Only one out of five units of KHP is producing electricity. Rest of the four units remain out of commission for the lack of water current due to reduction of water level in Kaptai Lake for the last couple of months.

At the end of winter, Kaptai Lake's water level begins to decrease, which continues till summer every year. Usually the level of water falls to an alarming low in the middle of summer. But this year, the lake water fell to a severely low level rapidly due to a long drought, KHP office sources said.

KHP is now producing power from unit-2, which is generating only 60 megawatts (mw) of electricity instead of its capacity of producing 180mw if all the five units are in operation.

The lake water is now at 70.45 MSL (Mean Sea Level) whereas it stays at 82.80 MSL during winter when the lake remains full. If the water level comes down to 66 MSL then power generation in KHP will be totally stopped, sources said.

For normal generation of power, the water level should be at least at 76 MSL in Kaptai Lake, KHP sources said.

Now only 20mw power is being supplied to the national grid and another 40mw to different areas in the district, KHP sources added.

Khandaker Safiqul Islam, project manager of KHP told this correspondent over the phone that if the drought like situation continues for a week or two then all the five units will be out of commission.

Suranjit Kumar Saha, regional director of Meteorological Department of Chittagong, said intermittent downpour is occurring at Cox's Bazar, Feni, Chittagong and Noakhali and the shortfall of rain is 10-17 percent. "We can expect rain within 10-15 days," he said.

Water transport between the district headquarters and 6 upazilas out of 10 including Naniachar, Longudu, Baghaichhari, Barkal, Jurachhari and Bilaichhari also snapped a week ago, resulting in miseries for commuters. The prevailing situation is hampering official business due to people's inability to reach their destinations on time, sources said.

Meanwhile, large launches closed down their operations due to fallen level of water in Kaptai Lake, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) sources said. Only small engine boats are plying with utmost caution from the district town to different upazilas. Md Mohiuddin Selim, owner of a launch company, said, "We are incurring heavy loses due to disruption of launch communication in six upazilas."

He said a three-member team of BIWTA, from Dhaka and Chittagong visited Kaptai Lake two days ago. "We urged them to take immediate measures for dredging the lake."

Water supply by Public Health Engineering Department (DPHE) has also been disrupted for the last couple of days in the town, DPHE sources said. Executive Engineer of DPHE Md Abu Khaled told The Daily Star that they are continuing to supply water in an very difficult situation. "We have announced on Friday that the town residents should limit their use of water and not waste it," he said.

He said they are supplying only 7,50,000 gallons of water now instead of their usual supply of 16,00000 gallons to the town due to unexpected fall in the level of lake water and disruption in power supply. If heavy rainfall does not occur within a week, water supply will completely shut down, he added.