Focus on lakes, not just drainage
In order to solve the capital's perennial waterlogging problem which Dhaka Wasa has failed to do, its managing director yesterday said the two city corporations should now focus on protecting natural reservoirs and not just rely on the artificial drainage systems.
On December 31, 2020, the capital's city corporations formally took over management and maintenance responsibilities of 26 canals, storm-water drains and 10 kilometres of box culverts from Dhaka Wasa, raising hopes that the city's longstanding waterlogging problems would be solved.
Addressing a press conference at Wasa's conference room, its Managing Director Taqsem A Khan said water bodies should constitute 12 percent of a city's area but Dhaka is now depending mainly on artificial drainage systems.
He said the acceleration in the disappearance of water bodies, flood flow zones and canals after 2000 is the reason the city has been facing waterlogging problems since then.
Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) had been responsible for the 26 canals (84.5km) and the 10 box culverts since 1988. It also looks after 385 kilometres of storm-water drainage.
The Dhaka North City Corporation and Dhaka South City Corporation have been managing 2,200km of pipes and surface drains.
Responding to a question about Wasa's failure to ease the waterlogging problem in the capital, Taqsem said it was because seven organisations, including Wasa, city corporations and Bangladesh Water Development Board were responsible for solving the problem.
Now, as the responsibility has come under one entity, there will be better results as the city corporation mayors are also public representatives, he said.
When asked why Wasa failed to remove garbage from canals and box culverts where city corporations are now finding tonnes of garbage, Taqsem said their duty was to keep the canals fit to pass rainwater and the canals are still okay for that.
He said garbage is one of the main barriers to passing rainwater through canals and it is the duty of city corporations to manage solid waste. But when it is dropped in the canals or drains then it is Wasa's responsibility to clean the garbage, he added.
Wasa was given the charge of managing rainwater in 1988 by the Public Health Engineering Department mistakenly through an ordinance and since then the seven organisations were performing the duty of managing rainwater, Taqsem said.
He said it was the duty of city corporations to do the job as other Wasas of the country like Chattogram Wasa, Khulna Wasa do not do the job as the respective city corporations perform that function, he said.
Wasa in 2012 formally requested the LGRD ministry to hand over charge of storm-water drains to city corporations and the LGRD ministry then formed several committees in this regard, he said.
But the process did not see the light of day at that time for different reasons. he added.
Taqsem said Wasa is giving all the technical support and technical know-how to the city corporations and also their manpower for two years to manage their new job.
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