The residents in Chattogram port city are facing acute water crisis on the first day of Ramadan on Tuesday due to fall in water production by the Chattogram Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Cwasa ).
Talking to UNB, some residents of Chawkbazar, Kathalgonj, Bakoli, Halishahar, Patenga, Kattoli, Agrabad, Dewan Bazar and Muradpur area, said they have been facing water crisis for the last few days and situation turned worse as they did not get a drop of water during Sehri last night.
They failed to buy bottled water from shops as those remained closed.
Marjina Akter, a resident of Bahaddarhat, uploaded a post on her Facebook writing “There has been no water in the house since last night. I bought bottled water for Sehri, but I don't know how to take a bath. Every year we hear that Wasa has new projects, but when the dry season comes, nothing is seen. The issue water crisis during Ramadan should have been taken into consideration in advance. But WASA is taking water bills every month.”
According to Wasa, the quantity of water treatment has come down due to the rise of saline water in the water sources. This has led to the water crisis across the city.
Since the month of February, Wasa has been getting salt ranging from 40 to 2100 mm per liter of water. The crisis has been created mainly due to the receding of water in Kaptai Lake and the construction of a number of dams on the canals of Halda, Wasa.
Maksud Alam, Chief Engineer of Chattogram Wasa, said, “We have taken a decision to supply water through rationing. Initiatives are being taken to reopen 45 deep tubewells to increase water production.”
Besides, water production and supply are being disrupted due to load shedding, he said.
He said the maximum water level in Kaptai Lake is 109 feet under normal condition but now the water level has come down to 83 feet.
Only one of the five units of Kaptai Hydroelectric Power Plant has been kept operational due to the fall in the water level in the lake,
he said.
CWasa collects water from the Halda River for Sheikh Russel and Mohra Water Treatment Plant at Madunaghat and from the Karnaphuli River for Karnaphuli Sheikh Hasina Water Treatment Plant 1 and 2 located at Rangunia.
But now the water level in the two rivers has decreased, he said.
Prof Dr Jahangir Alam, Chairman of Wasa Governing Board, said salinity level will increase further in future.
A 'reverse osmosis system' can be installed in the river where water is collected for the treatment plant to remove salinity. Then there will be no salt in the water supplied to customers, he said.
Chattogram Wasa is currently producing 45 crore liters of water daily---14 crore litres of water from Sheikh Hasina Water Treatment Plant-1 while 9 crore liters from Sheikh Hasina Water Treatment Plant-2, 9 crore liters from Mohra Water Treatment Plant, 9 crore liters from Sheikh Russel Water Treatment Plant and 4 crore liters from deep tube-well.
At present, CWasa has 78,542 residential connections and 7,767 commercial connections.