Poor quality of water worries city dwellers

The quality of water supplied by Water and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) is unlikely to improve before monsoon as the water of the Buriganga and Shitalakkhya rivers is highly polluted, says Wasa Chairman Golam Mustofa.
“It's well-known that the water of the Buriganga and Shitalakkhya rivers is highly polluted and a huge amount of chemical has to be used to treat the water, causing a bad smell,” the Wasa chairman told the news agency yesterday.
With the rise in mercury, residents of Maniknagar, Mugda, Moghbazar, Malibagh, Basabo, Khilgaon and Rampura have started complaining that there had been a serious short supply of fresh water in their neighbourhoods.
They alleged that Wasa has been supplying very poor quality of water for more than a month, which is unusable even for shower, let alone drinking. Water crisis in Dhaka city during summer is very common as its demand goes up during the period.
Suraya Akhter Rima, a resident of Old Dhaka, said, “Wasa is supplying contaminated, stinking water and we, sometimes, find black substance in it, too…we simply can't think of drinking it,” she said adding that a glass of pure, crystal clear water is now a rarity.
Suraya said waterborne diseases like diarrhoea have broken out in their areas due to consumption of the contaminated water.
Mustufa Kamal, a resident of Malibagh, said the water crisis is deepening in their area, too. “You know Wasa always supplies inadequate water, but now its quality has also fallen. “Now we have to depend on bottled water, which is pinching our pockets.”
Wasa Chairman Golam Mustofa said, “Wasa can't supply adequate water in dry season due to fall in groundwater level. Water supply by Wasa usually falls during the dry season… whatever it supplies its quality is poor.”
The Wasa chairman is also worried about the quality of groundwater. “The groundwater also gets contaminated as it is recharged with surface water…the surface water of the rivers around the city is highly contaminated due to industrial pollution,” he said.
“We've no idea or study how much contaminated water is actually recharged from the rivers. We're worried about it,” he said.
Paba Chairman Abu Naser Khan told the news agency that water management in the capital has become a big problem due to negligence of Dhaka Wasa. “Wasa is not only supplying inadequate water, but also the contaminated one,” he added.
Four major rivers around Dhaka - the Buriganga, Shitalakkhya, Turag and Balu - receive 1.5 million cubic metres of waste water every day from 7,000 industrial units in their surrounding areas and another 0.5 million cubic metres from other sources, according to a World Bank report.