Water woes for 12 lakh residents

Patenga, the southernmost tip of Chittagong city, is surrounded by water on its three sides -- Bay of Bengal to the west and Karnaphuli river to the south and east.

Ironically, its residents are suffering from shortage of water for years.

Established in 1963, Chittagong Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) is yet to bring the area, home to over 12 lakh people, under its service.

As a result, locals are solely dependent on tube-wells for water. But that option is also getting limited as ground water level is depleting due to over-extraction, they said.

“From the last winter, we are not getting sufficient water through shallow tube-wells. Usually, our rooftop tank would have been filled within twenty minutes using an electric motor. Now, it takes more than an hour,” said Rajia Sultana, a resident of Middle Patenga.

In Muslimabad area of Ward-40, Mohammed Mia is also facing a similar crisis.

“The water that comes from shallow tube-well is high with iron and quite reddish. Still we have to use that, as there is no alternative,” he claimed. “I have to set-up a deep tube-well as there is no Wasa water connection here.”

According to councillors of Wards 38, 39, 40 and 41, the four adjacent city corporation wards at the southern part (Patenga-Halishahar area) of the city, over 12 lakh residents of their areas are still out of Wasa's network.

Some residents of Ward-38 (south middle Halishahar) yesterday submitted a memorandum to Wasa demanding water connection.

Saleh Ahmed Chowdhury, councillor of Ward-41 (south Patenga), said they have submitted a written application several months ago to Wasa for setting up water pipelines in his ward where 1.3 lakh residents live.

“The Wasa managing director told us that they had a shortage of fund. They said they have applied for a project, as soon as they get approval they will set up the pipelines in our area.”

AKM Fazlullah, Chittagong Wasa managing director, could not be contacted for comments as he is in the capital for attending a meeting, marking World Water Day today, said Wasa sources.

Contacted, Ratan Kumar Sarker, deputy managing director (engineering) of Chittagong Wasa, said they could not expand the water supply network for mainly two reasons -- inadequate production and fund crisis.

“For many years, we could not produce adequate water and as a result could not supply water to our existing consumers. That's why we could not expand the network to new areas.”

Besides, the expansion needs sufficient funding, he stressed. “The areas that are still out of our network could be included within 2022,” he hoped.

He said at present, Wasa is producing around 300 million litres of water daily against a demand of 500 million litres.

Meanwhile, Nurul Absar, project director of Chittagong Water Supply Improvement and Sanitation Project (CWSISP) under which pipelines are being set up in the city, said locals have to submit written applications to Wasa for setting up pipelines in their locality.

When notified that some of the locals have already done that, he said he will look into it.