Dhaka WASA Managing Director (MD) has said he gets foul-smelling tap water at home too but assured that it was harmless. The embattling MD said no harmful germs were found in WASA water in the capital’s 10 areas from where a majority of diarrhoea patients have been visiting hospitals recently. Safe water rights have been violated for many years and recently the water quality has drastically fallen, putting as many as 20 million city dwellers at risk. Astonishingly, the MD claimed the foul-smelling water contains no harmful germs.
Officials of icddr,b said they were receiving a majority of diarrhoea patients from 10 areas of the capital that comprehend water of those areas become contaminated. Water becomes contaminated in three ways — at source, in the supply line and in overhead tanks and water reservoirs of households. On March 16 this year, the number of diarrhoea patients admitted at the icddr,b per day surpassed the 1,000-mark for the first time in the past 60 years. In the past week till Monday, an average of 8,986 diarrhoea patients was admitted there per day.
A TIB study found 91 per cent WASA subscribers have to boil the supply water to make it drinkable and, in the process, they burn gas worth Tk 332 crore a year. Findings also show that nearly 45 per cent of subscribers do not get the desired amount of water while about 35 per cent complain of poor-quality water throughout the year.
Admission of wrongdoing is the first step in correcting any misdeed, but in our socio-political culture the practice is totally absent and misappropriation of responsibilities of shoulder duty to another is long bad practice without any remedy. We believe WASA has the capacity to provide safe drinking water to the city dwellers that will save unnecessary gas burning and fuel. We must say WASA ought to renovate old lines and be vigilant to ensure safe drinking water for all.
