Chattogram Hill Tracts, surrounded by hills, rivers, lakes, waterfalls and forests is a land of natural beauty. Its 13,295 square kilometre area spanning three districts -- Rangamati, Khagrachhari and Bandarban -- is home to 974,445 people, predominantly indigenous communities. A total of 920,217 indigenous people live in these three CHT districts, according to the Population and Housing Census 2022 published by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. However, life in this hilly area is not easy.
Access to water has now become a severe challenge for the CHT residents who rely on natural sources of water such as waterfalls, streams and springs. These water sources normally dry up from February to May affecting surface and ground water availability for a large number of people. But in the past few years, the situation has worsened to such an extent that women and children have to travel far from their village into deep forests to fetch water.
People in many Bandarban villages have no option but to walk miles in search of water since many springs in the region have little or no water. It is more or less a similar story in all the areas of Rangamati and Khagrachhari too. And in some areas, they spend almost half a day to collectwater. The women and children are the worst sufferers as they are assigned to collect water for their family. But the water they collect is often contaminated. Latrines are usually built close to streams and there are no sewerage or water purification systems. As a result, waterborne diseases including diarrhoea, dysentery, typhoid and jaundice are prevalent in CHT. Moreover, water scarcity in the hills often hampers irrigation and agriculture where cultivation of paddy and other crops was practiced even a decade ago.
Naturally, water sources in the hills dry up in summer. But mountain rocks reserve drinkable water beneath them which people here in the hilly regions use in the dry season. But in recent years, indigenous people in the hills run from one hill to another in search of water but return empty-handed. The extraction of rocks and boulders from natural falls has destroyed water sources in the hills as those sources can no longer hold water in the dry season. Some villagers allege that indiscriminate cutting down of trees and unplanned planting of teak and rubber trees in the hills are contributing to drying up of the water sources in CHT.
The water scarcity problem in the hills is a yearly phenomenon. It returns every year with more ferocity. But no one seems to pay any attention to the woes of hill people. They silently suffer from a basic need without which human survival is impossible.
The problem of water scarcity in the hills must be addressed as soon as possible and the hill people's access to safe, potable water round the year should be ensured. And for this, the government should work with private and international organisations to improve water infrastructure in the CHT so that people there have no longer to walkfor hours to get water.
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