Thirty-three poor families of Pragpur village in Daulatpur upazila got arsenic removal Sono filter for free.

Manab Shakti Unnayan Kendro (MSUK), an NGO, organised the distribution ceremony.

Daulatpur Upazila Nirbahi officer (UNO) Rupam Anwar distributed the filter as chief guest at a simple function held at Daulatpur Upazila Pahrisad on Thursday.

Among others, magistrate Monirul Islam, Dr Ziaul Haq of upazila health complex, upazila fisheries officer Hossain Ali Sawapan, MSUK programme manager M.M Rahman were present at the function.

MSUK sources said, the people of Pragpur village were worst affected by arsenicosis. Most of them drank arsenic contaminated water as they have no alternative to pure drinking water.

Sono is a simple and cheap filter made by available resources. It worked wonder in supplying arsenic free water in rural Bangladesh. It has successfully stopped spread of arsenicosis in 1,000 villages across the country. No arsenicosis patient was detected in the villages in the last two years following its use in the villages, according to its innovators.

It costs between Tk 1,600 to 2500 and its buyers do not have to use any ingredient or chemical to purify water.

The filter was approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Bangladesh government and the local Bureau of Isotope Hydrology Section of the

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The government okayed it following various scientific tests including ETV-AM (Environmental Testing and Verification Programme for Arsenic Mitigation), innovators said.