City dwellers suffer from stinky supply water
The residents of Azampur, Narinda, Gopibagh, Tikatuli, KM Das Lane, Rampura, Moghbazar, Karwan Bazar, Bashabo, Malibagh and Shantinagar in the city have been getting dirty and smelly supply water for last four months.
Apart from these areas, other parts of the city are having this problem as well apparently due to heavy use of chemicals to treat highly polluted water of the Shitalakhya and the Buriganga.
The offices at Motijheel and Karwan Bazar, including The Daily Star office, are getting smelly water supply from Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa).
The Daily Star received several complaints in this regard.
Chitra, a resident of Rampura, said she could not have a bath for over two weeks due to bad odour from the supply water.
Anwar, a resident of Tikatuli, said, "I did have a bath in two weeks, but I had to use perfume to remove bad odour."
Wakhil Bhowmik of Gopibagh boils water before drinking but this does not remove the smell.
Hakim of West Karwan Bazar said he buys two 20-litre jars of water for Tk 80 every day to meet his emergency needs.
"We use jar water to bathe our two babies and to meet other necessary needs like drinking," he said.
Deputy Managing Director (operation and maintenance) of Wasa Liyakat Ali said chemicals used heavily to treat highly polluted water of the Shitalakhya and Buriganga at Syedabad Water Treatment Plant make the water smelly.
Pollution in the rivers increases in the dry season. The use of additional chemicals may somewhat change the taste of treated water but it is not harmful, he claimed.
Pollution in the Shitalakhya is rising day by day and the water level of the river this year is far lower than usual, he added.
Liyakat also said the government has taken an initiative to set up a pre-treatment unit at Syedabad Water Treatment Plant to solve the problem.
Dhaka residents, especially those who get water from the Syedabad Water Treatment Plant Phase-1 like Motijheel, Rampura, Shanti Nagar, Bashabo, Madartek, Khilgaon, Goran, Jatrabari, Syedabad, parts of Karwan Bazar and parts of old Dhaka, will get odour-free supply water from next year, said a Wasa official.
The construction of the pre-treatment unit under the second phase of the project will take a year to complete, said Liyakat.
"We hope to start work the next month as a contract has already been signed between the Wasa and Danish contractor MT Hojgaard on February 11," he said.
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