Study title

Bangladesh

Object

Other

The audit was administered in Bangla through an electronic form developed in ONA (https://ona.io/), and was conducted by four local enumerators, who were trained and supervised by researchers from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). During Phase 1, enumerators walked through their designated villages, visiting every household, school, mosque, health centre and market places to ensure that all tubewells were recorded. In Phase 2, where a sample of households were selected from the REACH Household Survey, enumerators contacted the owners via phone to locate the tubewells. Since the Phase 2 area, that is, the northern half of Polder 29, has relatively lower salinity and therefore a higher tubewell density, a sample audit was conducted instead of a census due to budget restrictions.The tubewell owner or manager was the respondent in most cases; however, where owners were absent, knowledgeable user(s) responded to the audit. Water samples were collected in clean, labelled plastic bottles and later transported to BUET laboratory in Dhaka for testing the electrical conductivity. All forms submitted through ONA were checked by BUET researchers daily to resolve data queries. If accurate GPS readings could not be captured due to poor weather conditions or technical issues, enumerators revisited the tubewells at a later date.