The load shedding in the capital of Dhaka, Sylhet and Rajshahi has been rising for last seven days. At the same time, the residents of these cities, have been facing acute water crisis.
In Dhaka, the worst hit areas in both cases are Golapbagh, Bashabo, Madartek, Banasree, South Banasree, Mohammadpur, Shyamoli, parts of Dhanmandi, Adabar, the Indira Road, the Green Road, Monipuripara, Sher-e-Bangalanagar, Meer Hazirbagh, Rajarbagh and Sabujbagh.
“We can neither bathe nor cook food properly due to water crisis. It has made our lives miserable,” said Dilruba Akhter, a resident of Eastern Housing Project, South Banasree.
Saidur Rahman from Bashabo, Abu Naser Rahmatullah from Dhanmandi and Halima Begum Parul from Hajipara of Rampura said separately that they were facing an acute water crisis as well as electricity crisis.
Managing Director of Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (WASA) Taqsem A Khan said there was no water crisis in the capital except in few scattered pockets. “The situation is much better now than before. Scattered load shedding and water crisis cannot be measured as scale of crisis,” the managing director said.
According to official sources, the WASA, can produce 242 crore litres of water per day. Underground water contributes 78 percent and surface water 22 percent. The source of surface water is five water treatment plants while that of underground water is 670 deep tube wells. But each year, the underground water level falls by one to three meters due to excessive lifting of water,” Taqsem said.
According to official sources, load shedding in the capital and elsewhere in the country has been rising following the closure of Meghnaghat 450 MW combined cycle power plant after a fire accident. The period and the area of load shedding in the city has gone bigger, the officials said.
Alongside with the common people, the frequent load shedding also hampers studies of the HSC examinees.
In Sylhet, water crisis is going from bad to worse with the onset of summer. Scarcity of pure drinking water amid extreme heat is making life of people unbearable, reports Our Sylhet correspondent. In most areas, Sylhet City Corporation does not supply water for more than one to two hours. There are some areas where water is not at all supplied two r three days a week. City Corporation sources said, demand of water is twice of the production.
Load shedding, low voltage and fall in the underground water level are responsible for the water crisis in Rajshahi, reports a correspondent.
Around 2,000 tube wells in the city remain inoperative and 1,500 are unable to lift water due to depletion of underground water. The authorities are supplying water through 70 deep tube wells and one surface water treatment plant. These, however, are unable to meet the demand. As the Padma River has been dried up, things have gone worse, said officials of Rajshahi Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (RWASA).
Bahar Uddin Mridha, Executive Engineer of Public Health Engineering Department, said that at least 50 percent of the tube wells and Tara pumps installed by PHED in different upazilas of the district are not functioning at present. Every year underground water level goes down by six to seven feet in the city and on its outskirts.
