"We are used to getting hardly any water during the day in summer, but for the last two months or so, even the water that does come out of the tap has been yellowish and malodorous. We cannot use it at all," said Abdur Razzaq of Nurjahan Road in Mohammadpur.

After repeated complaints to the Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority (Wasa), experts collected water samples for testing, but the residents have seen little improvement. They said Wasa must undertake drastic measures to clean up the pipelines to ensure supply of safe drinking water.

Most of the city water pipes are decades old, and hence susceptible to leaks, which allow waste to mingle with the water supply. Some Wasa officials, preferring not to be named, admitted that accretions of dirt in the pipelines could also be sullying water.

Irresponsible homeowners exacerbate the problem, by installing haphazard water and sewerage connections in connivance with corrupt Wasa staff. These connections compromise the pipelines, especially when they are made with cheap plastic pipes that rupture easily, letting the substances of overlapping water and sewerage lines mix.

Akhter of Shahjahan Road said they have been buying gallons of mineral water for almost a month now because the water from their taps is too dirty to drink. "We tried drinking boiled water when it first started to come out dirty, but soon we all got diarrhoea, so we started buying water, though it is expensive".

Next door, in the Kazis' house, the tap water, along with dirt and stench, brought in a small dead fish about a week ago.

The residents in these areas have been getting sick with diarrhoea and fever as they are forced to drink the dirty water. Dr Mujibur Rahman whose chamber is on Shajahan Road, said that he had recently gotten a rush of patients including a lot of children from the surrounding area with severe stomach upsets. "I suspect that their stomach problems are caused by drinking the contaminated Wasa water."

While residents of many roads in Mohammadpur reported getting dirty water every month or so, those living in Nurjahan Road, Bashbari and Shahjahan Road areas have been most affected.

In Mirpur, the households in sections 10, 11, 111/2 and in some parts of New Eskaton have been frequently receiving tap water that reeks of sewage and chemicals.

"Wasa experts tested our water and said they found nothing wrong, though gooey black substances coagulate at the bottom of every bucket of water we collect from our taps, and on and off, there is a sort of rotten smell," said Tasneem Binte Rahman of New Eskaton, who brings drums of water from her mother's house for drinking and cooking every day.

Govindo Shil, who lives in Section-12 of Mirpur, said, "For 15 days now we have been continuously getting tap water mixed with sewage including human excrement. Although we have complained twice, Wasa has not yet sent anyone to resolve our problem."

Officials from Wasa drainage division denied the possibility of sewage from their lines leaking into the water pipes, and offered the explanation that some houses had used cheap flexible pipes to connect their water supply, illegally in many cases, and that these pipes are easily infiltrated by sewage when they pass through the sewerage canals.

The Wasa water division officials said that they were working to fix the problem, but the job was difficult and time-consuming.