THE city dwellers will have to face a severe water and drainage crisis in near future unless the wholesale destruction of floodplains and wetlands ceases immediately, experts have warned. In June last year, the government gave the go-ahead to three housing schemes — Jolshiri, Prottyasha and Bashundhara Residential Area (partial) — on flood flow zones. Just around two months later, the Housing and Public Works Ministry approved some private housing projects that led to destruction of over 8,000 acres of flood flow zones and farmland.
More than 672 deep tube-wells of Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (DWASA) currently pump 80 percent of 230 crore litres of water required to meet the capital’s daily demand while the rest is met with treated water. Moreover some big establishments meet their demand independently by using over 2,000 deep tube-wells.
Wetlands and floodplains are vital rainwater catchment areas to recharge ground water. They also contain surface water and check urban flash floods caused by monsoon downpours. Indian cities like Mumbai, Pune and Kolkata survive on ground water and harvested rainwater simultaneously.
Wetlands and water retention areas contain rainwater for months and help natural percolation of water as it gets cleaned in the process of permeation. Floodplains, water bodies, retention areas and open spaces together constitute one third of the 1,525 sqkm master plan area of Dhaka. But according to an unofficial estimate, influential realtors have so far destroyed over 80 percent of conservable wetlands by filling them with earth and building concrete structures, with approval from the government in some cases. Around 5,797 acres of wetland is lost every year in the master plan area.
The water table in the core city area is depleting by one to three metres a year. The freshwater reserve of aquifer is depleting fast and the water of the Buriganga, the Turag, the Balu and the Shitalakkhya has become untreatable, so WASA is planning to set up three mega surface water treatment plants. The plants will be built on the fringes of the city to treat water from the Padma and the Meghna rivers and meet 70 percent of the capital’s total demand for water by 2020.
Experts have cautioned that the city would see much bigger disasters in future unless the dedicated floodplains, water retention areas and canals are reclaimed on a war footing. Dhaka is set to become a city that may be plagued by flooding and by a lack of drinkable water. Realtors can make lots of money but that money will not be able to solve the water scarcity that will befallen upon the city dwellers. It is time to rethink.
