BSS, Rajshahi :
Rajshahi Water Supply and Swerage Authority (RWASA) have brought more than 4.04 lakh city dwellers under its water supply coverage.
“So far, we have brought 73.28 percent of Rajshahi city’s total around 5.52 lakh population under the water supply coverage,” said Parvej Mamud,
Superintending Engineer of RWASA, while talking to BSS here yesterday.
He added that the authority has been working relentlessly to attain hundred percent coverage within near future.
Currently, 7.78-crore liters water are being extracted through 96 production pumps in all 30 wards under Rajshahi City Corporation daily against total demand of 11.33-crore liters. There are 712.50-kilometer pipelines to distribute the extracted water.
“We have no record of detecting any major pathogens in frequent quality test of the supplied water here,” said Shafiqul Islam, Senior Chemist of Regional Laboratory in Department of Public Health Engineering.
Implementation work on a project titled “Re-renovation of Water Supply System in Rajshahi City” is progressing fast at present with an estimated cost of around Taka 67.50 crore to attain the target of hundred percent water supply.
“We have also completed the feasibility study on Surface Water Treatment Plant in Rajshahi WASA at a cost of around Taka 1.89 crore,” added Engineer Parvej Mamud.
Forty five kilometers pipeline with 150-milimeter diameter, 70 kilometers pipeline with 100-milimeter diameter, 20 new production pumps and 28 submersible pumps were installed during the period from July 2012 to December 2015 under Taka 28.02-crore ‘Water Supply System Improvement in Rajshahi City’ project.
Besides, 600 washouts and 100 flow-meters were commissioned under the project. Currently, commissioning work on 68-kilometer pipelines ranging from 100 to 300 millimeters in width is progressing.
In addition to reactivation of 40 production pumps, installation work on 22 new production pumps and 32 water points is progressing under the ongoing project.
Giving an overview of the project work, Engineer Mamud said all the RWASA’s procurement activities are being operated through e-GP process besides launching e-filling. Computerized billing system has been launched. At present, water charges are being received from the consumers through mobile banking.
“We have adopted a programme of operating the production pumps through mobile apse,” said Sultan Abdul Hamid, Managing Director of RWASA. In addition, the Rajshahi city people will get safe drinking water. All sorts of bad-smell and dirt in water will be removed soon.
To this end, the government has approved a Tk 4,150-crore ‘RWASA Surfacewater Treatment Project’ to remove city’s water problem. Under the project, water from the Padma River will be supplied to households for only drinking purpose after necessary treatment.
The project has provisions of installing 26.5-kilometer main pipelines and 48-kilometer primary and secondary pipelines for installing a strong water supply network.
Under a 40-year water supply management master plan, the mega project has been adopted to supply fresh drinking water to the city people.
Sultan Hamid said the project will carry water through pipeline from the Padma River, purify it and then supply it to city houses.
The surface water-based plant with capacity of treating 20-crore liter water daily will be set up at Farhadpur, 26.5 kilometres west from the city centre under Godagari upazila by June 2022.
From this water purification plant, fresh drinking water will be supplied to all 30 wards Rajshahi City Corporation and its surrounding areas as well as 11 unions of Katakhali and Naohata municipal areas.
All old pipelines and hydrants of the city will also be repaired and renovated under the project. “We are very much hopeful of completing the acquiring process of 53.31 acres of land for the mega project by next June,” he added.
