The consolidation of deep tube well technology in safe drinking water provision: the case of arsenic mitigation in rural Bangladesh

This paper explains why and how deep tube well as a safe drinking water technology hasbecome dominant in mitigating the arsenic crisis in rural Bangladesh. We do so by applyinginsights from the Multi-Level Perspective on transitions in explaining changes in the safesocio-technical drinking water regime in rural Bangladesh. Data about seven dimensions ofregime change were gathered from key actors through in-depth interviews, focus groupssessions, a survey, and a workshop. The findings reveal that with the introduction of deeptube well as an arsenic mitigation technology, the observed changes in the seven dimensionshelp to transform the existing safe drinking water regime in order to re-stabilise it. Technological attributes, symbolic meaning, industry structures, and techno-scientificknowledge have supported an evolving dominance of the deep tube well. Besides, userpractices as well as related infrastructures have adapted to the use of deep tube wells, andnew policies stimulated its application. We argue that the dimensions of the technologychange in the existing regime are consistent with the features of incremental innovation. Byoffering such insights, we show the relevance of the Multi-Level Perspective on transitionsto analyse socio-technical innovation in a developing world context.