World Water Day
Water sources run dry in Bandarban
While World Water Day is celebrated every year to support the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal of ensuring water and sanitation for all, it also sheds light on the grim truth that around 2.2 billion people across the world don’t have access to safe water. Bangladesh is also not free from the drinking water crisis, with sources of water drying up in different regions of the country, while salinity and lack of supply are aggravating the crisis in some other areas. Below are the stories of how the drinking water crisis has gripped people in certain parts of the country.
Residents of Bandarban district, including the indigenous communities residing in the hilly areas, are facing an acute crisis of drinking water as most sources of groundwater have dried up.
Natural waterfalls and small streams (locally known as jhiri) are the main sources of freshwater in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) region. With those having dried up, people in some areas now have to walk for miles to collect drinking water for their households, said locals.
"Water crisis has deepened over last two years as all the jhiris around our village have dried up," said Maung Lung Mro, a resident of Mro Long Para, around 12 kilometres away from district headquarters.
"Some 28 families live in our village. Usually, we face water crisis from January to May. This year, it has taken a severe turn. We cannot imagine how we will survive in the coming days," he added.
Mennu Mro, 62, of the same village, said, "We cannot carry out our Jhum cultivation due to a scarcity of water. Even so, we cannot take baths regularly during dry season. If this situation continues, we will be compelled to relocate elsewhere."
Some officials of local administration visited the area last year and pledged to take necessary measures to arrange water through alternative sources. But locals claimed no step has been taken yet.
Mang yong Mro, a teacher of Mro Long Para Government Primary School, said some 1,600 residents of Menlung Para, Bagan Para, Ramari Para, Riamnai Para, Mensing Para, Krapu Para, Daliyam Para Nra Para, Babla Hedman Para, Patui Para, and Mro Long Para villages in Chimbuk Pahar area are facing severe water crisis.
Children are suffering from different types of disease due to scarcity of safe drinking water, he added. Claris Bawm, a resident of Bethani Para area on Bandarban-Chimbuk Pahar road, said he has been buying drinking water for his family.
"But we are poor people. How long can we survive in this way?" he asked. Some 18 families live in Gunguru Aga Para area under Bandarban Sadar upazila. All of the people depend on a single tubewell installed in the village.
The villagers said they have to wait in long queues to collect water from it.
"However, we don't get water from this tubewell from around mid-March. We have to go through untold sufferings during this time," said Angsahla Kheang, a resident of the village. "Our lands remain idle as we don't have water for irrigation," he added.
Anup Kumar De, executive engineer of the Department of Public Health Engineering in Bandarban, said, "Waterfalls and jhiris are drying up due to unplanned deforestation. Also, the underground water is getting depleted. That's why people in this region are facing severe water crisis."
"As there are large chunks of rock under the soil in hilly areas, we cannot set up tubewells everywhere. As such, the situation is worsening day by day," he also said.
"We have sent a proposal to higher authorities concerned about setting up embankments across hilly waterfalls to preserve water. We will act as per directives from the government high-ups later," he added.