Staff Reporter :
People in Dhaka have been facing waterborne diseases as they are yet to be provided with safe water despite access to water for almost everyone.
Water supplied by Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority is ‘much better’ now, claims its Managing Director Taqsem A Khan. He expressed his hope that WASA’s tap water would be ‘drinkable’ by 2021.
But the reality is different as patients suffering from diarrhoea throng city hospitals, even before summer has set in, which doctors attributed to unsafe water. People have been complaining for long against WASA, a water supplier to 20 million people in the capital, for its stinky, filthy water. Only 56 percent of the population in Bangladesh has access to safe water, said Liakath Ali, director of programmes and policy advocacy at WaterAid Bangladesh, citing a report by the United Nations Development Programme and UNICEF. Dhaka is no exception. The capital has demand for 2.35 billion litres of safe water, according to the information provided by the local government minister last year. Dhaka WASA has a capacity to pump up 2.45 billion litres of water.
At least 1.7 billion litres of water are pumped up through deep tube-wells of WASA while another 6 million litres of water is supplied from Buriganga and Shitalakkhya rivers through treating them in five water treatment plants. However, the treated water ends up being filthy and stinky due to glitches in supply lines in different areas. In many cases, people boil
water before drinking although it does not help always and cause waterborne diseases. Many of the residents have opted to use water purifiers. Some of them boil water before putting in purifiers for their satisfaction. However, they are not confident about the effectiveness of the water purifiers.
In a research, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council or BARC found that almost 97 percent of the drinking water in jars used mostly in offices and restaurants contain ‘coliform bacteria’, a germ commonly found in human and animal faeces. Cases have been reported where WASA water has been directly filled in jars and sold. WASA water is safe at the source, said Professor Ashraf Ali of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.
People in Dhaka have been facing waterborne diseases as they are yet to be provided with safe water despite access to water for almost everyone.
Water supplied by Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority is ‘much better’ now, claims its Managing Director Taqsem A Khan. He expressed his hope that WASA’s tap water would be ‘drinkable’ by 2021.
But the reality is different as patients suffering from diarrhoea throng city hospitals, even before summer has set in, which doctors attributed to unsafe water. People have been complaining for long against WASA, a water supplier to 20 million people in the capital, for its stinky, filthy water. Only 56 percent of the population in Bangladesh has access to safe water, said Liakath Ali, director of programmes and policy advocacy at WaterAid Bangladesh, citing a report by the United Nations Development Programme and UNICEF. Dhaka is no exception. The capital has demand for 2.35 billion litres of safe water, according to the information provided by the local government minister last year. Dhaka WASA has a capacity to pump up 2.45 billion litres of water.
At least 1.7 billion litres of water are pumped up through deep tube-wells of WASA while another 6 million litres of water is supplied from Buriganga and Shitalakkhya rivers through treating them in five water treatment plants. However, the treated water ends up being filthy and stinky due to glitches in supply lines in different areas. In many cases, people boil
water before drinking although it does not help always and cause waterborne diseases. Many of the residents have opted to use water purifiers. Some of them boil water before putting in purifiers for their satisfaction. However, they are not confident about the effectiveness of the water purifiers.
In a research, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council or BARC found that almost 97 percent of the drinking water in jars used mostly in offices and restaurants contain ‘coliform bacteria’, a germ commonly found in human and animal faeces. Cases have been reported where WASA water has been directly filled in jars and sold. WASA water is safe at the source, said Professor Ashraf Ali of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.
