Wasa water has arsenic, chlorine

Wasa water in the capital’s four out of 10 zones are contaminated with arsenic and chlorine, according to a government report submitted to the attorney general’s office.

The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development collected Wasa water samples from 34 areas in 10 zones and had them tested at the laboratories of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka University and International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Re-search, Bangladesh.

Deputy Attorney General Motaher Hossain Sazu, who received the test findings, told The Daily Star last night that the water supplied to the rest of the zones was marked safe.

He will produce the report, sent by the LGRD minister a few days ago, be-fore the High Court on Sunday.

Excessive levels of chlorine and arsenic in water have health effects.

DAG Motaher, however, could neither specify the extent of contamina-tion nor name the areas where the supplied water was contaminated. 

Hearing a writ petition, the HC bench of Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Khairul Alam on May 21 directed the LGRD ministry to test Wasa water supplied to 34 areas.

It has also directed the Wasa to pay Tk 1.7 lakh to a committee formed by the LGRD ministry for the test and asked the ministry to submit the test report before it.

On May 16, Dhaka Wasa admitted that its water supplied to 57 areas was polluted because of faulty pipes.

In April, several residents of Jurain appeared at the Wasa Bhaban in Kar-wan Bazar with lemons, sugar, and a jar of murky water which they said was supplied by the Wasa.

They tried to make Wasa Managing Director Taqsem A Khan drink sher-bet made from the water.

A few days before that, Taqsem said Wasa water was completely safe for drinking.

On May 7, a platform of residents of Jurain, Shyampur and Kadamtali areas told a mass hearing that Wasa should be held accountable for sup-plying polluted water.