Simple technologies, affordable solutions
Photo Journal: Removing the arsenic threat - Ha Tay, Vietnam
For water and sanitation solutions to be accepted and adopted by the community, these have to be affordable and easy to use. Tapping into local resources is one way of keeping costs down. Solutions also have to be designed in a way that the installation and maintenance of the facilities can easily be done by the locals themselves: this is how training and capacity-building are essential components of our approach.
In Vietnam, especially in the Red River and Mekong River plains, high levels of arsenic have been found in the ground water of household tube-wells. Drinking arsenic contaminated water over the long term may cause cancer of the skin, lungs, urinary bladder, and kidney, as well as skin pigmentation. Lien Aid, with the help of engineers from Lien Institute for the Environment and the local NGO, Centre for Water Resources, Conversation and Development, designed and deployed household water filters that use a type of local soil called laterite to remove arsenic, making the water once again, safe for drinking.
