Acute water crisis hits city areas

Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) blamed Dhaka Electric Supply Authority (Desa) for the frequent disruption in water supply to different parts of the capital city during Ramadan.
The acute water crisis has almost paralysed the normal life in the city recently despite the authorities' assurance about smooth supply of water during the holy month.
"Desa is 90 percent responsible for the present water crisis as water supply is being disrupted due to massive load-shedding," a top official of Wasa told UNB when asked about the severe water crisis.
New Eskaton, Sheorapara, Kazipara, Senpara and the old part of Dhaka are the worst-affected areas without any water supply for the last five days.
The official said there would be no water crisis if Wasa is given two percent of electricity that Desa gets for the capital city. "So, the main problem behind the water crisis is short supply of electricity," the Wasa official said over telephone from Panthakunja water pump yesterday.
He said Dhaka Wasa now has 232 generators to supply water during the load-shedding. But most of the generators are out of order, as nearly 50 percent of the generators were procured before 1996.
"So, it has become difficult to continue water supply with these obsolete generators. We're operating those through frequent repairs."
He said Wasa is planning to have gas generators, but those will be available from the next season.
The official said water pumps at Hazaribagh, Tejgaon and Shyampur were denied adequate power supply, but nearby industrial units get uninterrupted supply.
A Desa chief engineer, however, refuted the allegations and said, "It's in our nature to often shift the blame onto others by hiding our own weaknesses or shortcomings."
He said the demand for electricity has been increasing while the power generation did not increase at all. "So, how can we ensure uninterrupted supply of electricity?"
Hasina Begum, a housewife in New Eskaton area, said she could not take bath for the last two days, nor could she wash clothes during this month of Ramadan as they did not get water supply for the last four days.
She said acute water crisis in the area has made the life miserable. "We get some water just before Iftar but then we've to wait for long before we get water again at about 9:00am."
Mustafizur Rahman, a house owner in the area, said he went to the Dhaka Wasa head office to find out the reason behind the water crisis but did not get any cooperation from the Wasa officials.
"It's very tough for the residents of such areas to do fasting during the water crisis. On Wednesday night, I could not even drink a glass of water during Sehri," he said.
Many residents in the water-starved areas said they go to the houses of relatives and friends in other areas to take bath and wash clothes.