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Dhaka City is expanding day by day, but distribution of water supply is not equal in different areas of Dhaka city. So we often se

situations of severe water crisis in different areas of the Mega city. In my research I tried to investigate how water is utilized in Dhaka

City and through the research I tried to identify possible ways to overcome the situation.

Water is an essential element that we need everyday. Urban people are particularly dependent on the water supply agency WASA of

Bangladesh Government, as it¶s not possible to depend on natural and resource like ponds, spring, rivers, and tube well. I worked on

present status of water supply, utilization, problems and possible steps that can be taken to meet the challenge of providing adequate

and safe water for a mega city like Dhaka.

As it is already mentioned that Dhaka is a densely populated city, it is very difficult to provide adequate water to all of the residents. We

often see situations like people in different areas are taking illegal connections of water. There are other factors like too much misuse,

poor monitoring system which are considered to be important contributors in water crisis. WASA, the only government authorized water

supplying agency, is not playing its role properly regarding issues such as lick from pipes, miscalculations of bills, etc. Throughout the

research I tried to identify how water can be used effectively with the current available supply, different steps to improve the situation.



  
This section of my research consists with secondary data and information. This part is completely based on Internet reports and

information gathered from different journal, books, newspaper. Here I tried to identify different causes and solutions that we can follow.

The first water supply system was introduced in Dhaka by the British in 1888 under the jurisdiction of the district civil surgeon at

Chandighat. The Chandnighat plant treating water from the Buriganga River has the capacity of supplying 3.9 crore litres of treated

water to supply mainly in the localities under Lalbagh Police Station and Kotwali Police Station. However, after so many years the

treatment plant is unable to produce according to its normal capacity. Moreover, the source of water for the plant, the Buriganga River,

has become biologically dead because of ongoing water pollution caused by industrial and domestic sources. The conventional
treatment plant, which uses only lime and chlorine for treatment, cannot neutralize the existing pollutants in river water, many of which

may cause serious health hazards. That is why people get sticky straw-colored water in the areas where water from the Chandnighat is

supplied.

The first deep-water pump was installed in Dhaka in 1949. Till the end of 1960s the water supply in Dhaka was almost surface-water

system based. Dhaka WASA was formed in 1963, being separated from the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE), with the

aim of giving better service to its city dwellers. It inherited only 33 deep pumps from DPHE. But, to meet the ever increasing demand of

the city dwellers of one of the fastest growing mega- cities in the world, Dhaka WASA without having any long-term vision, kept on

installing deep-water pumps on a crisis by crisis basis. (See appendix 7.1)

Ñ
 

The inadequate supply of water by the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (WASA) has put residents of many areas in the

city in a miserable condition. But at the same time a huge quantity of WASA water is going down the drain every day without being of

any use. Official sources told that the WASA has recently been facing a shortage of more than 30 crore litres of water daily against the

demand in the area under its jurisdiction. On the other hand, the WASA is losing about 50 crore litres of water a day due to the so-

called system loss.

Water crisis is acute at present in the old part of the city and in Khilgaon, Rampura, Mirpur, Agargaon, and Azimpur areas. The daily

chores of life, including cooking, cleaning and washing, not to mention the bathing of the residents in these areas, are being disrupted
because of inadequate water supply. Senjuti Khan, a resident of Niketan, Gulshan, says, "For the last two months residents of our

apartment building have been collectively buying water from WASA. The share of water that we get each day is too little to lead normal

household activities. After completing our daily chores we have to go to some relatives' house to take a shower.´ Many hotels are

coping with their demand by purchasing water from the WASA s water vans. People in some areas are also being compelled to buy

water to meet their daily needs. The WASA officials said that, out of their 20 water vans, 15 to 16 would operate in the city during the

summer to respond to the need of the people.

At present the WASA is losing about 40 per cent of its total production in the name of system loss. Through illegal connections, a huge
quantity of water is going down the drain due to leaks in old and dilapidated transmission pipes and street hydrants. More than 50 per cent
of the water is lost due to system loss. The remaining water is either stolen or consumed by people. Zahidul Khan, a resident of Mirpur,
says, "We get a little water only for 15 to 20 minutes after midnight. But my neighbors, mostly the residents of the apartments store their
huge reserves with powerful illegal lift pumps. As a result we don't get water normally. We even spend sleepless nights collecting a little
water from the supply line to be used the following day."The leaks in pipes are so much, and nobody has an accurate estimate about how
much water is seeping through them.

The severe water crisis over the years has forced some of the residents of the areas like Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara and Dhanmondi to

sink deep tubewell on their own. But the lower middle class people and slum dwellers cant afford to do that as it costs TK. 1.5 to 2

lakhs. The residents of Dhaka Cantonment and Dhaka University areas do not take water from WASA as they have pumping houses of

their own. WASA sources agree that a considerable quantity of WASA water is used for construction and industrial purposes.




  


This section of my research consists with secondary data and information. This part is completely based on Internet reports and

information gathered from different journal, books, newspaper. Here I tried to identify different causes and solutions that we can follow.

The first water supply system was introduced in Dhaka by the British in 1888 under the jurisdiction of the district civil surgeon at

Chandighat. The Chandnighat plant treating water from the Buriganga River has the capacity of supplying 3.9 crore litres of treated

water to supply mainly in the localities under Lalbagh Police Station and Kotwali Police Station. However, after so many years the

treatment plant is unable to produce according to its normal capacity. Moreover, the source of water for the plant, the Buriganga River,
has become biologically dead because of ongoing water pollution caused by industrial and domestic sources. The conventional

treatment plant, which uses only lime and chlorine for treatment, cannot neutralize the existing pollutants in river water, many of which

may cause serious health hazards. That is why people get sticky straw-colored water in the areas where water from the Chandnighat is

supplied.

