Severe water shortage is one of the major daily problems faced by the city dwellers. In spite of this many people seem oblivious to the excessive amounts of water wasted in washing vehicles.

Md. Maniruzzaman, of Dhanmondi, is a private car owner whose car is washed religiously every weekend. Both car owner and driver appear least bothered by the fact that this may be adding to the city's water

crisis.

"There is no exact amount of water for washing the car," says driver Mainuddin, matter-of-factly. "The car is washed with a hose-pipe and it takes about two hours. Generally 14-15 litres water are used for washing the car."

But if anything, Maniruzzaman could be consid-

ered frugal in his weekend carwashing habits. Many car owners in the city, some with two or more vehicles, feel the need to wash their cars at least every few days, complaining that the dust and pollution of the city is harmful to the surfaces and paintwork of their cars.

Salauddin Ahmed, a resident of Banani owns two cars and employs a separate water tank just for car washing with a capacity of about 1000 litres. Water shortage and water wastage are not issues in his household.

However, private car owners are not alone in wasting one of the city's most precious resources in this manner.

Each day, around 4,500 vehicles are washed in at least 300 car-servicing centres throughout the capital. Workers at servicing centres in Mahakhali, Asad Gate and Shabagh, say they easily use 10-12 litres of water in washing a car or jeep and up to 25 litres for a microbus, bus or truck.

According to an employee of a serving centre at Shabagh, on average they wash 15 vehicles a day. For this, they use 150-200 litres water. Other servicing centres were found to expend similar amounts of water.

In most servicing centres, the main source of water for vehicle washing is a pipeline from the over-burdened Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA), though they could construct tanks to collect rain water as well as recycle much of the water that is currently used and simply allowed to drain away.

Mafuzur Rahman, the public relations officer of WASA, says, "We are trying to educate the public through advertising so they don't misuse or waste water. We think the public must be made aware in this context.”