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Water crisis in city worsens

Helemul Alam
With the summer still more than a month away, water crisis in the capital is worsening, and supply of stinking water is adding to sufferings of the city dwellers in many areas.
Severe load-shedding, excessive dependence on ground water, and worn out Wasa (Water and Sewerage Authority) supplylines mainly account for the water crisis.
The areas badly affected by the crisis include part of Mirpur, Monipur, Moghbazar, Hazaribagh, Shantinagar, Basabo, Gopibagh, Manda, Madartek and D IT plot andTeker Gali area of Gand ana.
Residents of these areas alleged that they are either getting insufficient water or stinking water for the last few months.
Around 250 people depend on Shantibagh Wasa pump to meet their daily requirement of water for over a month now as they get stinking water from the supply line, locals said.
’I take water from the pump twice everyday as water supplied throughWasalinesemitbadodour, saidSoma,a 12year-old girl.
Kamal Hasan, a resident of Moneshwar Road at Hazaribagh, said, "We are getting Wasa-supplied water only for 15 to 20 minutes around midnight for the last few days."
A resident of Senpara Parbata, Apu, said they get very small quantity ofwater only after midnight.
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Mokhlesur Rahman, a resident of Taker Gali, said they are suffering for more than 15 days as Wasa-supplied water hardly meets their requirement.
And Wasa officials admitted that there is no immediate solution to the water crisis.
Asked about the situation, Managing Director (MD) of Wasa Raihanul Abedin, said "We hope to solve the water problem in the next four years as some Wasa projects including setting up a water treatment plant phase-2 and replacing old pipelines will take that time.,"
Blaming load-shedding for the current deficit of water supply, Abedin however said if smooth supply of electricity is ensured, they can meet almost fully the city dwellers' need for water now.
WASA has a capacity of supplying 194 crore litres of water per day against the demand for 205 crore litres, he said.
Of the 505 water pumps of Wasa, only 274 have generators, and the rest remain idle during load shedding.
They have already sent a proposal to the higher authorities for purchase of 200 generators, and it will be placed before the Executive Committee of National Economic Council this month for approval, Abedin said.
Sirajur Islam, pump operator at Gandaria water pump-2, said Taker Gali and DIT plot areas are getting less supply of water due to load shedding for six to seven hours everyday.
"Although we have a genera -tor, we can operate it only for two hours a day due to lack of fuel, " he said.
Some officials of Wasa blamed the water crisis on wastage of water due to leaks in old pipelines.
"A substantial quantity of water is wasted everyday due to leakage," said the Wasa MD. Replacing old pipes and setting up newones of around 3,800 km length will start later tins year andendby20l2.
Wasa officials also said excessive dependence on ground water is a major factor behind water crisis as ground water table is falling alarmingly.
About 85 percent of Wasa-supplied water is ground water and only about 15 percent is surface water supplied through four water treatment plants at Saycdabad and Chadnighat in Dhaka and Godnail and Sonakanda in Narayanganj, they said.
The Wasa MD said ground
water layer in the city is dropping by around three metres a year on an average.
To reduce dependence on ground water, they have already taken initiative for setting up Sayedabad Water Treatment Plant Phase-2 with a capacity of 22.5 crore litres per day, and Khilkhet Water Treatment Plant having a capacity of 50 crore litres per day, Abedin said.
He attributed bad odour of Wasa-supplied water to the use of excessive chemicals in treating highly polluted Shitalakhya and Buriganga waters in the dry season.