By Dr. Md. Aurangzeb
In the bustling industrial heart of Tejgaon, where the machinery of Dhaka’s economy thrums relentlessly, a silent crisis unfolds, one that systematically undermines the health of the nation. The workers who power this vibrant zone are condemned to live in squalid conditions that rob them of health and dignity, a stark paradox in a narrative of economic progress. A recent survey among the slum residents here paints a sobering picture: more than half rely on rudimentary pit latrines and 38 percent on fragile tin structures, while nearly one in ten households resort to makeshift toilets built from cloth and wood. Overcrowding compounds this indignity, with over 40 percent of families sharing a single toilet with three to six other households and another third sharing with up to ten; in extreme cases, twenty families depend on one latrine. For women and children, this lack of privacy translates into daily exposure to harassment and infection, making sanitation not an infrastructure issue, but a fundamental question of human dignity. The crisis extends to hygiene, where only 43 percent of respondents consistently use soap after toilet use—a lapse driven not by a lack of awareness but by poverty, as many simply cannot afford soap. This single omission has devastating public health implications, directly contributing to diarrhoeal disease, skin infections, and respiratory illness, with children bearing the brunt through malnutrition and educational absenteeism. Access to safe water is another daily battle. Only 27 percent have personal water sources, a third depend on shared supplies, and another 32 percent rely on local tube wells, many vulnerable to arsenic contamination. Consequently, nearly half of residents drink fewer than seven glasses of water a day, exposing them to dehydration and kidney complications. These WASH failures are not confined to the slums; they spill over into Dhaka’s wider economy. The poor health of the factory hands, drivers, and domestic aides who sustain the city translates into lower productivity and higher healthcare burdens, making this silent crisis a severe economic liability.
Nationally, the data from the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) reveals a country at a precarious juncture. While 99.5% of households have access to a basic water source, this figure masks critical issues of quality and safety. Only 60.7% have access to basic sanitation, and a mere 56.3% to basic hygiene. This infrastructure gap has a direct and lethal correlation with disease. The World Health Organization estimates that 88% of diarrhoeal diseases are attributable to contaminated water and poor sanitation, a statistic that manifests in Bangladesh’s high burden of preventable illnesses. Despite progress, the country remains among the top ten in the world for its tuberculosis burden, a stark reminder of how WASH failures fuel the global disease burden, which claims nearly 2.4 million lives annually through inadequate practices. This national challenge is exacerbated by a looming hydrological catastrophe. Dhaka’s water supply, heavily reliant on groundwater, is unsustainable. According to Dhaka WASA’s own annual report, about 70% of its 2,680 million liters per day supply is sourced from aquifers. This over-extraction has caused the groundwater level, which was less than a meter below the surface in the 1970s, to plummet to over 60 meters in areas like Tejgaon, Mirpur, and Basabo, depleting at a rate of 1 to 1.5 meters per year. Senior groundwater researcher Anwar Zahid warns that without intervention, levels in densely populated areas could drop to 100 meters by 2050, risking permanent depletion. The effects are already visceral: in neighborhoods from Rampura to Jatrabari, residents face dry taps, forced to buy water or seek showers elsewhere, their plight a desperate plea for a sustainable water policy that prioritizes surface water and rainwater harvesting over relentless aquifer mining.
Globally, the situation is equally dire, and the retreat of international solidarity is making it worse. The principle of leaving no one behind, central to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, is under direct threat. Recent drastic cuts to development aid, including a nearly 90% reduction in the USAID budget and the UK’s decision to slash its Official Development Assistance to 0.3% of its gross national income, have created a devastating funding vacuum. These are not mere budgetary lines; as reports from the ground indicate, these cuts have already left 50,000 people in Colombia, more than 270,000 in Mali, and over 400,000 in Northern Burkina Faso without access to clean water. With sanitation already the most off-track SDG, these reductions push universal targets further out of reach, ensuring that the nearly 800,000 children who die each year from diarrheal diseases will continue to do so. In the most extreme manifestation, as noted by Professor Lyla Mehta, WASH has become a weapon of war in Gaza, where two million Palestinians have been deliberately denied the bare minimum of water and sanitation, collapsing desalination plants and turning a public health crisis into a tool of conflict. Against this bleak backdrop, the World Bank’s $280 million initiative to improve Chattogram’s water supply is a heartening but isolated beacon. It proves that progress is possible with sustained investment and political will. The WASH crisis in Tejgaon is thus a litmus test for Bangladesh and the world. It forces us to choose: will we continue to build economic prosperity on a foundation of neglected human need, or will we finally act on the truth that the well-being of the poorest factory worker is inseparable from our collective health, stability, and conscience? For reasons of justice, humanity, and survival, the choice must be to end the silence and act.
Dr. Md. Aurangzeb, a seasoned public health expert with 20 years’ experience, is an educator, author, and frequent media commentator. Specializing in public health, environmental health, WASH, policy reform, and humanitarian initiatives, he advocates for impactful solutions to global health challenges. Contact: dr.aaru@gmail.com
