TAP water in metropolis Dhaka supplied by WASA is not directly drinkable and the city’s residents have no choice but to boil and filter the water in households and drink bottled water in offices. It has become a critical public health issue now in the peak hot summer when people are falling sick with waterborne diseases like diarrhoea and other abdominal problems. Dhaka’s Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) cannot guarantee that the city’s water is ‘drinkable’ while it is failing to supply the daily requirement of 2.3 billion litres as the present supply stands at 2.1 billion litres. They collect 78 percent from deep tube-wells and the rest from the rivers using purification plants. Residents stopped drinking tap water directly after it was found to be dirty full of germs and had a foul odour. Although WASA’s senior officials claim they are considering supplying of drinkable water through pilot projects, experts think it does not test the water as frequently as it should and that the issue should have been taken into consideration long ago so as to prevent the present problems. Experts claimed WASA’s inefficiency and lack of proactive role are the major causes of our current predicament.
Water crisis affects both rural and urban areas, and is related to both water scarcity as well as water quality. Due to the lack of proper drinking water, the poor end up using water from unprotected sources such as ponds or ditches, or walking to distant wells; which dramatically increases the risk of bacteriological contamination. It may cause greater outbreaks of water-related diseases. Thousands of episodes of diarrhoea occur in children and adults each day and can be prevented if safe drinkable water is provided to the city’s residents.
Public opinion tend to support experts view that the entire water supply pipeline of Dhaka city should be repaired and continuous high pressure should be maintained in the pipeline to keep it fast running to stop growth of bacteria inside. Even drinkable or clean water is polluted by the time it reaches households due to the awful state of the 50-year old pipes having dirty spill over inside it at places. The water of deep tube-wells is safe to drink; but we have serious doubt on the quality of ‘dangerously polluted’ water from Buriganga and Shitalakkhya rivers which is apparently refined by WASA ground treatment plants.
It is high time the agency must makes stronger efforts in creating awareness for checking water tanks in every household and pipes of running water to make sure that people are getting pure water and drinking safe water. WASA claims it is setting up new pipelines at many places to supply pure water to city dwellers but their slow space of progress is totally frustrating.
Moreover, corruption, misuse of public fund and inefficiency are not helpful to modernize the supply system. It is advisable that the WASA authorities must prove itself capable and efficient to serve the people or they must think of other alternative to supply the city residents with pure drinking water.
