Safe water
As much as 87 per cent of the countrys population is now under safe water coverage as stated by Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, the minister for local government, rural development and cooperatives in the parliament on Tuesday. This is indeed a remarkable achievement for a country where only a few decades back safe water was considered a luxury for a huge number of people. Bangladesh has a strong policy base, including the recent Bangladesh Water Act, to support multi-dimensional programmes to ensure safe water for all. In fact, the government has a plan to provide 100 per cent access to pure water, both in rural and urban areas, by 2030.
However while the statistic is impressive there are complaints that all is not well in the water front. The availability of water greatly fluctuates throughout the year. Many residents of the capital suffer every year from acute water shortage. Dhaka-WASA obtains most of its water from overexploited aquifers. Power outages and a drop in the water table during the dry season from March to May every year mean Dhaka WASA is unable to extract enough water to meet the demand. Shortages in early April this year was so severe in some parts of the city that many did not get water for days together, while others complained that the water supplied was undrinkable and the situation is still continuing.
Attention should also be paid to water supply in hydro-geologically difficult areas, especially those having gravel and salinity problems, and low water-table areas. The authorities have to develop and scale up climate-resilient technologies as well as adaptation to the technologies through awareness campaigns to mitigate the present and future problems. Surface water sources should be increased by integrated water resource management. Necessary measures should be taken to protect surface water bodies. Dhaka city and Barind areas are in a critical condition in terms of groundwater table, and managed aquifer recharge systems should be expanded.
The fact remains that unless we can support households to protect their drinking water source and water quality in the final stretch, until the point of consumption, all efforts and plans are at the risk of being compromised. Emulating the shift from the MDGs to the SDGs, we have to seek out appropriate, effective and affordable solutions that acknowledge and contend with the complexities of safe water.
