The Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (DWASA) has been installing a new technology named 'district metered area' (DMA) to reduce system loss in its water supply, officials have said.
The DMA technology continuously helps detect leaks the in water distribution system and gives the warning.
Water flowing into and out of the DMA is metered and flows are periodically analysed in order to monitor the level of leakage, officials said.
The DWASA, for the first time in South Asia, has undertaken such an initiative.
It has already installed 47 DMA devices out of the targeted 145, while 17 are under-installation and remaining 81 are in the process of being installed within the next five years, a top official of the Authority said.
Preferring anonymity, he said DMA installation will play a significant role in reducing the WASA's overall systems loss.
Most of the time, water supply is greatly hindered by problems with pipelines and leaks. It will be possible to solve such problems instantly, once the DMA devices are installed, he pointed out.
"Now system loss of the DWASA is around 20 per cent which will be below five per cent after all the DMA installations. I think it is a great initiative to ensure a smooth water flow for the city-dwellers," he added.
"Sometimes, we also get complaints about the problems with water supply in different areas which are basically caused due to system loss or sudden problems with pipelines. We have to take time to identify and solve those problems but DMA devices will help solve the problems within a very short time," he said.
He said besides DMA installations, the DWASA has also undertaken some projects which will significantly increase its capacity to meet the increasing demand of the city-dwellers for water.
Besides, to ensure safe water for all, the DWASA is now working to bring all low-income communities of the city gradually under the coverage of legal water connections.
Meanwhile, the authority has already covered the biggest low-income community of the city at Korail slum with legal water connections.
"About 5,000 new and legalised water connections will be established in areas where the city's low income communities live," he added.
Talking to the FE, Managing Director of the DWASA Engr Taqsem A Khan said the Authority is now working with full vigour with a view to making it more environment-friendly, sustainable and pro-people.
He said the DWASA has taken some big projects which are the Padma (Jashaldia) Water Treatment Project that will supply 450 million litres of water per day, the Gandharbpur Water Treatment Project that will supply 500 million litres from the Meghna river and the Sayedabad Water Treatment Project (Phase-3) which will supply 450 million litres from the Meghna river.
"We have already started working on the Padma (Jashaldia) Water Treatment Project while work on the Gandharbpur Water Treatment Project will start very soon. The Sayedabad Water Treatment Project (Phase-3) is under process," Mr Taqsem added.
He said these projects will also greatly help the DWASA's advancement towards producing water from surface source instead of underground aquifer for building an environment and consumer-friendly sustainable water supply management.
He said now the DWASA produces 78 per cent water from ground sources and 22 per from surface area which will be reversed by 2021 as 78 per cent will be collected from surface areas and 22 per cent from ground sources.
Official figures of the Authority showed that now supply capacity of the DWASA is around 2,490 million litres per day against the demand of around 2,300 million litres per day in normal seasons and around 2,100 litres per day in winter season.
The Dhaka WASA gradually increased its supply capacity to fill the gap between demand and supply as it successfully ensured a bounce-back by turning once shortage into today's surplus.
In 2010, the supply capacity of the DWASA was 1,990 million litres per day against the demand of 2,180 million litres per day when the shortage was 1900 million litres per day.
wazeddu@yahoo.com
