Pond sand filter as an alternative system for purifying drinking water: climate change perspective in Mongla, Bangladesh

Water is a very important natural resource for sustaining human life and the environment. The water resources of the South Western Coastal Region (SWCR) of Bangladesh are greatly influenced by different climatic factors and arsenic contamination. This creates a crisis of safe drinking water for the inhabitants of SWCR in Bangladesh. As a result, the Pond Sand Filter (PSF) and Protected Pond (PP) are the most widely used systems for purifying drinking water in SWCR. A semi-structured self-exploratory questionnaire was used to identify the viability of the PSF system for ensuring a safe drinking water supply and its adaptation strategies among the beneficiaries. Among the PSF and PP water users, a total of 182 equally distributed respondents in 13 villages of Mongla Upazila of Bagerhat District were selected randomly. The result revealed that 80% of respondents used PSF water in all seasons for washing and cooking purposes. During the disaster period, submerged and non-submerged PP water sources were found to be 95% and 5%, respectively. In the case of PSF, 84% were found as non-submerged, followed by submerged (3%), partially destroyed (10%), destroyed (2%), and totally undisturbed (1%) in the study area. 83% of respondents directly consumed PSF water as their safe drinking water source and the remaining 12% and 5% of respondents consumed it along with boiling and commercial filtration treatment, respectively. The development of various beneficiary groups for good PSF maintenance, repair, and operation should be acknowledged as a drinking water option in the study region.