Differences in stakeholders’ and end users’ prefer

Authors: Mohammad Mojahidul Hossain Jennifer Inauen

Publish Date: 2014/05/31

Volume: 22, Issue: 4, Pages: 335-350

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Abstract

Arsenic contamination of drinking water is a public health crisis Since its detection in Bangladesh the world’s most arsenicaffected country organizations involved ie stakeholders have made great efforts by testing wells and installing safe water options Yet 20 million Bangladeshi are still at risk It has been suggested that the discrepancy between stakeholders’ and end users’ preferences of arsenic mitigation options is one reason for the slow progress Therefore this study aimed at comparing stakeholders’ and end users’ preferencesStakeholders mostly preferred rural piped water supplies and deep tubewells while their least preferred options were dug wells and arsenic removal filters End users mostly preferred deep tubewells wellsharing and rural piped water supplies while dug wells were least preferred End users identified several disadvantages of mitigation options including long distances great effort to collect water and difficult social situations They further demonstrated moderate willingness to pay for a rural piped water supply deep tubewells and pond sand filters but lower willingness for other optionsStakeholders’ and end users’ preferences converged for deep tubewells and rural piped water supplies while wellsharing was preferred by end users but not by stakeholders The results suggest installing deep tubewells and rural piped water supplies with greater priority Furthermore stakeholders’ preferences to promote wellsharing should be enhancedThe authors thank all study participants for taking the time to answer our questions Furthermore the authors are very grateful for the field support from the following organizations Department of Public Health Engineering DPHE of the Government of Bangladesh UNICEF Bangladesh NGO Forum for Drinking Water Supply Sanitation SHETU Bangladesh the Rishilpi Development Project the Society for Disadvantaged Origins SDO the Tribedi Women Social Development Association TWSDA the Voluntary Association for Welfare and Social Development VAFWSD and the Village Education Resource Center VERC The first author also warmly thanks the Eawag Partnership Programme EPP for awarding him the fellowship that made this research possible Special thanks go to Prof Dr HansJoachim Mosler for his constant supervision and valuable advice for carrying out the study The authors’ final gratitude goes to the Eawag Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science Technology for funding this research

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