India and Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed $240 million loan agreement for West Bengal Drinking Water Sector Improvement Project to provide safe drinking water to people in three districts of West Bengal.

Facts :

• The project aims at providing safe and sustainable drinking water to people in Bankura, North 24 Parganas and Purba Medinipur affected by arsenic, fluoride and salinity.

• The project is also supported by grant of $3 million from Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction and $2 million grant from ADB’s Urban Climate Change Resilience Trust Fund.

• It will support state in strengthening its smart water management system, improve flood-related early warning and response and provide training on operation and maintenance as well as climate change and disaster resilience.

West Bengal Drinking Water Sector Improvement Project :

• The project will help mitigate health risks from using groundwater with elevated levels of arsenic and fluoride that can lead to health problems including cancer and bone diseases.

• It will help to reduce burden of diseases from contaminated groundwater.

• It will also help to mitigate these risks through provision of continuous potable water through metered connections to about 390,000 individual households in three districts.