Arsenic cannot be seen or smelt; the first signs of its impact are skin lesions which only emerge once the poisoning has taken place. The poisoning can set off a range of heart diseases and cancer and the external symptoms look a lot like.
Human Rights Watch says up to 20 million people are at risk from arsenic poisoning in Bangladesh and estimate 43,000 people die each year in Bangladesh from illnesses caused by arsenic poisoning.
Millions have already suffered from what the World Health Organisation calls "the biggest mass poisoning in human history".
Millions of "tube-wells" have been dug across Bangladesh since the 1940s. The simple pumps were rolled out across the country by the government and NGOs from the 1970s onwards as a way of delivering cost-effective bacteria-free water. However during the 1980s cases of arsenic poisoning began to emerge. While the government has made efforts to replace the wells, in many rural areas they are still the primary source of water especially as many families have dug their own tube wells.
In Bangladesh one in every five deaths was associated with unsafe drinking water.
A particular type of resin technology removes arsenic and other harmful substances from water and once it has been used Drinkwell filters the water through a series of other tanks to take out other harmful substances. The water is sold locally by "Drinkwell" entrepreneurs and the money raised is used to maintain the system. According to the United Nations, 30% to 50% of all water projects fail after huge investments because of a failure to maintain the facilities. Drinkwell includes operational and maintenance costs. The pricing is set depending on location but a monthly subscription costs anywhere between $0.05 (4p) and $0.12 for 20 litres (4.4 gallons) a day. There are now 30 Drinkwell filtration plants in India and Bangladesh serving more than 100,000 people.
Imagine if the Drinkwell system was freed from the need to make a financial return and implementation of the scheme prioritised around the world.
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