WATER supplied to most city dwellers is inedible as the presence of blackish particles and stinky odour poses a danger to their health and can result in an outbreak of water-borne diseases. Residents in the capital’s central and eastern parts have been suffering due to supply of unhygienic water supplied by Dhaka Water Supply & Sewerage Authority (WASA) for the last several weeks, according to The New Nation. The awful smell remains in water despite boiling it at 100 degrees Celsius, at which temperature the water turns basically germ-free. The urban poor are the primary victims of the contaminated water as the well-off people have their own purifiers. It is one of the prime duties of the government to provide drinking water to the citizens.
Water becoming undrinkable due to inordinately high level of pathogens is a regular problem in urban areas especially during water-logging when dirt and filth enter pipes particularly if they are ill-maintained. There is therefore no excuse for the authorities supplying the water to be so nonchalant that affects the lives of millions. Admitting the situation, the Dhaka WASA said that the problem had been created due to the application of chlorine to the water from the Shitalakkhya for reducing contamination, while dirt elements enter pipelines through the leakages to further contaminate water. Apart from these, several people do not clean their underground reservoirs and rooftop tanks which also create health hazards. Physicians warned that drinking of Chlorine-treated water may cause vomiting, diarrhoea and other diseases. Hence, locals alleged that their face and eyes burn, and their body starts to itch when in contact with the contaminated water.
The dwellers in the affected areas are compelled to use jar and bottled water for drinking, while experts believe that bottled and jar water are also not free from germs. The Bangladesh Standard and Testing Institution has yet to set any standard of water purification and thus a wide range of businesses supply filtered and purified water without any regulations in place to bind them. The situation is more critical in the city’s slum areas where pure drinking water is almost rare. Out of the capital’s 45 lakh slum dwellers, 41 lakh have no formal access to water supplied by WASA.
