The High Court on Monday expressed dissatisfaction at Dhaka Water Supply & Sewerage Authority (DWASA) for not being able to submit a report after examining its water supplied to different areas. The court said 22 bottles of water from 11 zones in Dhaka are needed for the water test. “How much money the committee needs for testing 22 bottles of water,” the court asked.
The HC bench of Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Md KhairulAlam also asked the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (LGRD) to submit a report within May 15 after fixing the expenditure to be required for examining water supplied by DWASA. The HC bench passed the order following hearing on a writ petition in this regard.
Advocate Tanvir Ahmed stood for the petitioner while Deputy Attorney General Motahar Hossain Saju represented the state. DWASA was scheduled to submit report on Monday after examining water of different areas but it didn’t submit the report saying that it requires huge money to test water. The HC said there are 11 zones of DWASA and if DWASA wants it can examine water after collecting two bottles of water from each zone but the Local Government Ministry is not paying any heed to the HC order.
On May 8, the High Court ordered the authorities concerned to prepare a list of the areas receiving highly contaminated water supplied by Dhaka Wasa. On October 11, 2018, the World Bank published a report which says over 7.5 crore people of the country drink unsafe water as 41 percent sources of water contains harmful bacteria. The report also said 13 percent water contains arsenic.
The World Bank report said about 80 percent water supplied through pipeline contains harmful bacteria. Tanvir Ahmed filed a writ following media reports published on the World Bank observations. On November 6, 2018, the High Court ordered the authorities concerned to form a five-member committee for examining the Dhaka WASA water.
