattacharya and Md Tahmidul Islam, for not only supervising us for one bachelor thesis, but for two. We are grateful for your guidance and support throughout this entire process, and thankful for involving us and letting us contribute to your ongoing projects. Additionally, we are grateful to the KTH team and all of the Field Facilitators, Research Associates, Project Manager and National Expert from University of Dhaka, for letting us take part of their collected data about drillers’
assessment. Furthermore, we would like to express our gratitude to the DPHE, UNICEF Bangladesh, VERC, EPRC, and AAN for letting us take part of their collected data regarding newly installed wells in Gowainghat. Lastly, we would like to thank our examiner Monika Olsson, for her advice and for adjusting the project requirements accordingly to fit the unusual circumstances of this bachelor thesis due to covid-19.
This thesis acknowledges the support from the project “Enhancing private sector capacity for scaling up access to safe drinking water - policy, systems strengthening and sustainable service delivery”, funded by Sida, UNICEF, and KTH (Sida contribution number 52170040 and program cooperation agreement between KTH and UNICEF BCO/PCA/2018/0015).
Celina Ankarstig and Victoria Berggren Stockholm, May 2020
