S.A Shofiee, Sylhet :
Sylhet city dwellers are in extreme woes as water crisis is going from bad to worse here with the onset of summer.
Scarcity of pure drinking water amid extreme heat is making life of the townspeople unbearable and the situation is getting worse gradually, the residents experienced serious water crisis in different areas including at Choukidekhi, Lichubagan, Jalalabad, Ambarkhana, Suply, Kazitula, Sowdagortula, Gopaltila, Baluchor, Chhorarpar, Upashahar, Barthkhola, Jalopara, Kodomtaly.
Every day, people are seen waiting in long queues to collect water in various places.In most areas, Sylhet City Corporation does not supply water more than one or two hours. On the other hand, there are some areas where water is not supplied even for once in a day.
City corporation sources said per day demand of water in the city is 7,90,00000 liter according to the population but the supply of water is less than half. Besides, due to fall in groundwater level, water cannot be lifted in many areas through deep tube-wells.
The city corporation sources said the ‘Nine Town Project’ had been initiated for supplying water for only two lakh people.But at present, the city population has increased to seven lakh.
Sumi Begum, a resident of Amborkhana, said they face acute water crisis almost every day, which hampers cooking and their other household chores.
Parul Dor of Choukidekhi said they are not getting water in time for long.Recently, the problem has become more severe, she added.
Syed Hossain Jamal Executive engineer of the water supply section of SCC admitted that they could not supply water at present as per the requirement of the city dwellers. He said work is on to implement a project named ‘Sylhet-Barisal Water Supply Project. ‘Under the project, the authorities will install 14 deep tube-wells and set up two water treatment plants at a cost of Tk105 crore.Twelve tube-wells have already been installed and two separate water treatment plants are being set up in south Surma, he added.
