Low-income areas under the Cumilla City Corporation face year-round shortages of safe water, a crisis that intensifies during the monsoon. For daily needs, residents traditionally depended on pond water, which becomes submerged and contaminated during heavy rains, worsening the scarcity of safe water.
A visit to the field, however, shows that the situation in Cumilla has begun to change. The supply of safe water has become more stable for low-income urban communities. Newly installed elevated and waterlogging-resilient water points are helping reduce water-related disruptions during the monsoon.
These interventions have been implemented under the “Resilient Water and Sanitation Programming for Low-Income Communities” project, implemented by Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP) and funded by The Coca-Cola Foundation (TCCF).
To avoid contamination and water shortages in waterlogged areas, the water points have been constructed on raised platforms above ground level. The structures have been specially designed for areas where water supply was frequently disrupted due to prolonged waterlogging.
According to project data, disruptions in water supply caused by monsoon conditions in Cumilla have declined significantly. This improvement has been made possible through elevated platforms, improved drainage systems and rehabilitated pipelines under the WSUP–TCCF project.
Alongside infrastructure development, hygiene awareness and safe water use campaigns have reached more than 77,000 people in Cumilla and Chattogram. As a result, the use of covered containers for water storage has increased to 83 percent, while the rate of daily cleaning of water containers has risen from 35 percent to 57 percent.
The waterlogging-resilient water supply system is part of a broader initiative that is providing access to safe water for more than 25,000 people. The programme also includes school development and community capacity-building activities. In various schools across the two cities, 11,270 students now have access to treated drinking water and handwashing facilities, helping to reduce absenteeism caused by waterborne diseases.
Near the entrance of the Dishaband community area on Podurbazar Road lies a pond filled with garbage and waste. The water has turned black and is covered with water hyacinth. This pond was once the primary source of water for women like Nazma Akhter, who had to rely on it for all daily household activities. She said the water became even more polluted during the monsoon when the pond overflowed.
“Every family here used water from this single pond,” Nazma said. “We bathed, washed utensils and clothes in dirty water. Since WSUP and TCCF installed an elevated water point in our area, our suffering has almost disappeared. Now we don’t have to collect drinking water from far away, and we can do all our household work using this water.”
Uttam Kumar Saha, country manager of WSUP Bangladesh, said, “The elevated water points installed on raised platforms in waterlogging-prone areas of Cumilla have helped reduce safe water shortages during the monsoon and floods. Previously, regular water supply was disrupted due to waterlogging, but now these communities are receiving adequate and uninterrupted water. According to our project data, monsoon-related water connection disruptions in Cumilla have decreased significantly, which is undoubtedly a major success.”
To ensure local-level maintenance, trained caretakers and necessary toolkits have been provided. As a result, even if waterlogging intensifies during the monsoon, these elevated water points are expected to serve as a sustainable and reliable long-term solution for vulnera
