Decision-support for arsenic- and salt- mitigation in Bangladesh: the ASTRA approach

Bangladesh faces a growing water crisis. Limitations to safe water access arise from the widespread pathogenic contamination of its surface waters, the severe arsenic contamination of its aquifers and the growing salinity in the country’s coastal regions. Appropriate water supply methods are identified for some of these contexts, it is challenging to select resilient water supply solutions for the low-income, rural areas of Bangladesh. The ASTRA tool is developed to support the identification of potentially appropriate drinking water methods and to aid their implementation in this context. It can be seen as the combination of a multidisciplinary sourcebook and a decision-support instrument. This paper outlines the main mitigation routes as the (i) targeting of contamination-free groundwater, (ii) treatment of arsenic- and salt-contaminated aquifers and (iii) utilization of non-groundwater sources. The paper also describes the tool-inventory and the context factors applied to determine functional ranges of the included water supply methods.