There will be no water crisis in the city as the government is determined to ensure a safe and sufficient water supply to the dwellers. In this regard, Local Government Division has taken up a project titled ‘Emergency Water Supply’ involving Tk 732.42 core to ensure safe and sufficient water supply to the dwellers.
The project aims to supply an additional 447 MLD (Million Litres Daily) water to the Dhaka North and South City Corporation areas. Now 2,400 MLD water is being supplied per day by Dhaka WASA against the demand of the city people. Around 1.60 crore people are living in the capital city and it is projected that the populace would be over two crore by 2023. By this time, water supply demand would reach 3500 MLD to meet the growing demand of people as five per cent population is increasing every year, according to the project papers.
WASA runs 850 deep tube-wells and five water treatment plants in the city to supply water. About 80 percent water of WASA supply comes from groundwater, mostly from deep tube-wells, while 20 per cent comes from the surface water, from treatment plants. Under the project, 380 deep tube-wells will be installed to supply 447 MLD water for the city. 50 rainwater harvesting units will also be installed
However, the government has taken up several massive projects including construction of water treatment plants to supply safe water from the surface water to reduce dependency on the groundwater. Three upcoming water treatment plants---Saidabad Phase-3, Gandharbpur Phase-1 and Padma Jashaldia Phase-1 construction are underway. There will be possibility to open these plants by 2024.
A senior official of the planning commission told Bangladesh Post that the development project proposal (DPP) has been approved by the project evaluation committee (PEC) of the planning ministry. Now the project awaits the final approval of the executive committee of the national economic council (ECNEC), he added.
The tenure of the project is July 2019 to June 2023. But the PEC has recommended fixing time frame of implementing the project from January 2020 to December 2023 as already the project proposed time frame has expired. DWASA will implement the project. All the fund of the project will come from the government exchequer. The project has been included in the new and non-allocation project list in the annual development programme (ADP). The main activities of the project are installation of 95 new tube-wells and reinstallation of 285 deep tube-wells, regeneration of 190 deep tube-wells and construction of 95 electric sub-stations.
