In a report submitted before the High Court, Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (WASA) admitted that 16 per cent of its supplied water is impure. However, its Managing Director (MD) earlier claimed that WASA water is 100 per cent safe for drinking and there is no need to burn the gas for boiling it.
The High Court said that it is the duty of the WASA MD to supply pure and drinkable water to the people.
The much-talked-about comment from the WASA MD has landed him in hot water. He has now admitted that he made a mistake when he claimed that WASA water is completely safe and pure for the consumers.
Every year, a huge amount of gas is spent to boil water and make it drinkable. Many in Dhaka now use water purifiers. But a good purifier is rather expensive and cannot be availed by some households.
City-dwellers burn gas worth Tk 3.32 billion every year in order to make the water supplied by WASA drinkable, according to a Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) report released on April 17 this year. This scenario needs to change.
I hope the WASA will take proper actions to ensure that citizens get water safe for drinking and other use.
Faisal Ahmad
Uttara, Dhaka
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