Bangladesh - Impact Evaluation of Low-Cost In-Line Chlorination Systems in Urban Dhaka on Water Quality and Child Health 2015

In Dhaka, more than 20 percent of the city's 15 million residents live in slums and almost all rely on shared taps or handpumps for water. Efforts to market in-home disinfection technologies, such as chlorine products and filters, have not succeeded. Dhaka's public water utility company has not considered installing disinfecting solutions at shared community distribution points because cost-effective technologies aren't yet available. In this project, researchers are using an inexpensive technology to automatically add chlorine to water dispensed at public taps and shared hand pumps. The technology, developed by Stanford University, is easy to install and maintain, has no moving parts, and does not require electricity to operate.

The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of installing the automated chlorination system at shared water points on water quality, child health, and costs in a low-income neighborhood in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The intervention will take place in low-income neighborhoods in Dhaka. Researchers will randomly select 160 shared water points that are connected to the municipal water distribution system. The shared water points will be randomly divided into two groups: 80 will be hooked up to a chlorine dispenser, and 80 will be the control group. The evaluation will be a cluster randomized controlled trial involving the 160 shared water points. Each shared water point serves approximately 10-50 households. All households with at least one child living under the age of five will be enrolled.

The study documented here is the baseline assessment of water treatment practices, water management, socioeconomic status, and child health of low-income households in Dhaka. The baseline survey was conducted between July and October 2015 with the female caregivers of children under five residing in households accessing the water points enrolled into the study. The survey was administered to 920 eligible households with a total of 1,036 children under age five.