The first deep-water pump was installed in Dhaka in 1949. Till the end of 1960s the water supply in Dhaka was almost surface-water

system based. Dhaka WASA was formed in 1963, being separated from the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE), with the

aim of giving better service to its city dwellers. It inherited only 33 deep pumps from DPHE. But, to meet the ever increasing demand of

the city dwellers of one of the fastest growing mega- cities in the world, Dhaka WASA without having any long-term vision, kept on

installing deep-water pumps on a crisis by crisis basis. (See appendix 7.1)


Ñ


The inadequate supply of water by the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (WASA) has put residents of many areas in the

city in a miserable condition. But at the same time a huge quantity of WASA water is going down the drain every day without being of

any use. Official sources told that the WASA has recently been facing a shortage of more than 30 crore litres of water daily against the

demand in the area under its jurisdiction. On the other hand, the WASA is losing about 50 crore litres of water a day due to the so-

called system loss.

Water crisis is acute at present in the old part of the city and in Khilgaon, Rampura, Mirpur, Agargaon, and Azimpur areas. The daily

chores of life, including cooking, cleaning and washing, not to mention the bathing of the residents in these areas, are being disrupted

because of inadequate water supply. Senjuti Khan, a resident of Niketan, Gulshan, says, "For the last two months residents of our

apartment building have been collectively buying water from WASA. The share of water that we get each day is too little to lead normal

household activities. After completing our daily chores we have to go to some relatives' house to take a shower.´ Many hotels are

coping with their demand by purchasing water from the WASA¶s water vans. People in some areas are also being compelled to buy

water to meet their daily needs. The WASA officials said that, out of their 20 water vans, 15 to 16 would operate in the city during the

summer to respond to the need of the people.


Ñ


At present the WASA is losing about 40 per cent of its total production in the name of system loss. Through illegal connections, a huge

quantity of water is going down the drain due to leaks in old and dilapidated transmission pipes and street hydrants. More than 50 per cent

of the water is lost due to system loss. The remaining water is either stolen or consumed by people. Zahidul Khan, a resident of Mirpur,

says, "We get a little water only for 15 to 20 minutes after midnight. But my neighbors, mostly the residents of the apartments store their

huge reserves with powerful illegal lift pumps. As a result we don't get water normally. We even spend sleepless nights collecting a little

water from the supply line to be used the following day."The leaks in pipes are so much, and nobody has an accurate estimate about how

much water is seeping through them.

The severe water crisis over the years has forced some of the residents of the areas like Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara and Dhanmondi to

sink deep tubewell on their own. But the lower middle class people and slum dwellers can¶t afford to do that as it costs TK. 1.5 to 2

lakhs. The residents of Dhaka Cantonment and Dhaka University areas do not take water from WASA as they have pumping houses of

their own. WASA sources agree that a considerable quantity of WASA water is used for construction and industrial purposes.
According to Hydro geologist Kazi Matin U Ahmed, a professor of Department of Geology of University of Dhaka (April 24, 2009),

Dhaka is perhaps the only mega city in the world, which is totally dependent on underground sources for supplying water to the city

dwellers. "With the existing system, the natural recharge is not sufficient to meet the demand of excessive rate of abstraction. The rate

of natural recharge through rainwater has decreased since the concrete structures are replacing the water bodies. Moreover, the

unplanned urbanization is facing a huge environmental threat. Because of inappropriate disposal of


Ñ


domestic and industrial wastes, there is every possibility of filling up the underground vacuums with hazardous effluents. This might

cause a serious health crisis in the city. Geologists have addressed these issues to the government, however, nothing has been

considered", says Professor Matin. (See also Appendix 7.2)

WASA officials also blame the ongoing power cuts as one of the major causes for the decrease in the production of WASA. The Chief

Engineer of Dhaka WASA claims, "Because of load shedding we cannot operate 540 deep pumps for an average of three hours a day.

As a result, most of the time we supply 20 crore litres less than our capacity."

Corruption in different level of WASA has become a common seen. Government is allocating huge amount of money for different

projects but ultimately the money is not used effectively for the corruption, false budgeting of engineering section. Some WASA officials

could not work though they want to because very often they face restrictions from Dhaka City Corporation regarding digging the roads

for establishing underground pipes. Recently the situation is changing. WASA has established 38 new deep tube wells in different areas

of the city. The situation getting improves but again it depends how well the authority can monitor the situation.
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houses. There is a fixed charge for each connection. However, WASA don¶t want to know that is there any illegal connection in

between these connection which is most respondent complain.

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monitoring system of pipelines is not computerized and for that they don¶t have any indicator to find the leakage. That is why,

sometimes we find here and there leakage in the middle of the road which makes those areas flooded.
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of the residents. For that reason, government should shift huge people from Dhaka city to another place through the help of the Law,

otherwise different collusion can be happen.

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need to stop unplanned residential and industrial development, concrete surface development and improve waste and sewage disposal

system. Proper industrial waste and sewage treatment may protect water resources of the city.
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rain water can be used properly to ease the burden of groundwater. All the buildings from middle to high-rise must have a system to

pass all the rainwater fall on the roofs to the underground water reservoir of each building. When all the middle and high- rise building

will use the rainwater, a huge amount of WASA water will be saved.
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the city. To purify this water small amount of chlorine and other chemicals will be needed. .And then it will be distributed among the

worst affected parts of the city by water Lorries.

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water friendly. All the lakes of the city must be cleaned and re-excavated to hold more water. If the water of all the lakes of Dhaka city

can be made pure, it will not only help keep our water level reasonable but also the poorest people can have bath there.
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