The New Nation - Internet Edition

Sheikh Arif Bulbon

The city dwellers have been facing acute crisis of water for couple of weeks due to shortage of supply water of the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (WASA), as the water table in the city has dropped.

The people of Lalbagh, Kamalbagh, Islambagh, Nawabpur, Khilgaon, Mirpur, Hajaribagh, some parts of Mirpur and Mohammadpur, central Badda, Shewrapara, Kazipara, Paikpara, Kalabagan, Nayapaltan, Khilgaon, some parts of Moghbazar and Basabo alleged that they were acutely facing water crisis in the areas for the last couple of weeks.

On emergency basis, the WASA is supplying water by tank lorries in different areas including Kajipara, Dhanmondi, Nakhalpara, Rampura, Badda, Shahjadpur, Basabo, Mohammadpur, Monipuripara, Rajabazar, Gulshan, Uttara, Mohakhali and others parts of Dhaka Metropolitan Area.

"Though the demand for water is high, up to 180 crore litres of water is pumped out in Dhaka and Narayanganj a day. The water crisis in the city will ease after the implementation of the proposed Mawa Point Project," said a WASA official.

According to the WASA statistics, it is producing 155 to 160 crore litres of water a day against the demand of over 200 crore litres.

The WASA installed 478 deep tube-wells in the city for supplying water to thousands of households in the city. These tube-wells meet 75 per cent of the demand. At least 86 per cent of the WASA water comes from the underground source and the remaining 14 per cent comes from surface water sources, said the WASA official.

The consumers get much lower than the WASA production due to cracks in the WASA supply lines at different points, he added.

The groundwater level declined up to three metres each year, which raise the fear of a landslide in Dhaka city, said the WASA official.

Most of the city dwellers depend on the WASA water for their household work. But Dhaka WASA depends on groundwater extracted by deep tube wells, sources said.

Frequent loadsheding also hampers smooth operation of the pumps ultimately disrupting the lifting of water, he also said.

People of different areas alleged that they had been facing water crisis for long and it had intensified for the last couple of weeks forcing them to depend on tanks of mosques and some other water sources like tube-wells.

Many of them also alleged that the water they were getting from the WASA supply lines were dirty, discoloured and stink.

Md Hasan, a resident of old Dhaka, said, "We have been facing water crisis for the last three months and it has been intensified for the last two weeks."

"We have to stay awake till midnight ever night to collect water as we get some water in the WASA supply lines at that time,' said Hafiza, a resident of Basabo.

Another resident of Kalabagan said that most of the days he could not take his bath due to water crisis. "The water supply situation in the area has reached a vulnerable state and the little amount of water we get is not enough even for emergency chores like cooking and washing."

Hafiz Kamal, a resident of central Badda, said due to the poor supply of water, they had to depend on dirty and stinking water to do their emergency works.

"Excessive dependence on the groundwater has caused the drop in the level at an alarming rate and it is one of the main reasons for the scanty water supply of the WASA," said another official of the WASA.