Asia Arsenic Network (AAN) is a non-governmental, non-profit organization with over 25 years of dedicated experience in addressing arsenic contamination, improving access to safe water, and implementing community-based WASH interventions across Bangladesh. Founded in Japan in 1994 and actively operating in Bangladesh since 1996, AAN has developed a comprehensive, participatory, and technically robust model for arsenic mitigation that is grounded in scientific research, community ownership, and sustainable operational practices.

To strengthen its technical and research capacity, AAN has established a state-of-the-art Arsenic Center and an Environmental Laboratory. These facilities are equipped with Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS), enabling precise analysis of arsenic concentrations in groundwater. The laboratory also supports microbiological water quality testing, providing critical data on bacterial contamination to ensure holistic water safety. These capabilities not only serve the local population but also provide a platform for researchers, students, and partner organizations to engage in applied studies and develop innovative water treatment solutions. In addition, AAN has developed training cells and a guest house to accommodate field trainees, visiting researchers, and technical staff, fostering capacity building, knowledge transfer, and multi-stakeholder collaboration.

Bangladesh continues to face one of the world’s most severe arsenic contamination crises, with millions of people exposed to unsafe groundwater. While national mitigation programs and awareness campaigns have reduced some risks, long-term, reliable access to arsenic-safe drinking water remains a major challenge, particularly in rural, marginalized, and vulnerable communities. Communities often face limited technical knowledge, poor infrastructure maintenance, and inadequate behavior change programs, which can compromise water quality even when safe systems are installed. AAN’s decades of experience, deep community trust, and technical specialization enable it to address these challenges in an integrated and sustainable manner.

AAN’s approach combines technical solutions with social and behavioral interventions. It emphasizes:

  • Participatory planning, ensuring community needs and priorities guide project design
  • Capacity building, through training of water user committees, local technicians, and government partners
  • Behavior change interventions, including hygiene promotion, safe water handling, and arsenicosis awareness
  • Sustainability mechanisms, such as community contributions, operation and maintenance funds, and local institutional linkages

Through this integrated approach, AAN ensures that water systems remain functional, arsenic-safe, and socially equitable. Women, children, and marginalized groups are explicitly included in decision-making and system management to promote gender equity and social inclusion.

The organization’s research and innovation activities further enhance program quality. AAN conducts baseline surveys, hydrogeological assessments, pilot studies, and technical trials to optimize interventions, while sharing lessons through workshops, publications, and collaborations with national and international institutions. This emphasis on evidence-based programming ensures that interventions are scientifically validated and scalable to additional communities.

Organizational Overview

The Asia Arsenic Network (AAN) is an international, non-profit, volunteer-based organization that originated in Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan, in April 1994, following a long struggle to support victims of chronic arsenic poisoning caused by pollution from the Toroku mine.

Vision, Mission, and Core Values

The vision of the Asia Arsenic Network (AAN) is to create a society in which all communities, particularly those in arsenic-affected areas, have universal access to safe and sustainable drinking water, understand the health risks associated with arsenic exposure, and possess the knowledge and capacity to manage water resources responsibly.

History and Background

The origins of AAN are rooted in the historical arsenic pollution tragedy in Toroku, Japan, where mining-related contamination caused long-term health and environmental damage. The struggle of affected communities in Toroku inspired a movement focused on environmental justice, public health, and community solidarity.

Organizational Structure and Governance

The Asia Arsenic Network (AAN) has established a robust organizational structure designed to ensure effective governance, operational efficiency, and the successful implementation of community-level interventions.

Geographic Coverage and Operational Areas

Asia Arsenic Network (AAN) implements its programs primarily in arsenic-affected rural areas of Bangladesh, where groundwater contamination poses a serious threat to public health and livelihoods.

The Road from Toroku to Samta

Toroku is a small village located in a valley, halfway down Mt. Furusobo in Takachiho, Nishiusuki district, Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan. The panoramic view of Toroku is exquisite as a natural garden. Mountains are rising in the eastern and western areas, surrounded by green trees. And a clear stream runs through the bottom of the valley, hitting crags with a splash. The flowers are in full bloom in the spring, waterfalls flow down shining white in the summer, and trees submerged with silver frost in the winter. Each of the four seasons offers its scenic beauty. Strolling through the village, you will find many gods and Buddha in small shrines and temples, which remind you that Toroku was once a divine place for Buddhist priests.

But the saddest songs of the villagers began during 1600AD by the opening of a silver mine. The industry was booming until the middle of the 19th century under the direct management of the Nobeoko clan. However, the mine was eventually closed after a period of scanty production of copper-zinc ores. The mining began production in 1920 in search of arsenopyrite. Correspondently the mass production of poisonous arsenic trioxide (white arsenic) increased from burning arsenopyrite in a primitive furnace in Toroku.

Toroku

The production of arsenic trioxide polluted the whole environment, the air, river water, and soil of Toroku. Honeybees died quickly, birds could not fly across the Toroku River, falling halfway. Domestic animals fell sick, got mad, and eventually died. Most of the trees withered. Farmers could not grow crops. The people living there, as well as the workers at the mine, became victims of arsenic pollution. A black age started in the divine village.

The Toroku mine pollution was made known to the public in 1971. The victims called themselves “survivors” since many, especially the young, had died with acute arsenic poisoning. They stood up to file a case at court for compensation of their health damages against the mining company. The court struggle took 15 years from 1975 to 1990 to reach the reconciliation at the Supreme Court. The victims and the supporters walked together and worked together even after the struggle ended. This spirit of “walking together, working together” has been inherited to the AAN since its establishment in 1994 by victims and the supporters and is defined as “Toroku Spirit”.

The AAN is a citizen’s association situated in Miyazaki City on the Kyushu Island southwestern part of Japan. The AAN accommodated a variety of personalities and improved knowledge and understanding of the problem of arsenic contamination. The energy and expertise built up over those years were then challenged into the formal foundation of the AAN, which aims to use its experience and skills to provide and meaningful response to arsenic contamination all over Asia.

As part of its mission to Asia, in February 1995, the AAN participated in the “International Conference on Arsenic Contamination of Groundwater” held at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India. At that time, the representatives of the AAN met an engineer of the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) and a doctor of the National Institute of Prevention & Social Medicine (NIPSON), Bangladesh. They informed the findings of arsenic contamination of groundwater and arsenicosis patients in Bangladesh to the AAN representative.

people of samta

In December 1996, a survey team of the AAN visited several places where arsenic contamination were already been confirmed. Samta village of Sharsha Upazila in Jashore district was one of them. The AAN selected this village for a pilot study project finding the severity of many arsenicosis patients. Thus in 1997, the project funded by the Toyota Foundation made the way to Samta. The AAN opened its office in Dhaka in March 2000 and then in Jashore in September of the same year, to convey the messages of Toroku victims to the people living in arsenic affected villages of Bangladesh, with the aim of not to repeat their tragedies and to tackle the problem together with those people.