UNB, Chittagong
The government has planned to supply drinking water to the ethnic communities living in remote areas of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) through installing a ‘gravitational flow system’, an innovative approach to tap the water seepage along hill slopes without using electricity.
“We’ve already formulated a project to supply water to the ethnic people of the CHT using the gravitational flow system and the project proposal has already been sent to the ministry for its approval,” Chief Engineer of the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) Md Wali Ullah told the agency.
Once approved by the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives, the project will be implemented in three hill districts-Bandarban, Rangamati and Khagrachhari.
Primarily, 50 ‘gravitational flow systems’ will initially be set up in Bandarban and Rangamati involving around Tk 16 crore.
Under the project, about 3,600 deep tube-wells and a number of community-level latrines will be installed in the region.
Gravitational Flow System is an approach of water supply where gravitational force of nature is used to supply water to the community level. There is no need for electricity to make it operational.
A reservoir is first required to be set up through constructing a check-dam in an up-hill position to store water that seep from hills. And then the stored water is channeled to a water plant installed in a locality through a pipeline using the natural force of gravity. Finally, the water is purified in the plant and is dispensed to people directly through taps installed along with the plant.
Nazia Tasmin, a DHPE assistant engineer, said sometimes the water, which is supplied through the ‘gravitational flow system’, does not require to be purified since it comes from hills through seepage.
The government has planned to supply drinking water to the ethnic communities living in remote areas of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) through installing a ‘gravitational flow system’, an innovative approach to tap the water seepage along hill slopes without using electricity.
“We’ve already formulated a project to supply water to the ethnic people of the CHT using the gravitational flow system and the project proposal has already been sent to the ministry for its approval,” Chief Engineer of the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) Md Wali Ullah told the agency.
Once approved by the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives, the project will be implemented in three hill districts-Bandarban, Rangamati and Khagrachhari.
Primarily, 50 ‘gravitational flow systems’ will initially be set up in Bandarban and Rangamati involving around Tk 16 crore.
Under the project, about 3,600 deep tube-wells and a number of community-level latrines will be installed in the region.
Gravitational Flow System is an approach of water supply where gravitational force of nature is used to supply water to the community level. There is no need for electricity to make it operational.
A reservoir is first required to be set up through constructing a check-dam in an up-hill position to store water that seep from hills. And then the stored water is channeled to a water plant installed in a locality through a pipeline using the natural force of gravity. Finally, the water is purified in the plant and is dispensed to people directly through taps installed along with the plant.
Nazia Tasmin, a DHPE assistant engineer, said sometimes the water, which is supplied through the ‘gravitational flow system’, does not require to be purified since it comes from hills through seepage.
