WHILE government initiatives are considered too inadequate to address the water crisis of Dhaka city, a report published in a national Bangla daily on Saturday further testified to the irresponsibility and apathy of the Dhaka WASA high-ups in discharging their assigned duties to run the water supply chain for the city. According to the report, about 57 crore kilolitres of water equivalent to 25pc of the total daily production of Dhaka WASA are wasted every day due to sheer mismanagement and irregularities. The per day production of Dhaka WASA is 225 crore kilolitres. The money value of this waste water is about 42 lakh taka daily and 150 crore 70 lakh taka per annum.
The causes behind such an avoidable waste of water are gross negligence, accrued technical faults, illegal connections, commissioning of unauthorised flows from the main line depriving the legal clients, unnecessary and excessive use of water, and keeping the motors and taps running, according to the report.
Though some WASA consumers are found guilty of wasting water, but in most cases, WASA itself is more accountable for this huge misuse. Surprisingly, among the clients, consumers of the posh areas are also actively involved in such racketing and illegal water consumption. Some dishonest WASA officials are ignoring the interests of the citizens and are involved in the illegal connection business so that they can make money from the posh zones.
The Deputy Managing Director of WASA admitted to the irregularities saying ‘Thieves are everywhere’, and added that WASA is trying to repair its technical blunders. We advise the WASA bosses to take punitive actions against the corrupt employees who are making personal gains by depriving people of their water rights.
The total water demand of the city is about 3 billion litres a day whereas WASA can only produce 2 to 2.5 billion. Thus there is a shortfall of 0.5 – 1 billion litres on a daily basis. Therefore, the waste of water only adds misery to the city dwellers, which should be stopped forthwith.
Water is closely linked with human existence. Pure drinking water is a universal human right. Moreover, the summer season is on. The demand for water will inevitably grow higher.
Therefore, such misuse of water cannot be considered as a mere fault of some persons only, rather one should demand an exemplary punishment considering such misuse a criminal act which victimizes the city’s inhabitants.
Finally, it is expected that the WASA authority must take immediate actions against its corrupt officials who are involved in the illegitimate trade providing illegal connections. The government and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) should undertake an investigation into the asset of the millionaire meter readers of WASA and other officials. The clients who are also involved in depriving the National Exchequer must be brought to book for the better benefit of the city residents.
