Experts is on Friday inspected the Stevens Technology for Arsenic Remove (STAR) Filter project, a simple, cheap and user friendly method to remove arsenic from tile tube well water at the Golbahar village under Kachua in Chandpur.

The method reduces arsenic level from 100 parts per billion (ppb) to less than 5 ppb, which is bellow the W-HO limit of 50 ppb.

The technique has been approved by the Technical Advisory Group under National Steering Committee on Arsenic.

A total of 184 families have so far adopted this easy and affordable technique to right rid of the epidemic problem of the countrv.

Earth Identity Project (EIP), a Non Government Organisation (NCiO) introduced the technology in the village with technical assistance from Stevens institute of Technology (SIT) -of New Jersey, USA.

Scientists of the SIT evolved the technique through laboratory experiments and field tests in the village for over a year.

EIP has also began a training programme on arsenic awareness and to explain the easy handling of the filter to the villagers.

About 30 women take part in the two-hour training programme each day, which is being field at Ashek All Khan Fligh School and College in the village.

During this process two milligrams of iron powder with other chemicals are mixed with about 20 litres of arsenic contaminated water in a bucket. The iron powder dissolves and absorbs the arsenic molecules with in two minutes.

The water is then filtered through a highly absorptive common sand filling one third of another bucket with a hole at the bottom. The arsenie-free water passes to the container through a tube, connected with the hole.

The arsenic containing particles remain in the bucket as those cannot pass through the sand.

The whole process about 20 minutes.

The initial cost of the filter is around Tk. 2000, which includes the cost of buckets, buckets, tube and the iron mixture. The yearly cost of for filtering arsenic contaminated water is only Tk. 140 for a family of five.

Talking to The Daily Star, an official of EIP said, we are still providing the filter at free of cost and the iron Mixture is being supplied by SIT". She also said that the mixture would be produced locally in future and the villagers will then have to purchase the filter.