ADB to finance $245 mn for Safe, Sustainable Drinking Water Service to 1.65 Million in West Bengal
29th August, 2018Category: International
The Board of Directors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a financing package totaling $245 million to provide safe, sustainable, and inclusive drinking water service to about 1.65 million people in three districts of West Bengal state, India, affected by arsenic, fluoride, and salinity. The total project cost is $349 million, for which ADB will provide a loan of $240 million and grant of $3 million from the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, financed by the Government of Japan. The West Bengal government will provide $106 million in funding.
The project will provide continuous potable water through metered connections to about 390,000 individual households in three districts—Bankura, North 24 Parganas, and Purba Medinipur. The project will deploy smart water management system to efficiently manage services—a first for large scale rural water schemes in India.
High arsenic and fluoride levels in drinking water are a threat to public health in India, where West Bengal is by far the worst affected state. With about 85% of water in India’s rural areas coming from groundwater, some 27 million people are at risk from arsenic and fluoride contamination. Arsenic in drinking water can lead to a range of problems including cancer, while high exposure to fluoride can cause dental or skeletal fluorosis and bone diseases. In West Bengal, more than 90% of the rural population relies on groundwater, making it home to about 72% of India’s population at risk from arsenic and 5% of the population at risk from fluoride contamination.
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