The New Nation - Internet Edition

POWER load-shedding, excessive dependence on groundwater and worn-out supply lines are the major reasons for water crisis in the capital city, according to Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (WASA) officials. City dwellers in different areas have been facing an acute crisis of water for long. The pumps and treatment plants of Dhaka WASA have been failing to supply water as per its capacity due to heavy load shedding coupled with fluctuation of voltage. Almost a half of the pumps remain inoperative every day for certain periods affecting the city's water supply as a whole.

The disruption in electric supply reduces the pressure of water in the supply lines for which people living in some areas do not get water most of the time. At many places, power outages occur frequently and it needs around five hours to get full pressure of water in supply line. To keep the water pumps operative, there are now a total of 274 generators for 471 pumps. The authority has decided to buy 40 more generators. Dhaka WASA can supply about 170 crore litres of water a day against the demand of 210 crore litres. WASA subscribers, however, get much less supply due to cracks and faults in the supply lines and illegal connections given in connivance with a corrupt section of the officials and employees of WASA.

Meanwhile, the groundwater level beneath Dhaka city has been dropping alarmingly due to over dependence on deep tubewells. There are about 2,000 deep tubewells in the capital city - 800 of them with WASA's approval. About 85 per cent of the WASA-supply water comes from underground sources and the remaining 15 per cent from surface water.