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Sleepless for water

Wasa blames depleting groundwater level, faulty pumps for supply shortage in city parts

Helemul Alam
Although Dhaka Wasa is producing water equivalent to the city's estimated daily demand of230 crore litres, some areas have been facing serious water crisis for about two months.
The crisis is so acute that residents of West Bhatara near Baridhara, Central Road and Kathalbagan areas have to sacrifice sleep going about colleting water by night.
Wasa officials said the crisis hit some pockets of the city due to depleting groundwater level and technical glitches in a few pumps.
Homemaker Selina Begum of West Bhatara could not sleep well for the last two months, as she has to wait round the clock for supply of water.
"We didn't get a drop of water in the last four days. From morning till late at night, I wait for supply of water, but there would be nothing," she said.
Getting water after every three or four days has become a common feature of the neighbourhood, mentioned Selina. Another resident of the area Dilara Begum said she has to spend Tk 200 every' day to collect water in water containers from a nearby Wasa pump by' a rickshaw van.
Wasa waterpumps in West Bhatara usually produce around 7,800 cubic litre of water per minute, but recently it has come down to 6,600 cubic litre per minute, mainly due to declining groundwater level, said an engineer of China Fast, a concessionaire who is replac-ing old supply lines in the area.
Ataur Rahman, chairman of Bhatara Union Parishad, said they have arranged a piece of land for the Wasa to set up a new pump in the area to ease the crisis.
According to Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa), it can produce 242 crore litre of water daily.
Asked about the crisis, Wasa Managing Director Taqsem A Khan said though its current production is equivalent to its estimated daily demand, there is supply shortage in some pockets of the capital and the company' was trying to solve the problem. STINKY WATER WOES
Residents in many parts of the capital corn- plained about getting stinky water from the Wasa supply lines, which has put them in trouble.
The problem has hit the areas of Malibagh, Shajahanpur, Shantibagh, Shantinagar, Bashabo, Madartek, Khilgaon, Mugda and Paschim Kafrul.
"I have to wait in long queues for hours at the Rajarbagh water pump every' day to collect two gallons of water from there as several thousand people from nearby areas throng the pump to get water," said Mohammad Shamim, a salesman at a shop at Eastern Plus market.
"I don’t get enough time to rest as I would have to go to the pump just after finishing my duty in the evening," he added.
A resident of Shantibagh, Al Amin said the supply water smells so bad that they cannot drink it even after boiling.
A high official of Wasa said as the Shitalakkhya remains highly polluted during the dry season, the company uses additional chemical to treat its water, which causes the smell in the supply water.
He, however, claimed that the water is safe for drinking.