22nd September 2016
We started from Bangalore towards Bagepalli
Taluk, this time to understand the Sachetana program. The program was proposed
to ensure safe water availability for Fluorosis affected population. This
program was initiated in the year 2006, where project beneficiaries are
provided with financial support to implement Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) system.
Bagepalli Taluk was one of the project areas which has high concentration of
Fluoride in water. Groundwater being the major source of Drinking and cooking water
for people, they are at higher risk to Fluorosis. Hence as a response to this
drinking water crisis based on the groundwater contamination, this project was
implemented in some parts of the Taluk. Rainwater is the purest and source of
all water on earth. By harvesting this water, a family can supplement its needs
for drinking and cooking.
We met Mr. Ramesh, Field Coordinator with the
Rural Water Supply department and his colleague Hanumantha and started out to field. We initially
visited a Government High School of Achepalli Village. We could see the presence
of connecting pipes, a big tank indicating the presence of Rainwater harvesting
structures. However, the pipes were broken, tank was not in use, the entire
system defunct.
Then we headed inside the village, to find
Venkatanarsamma, who stopped her daily chores to narrate us her story about
safe drinking water through RWH for years now. She used to suffer from lot of
joint pains earlier and drinking rainwater has brought her relief from the pain
and has positive impact on her health. She manages to give some documents about
the Sachetana program and details about the tank size, amount of rainwater to
be collected, costing of the structure. She talks about how she manages to
clean the roof just before the rain arrives, managing to let out the first 10
min rain and then diverting the rainwater through cloth into the filter, which
eventually leads to the underground sump.
She is convinced about the benefits of drinking
rainwater who along with her neighbor in the front undertook RWH. The fluoride
concentration from the nearby bore well was 2.0 ppm tested from Caddisfly,
while rainwater the fluoride concentration from both these houses were 0.1 and
0.01 ppm respectively. But she seems unhappy with some who managed to get the
system defunct after initial years where only 4 systems were working out of 10
systems installed.
Alternate supply sources like RO filter water
and even borewell water have been taken up by the community as they have
reliable and convenient supply
.
Next we visited, the Mittemari Primary School,
the Prinicipal Srinivas, says the borewell water is used for drinking and
cooking. Using Caddisfly, the Fluoride concentration of this source (400 ft)
was 0.9 ppm. We decided to see students and check for any cases of Fluorosis.
We found few cases of Dental Fluorosis, both Boys and Girls as shown below.
We tested the filter water from nearby RO
plant. The fluoride concentration was 0.61 ppm. We also spoke to the High
school teachers, they said that they use RO water for drinking and cooking. But
the principal said that there are cases of Dental Fluorosis in their school. As
part of their mid-day meal scheme, the school provides the children with Rava balls
and Dal with four vegetables (tomatoes, potatoes, gourd, and radish) in it. The schools teachers have been requesting to provide them a list of vegetables that can be used in the mid-day meals to improve nutrition.
After that we met a PHC doctor at Mittemari
Division, Dr Harish and asked him about the condition of Fluorosis in the
region. He said in most cases, it is dental fluorosis and report of muscular
and joint pain etc. Skeletal Fluorosis cases very low in number. He wasn’t sure
of the exact numbers of the Fluorosis patients in the region. He usually
advises Vitamin- C tablets and Painkillers but due lack of supply of medicines,
there is shortage of these tablets.
Later we visited Kanagamakapalli High School
and met Mr Hussain, who is a physical education Teacher. This school has a
borewell, which is a source of both drinking and cooking water for the
children. There is presence of the Survana Jala Scheme, under which only the
underground sump remains. It is used now as storage for borewell water. The
fluoride concentration was found to be 1.7 ppm. The access to safe water has
become difficult as the RO filter plant for the village has gone defunct. After
a scan with the students there, we found few cases of dental Fluorosis. It is
this village and more importantly the school, which needs help in form of
providing safe water. Maybe rainwater harvesting or RO plant or both.
After this school, we went to meet Mr Pawan,
who is the divisional Manager of Swasti Organisation. He discussed the working
of the organization especially on the health aspect of the people. Initially
they started with work on HIV-AIDS awareness. However, he mentioned that safe
water has now become one of the core areas of their work, given the Fluorosis
is a major issue due to groundwater contamination. They have helped established
nearly 8 RO plants with funding from different donors. However, the reach of
these plants is an issue and hence they are planning to increase the reach by
establishing kiosk system. Mr Pawan seemed interested working with the network on ways
to increase access to safe water.
There are many ideas like Nutrition gardens, repairing the existing RWH systems and installing new ones in needy areas, nutritional list for schools etc, to begin the work towards Fluorosis mitigation in Bagepalli taluk.
Kiran Kumar Sen and Shreyas S
Biome Trust and Fluoride Knowledge and Action Network
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