Letters to the editor
Longer term water availability
Sir,
On the World Water day on March 22 last year UNICEF and WHO published a joint study according to which as many as 26 million Bangladeshi people do not have access to safe drinking water. The UN General Assembly has declared water to be a basic human right yet the unfortunate fact is that many Bangladeshis are suffering from lack of safe drinking water.
This is the result basically of bad managementtoo much water being used where it is not needed and too little where it is much needed. As we know Bangladeshs population is ballooning. Climate change is making glacial water supply uncertain. Reduced snow-melts sometimes lead to less water in the system.
In Bangladesh there is an urgent need to address water management issues in line with the future requirements in a more decentralised manner through promotion of rain water harvesting and ground water recharging. If rain water harvesting is undertaken in a serious manner here, it could help conserve groundwater and recharge the water table. About 150 billion litres of rainwater could be harvested during the monsoon season alone.
We cannot drink saline water. But, saline water from the sea can be made into freshwater, which everyone needs every day. The process is called desalination, and it is being used more and more around the world to provide people with needed fresh water. Time has come for Bangladesh also to look to the sea to get large scale supply of water after desalination.
Siddiqur Rahman
Lalmatia, Dhaka
