Dhaka WASA(Water and Sewerage Authority) is expected to supply 150 million litres of ground water daily to greater Mirpur area from its Tetulzhora-Bhakurta reservoir (phase 1) at Savar upazila in Dhaka to solve the water crisis at Mirpur during the dry season.
The water supply is set to start from March, 2018. As many as 1.5 million people will be benefited from the project that costs Tk 5.73 billion. Exim Bank of Korea and Governemnt Agency for Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) will provide Tk 3.63 billion while Bangladesh government will give Tk 2.0 billion and DWASA Tk 100 million.
These were disclosed during a press briefing at the site office of Tetulzhora-Bhakurta Well Field Construction Project at Taranagar. DWASA managing director Taqsem A Khan spoke at the press briefing.
Hyundai Rotem Company of South Korea will implement the project. HEC Sung Ji Engineering and Institute of Water Modeling (IWM) are the consultants.
Taqsem A Khan said the Tetulzhora- Bhakurta aquifer is not a normal one. It is 250- metre deep and the water reserve will not deplete in 30-40 years. The source of water of this reservoir is at Himalaya and it was explored by DWASA and IWM in 2007 by conducting a study. DWASA got the report in 2009. The present well field construction on 7.81 hectares area is part of the masterplan of 2009 and DWASA has planned to extract 60 per cent water of the reservoir for 40 years, he added.
There is another water reservoir at Singair of Savar. The well field will be constructed there too in second phase from where 150 million litres water will be supplied.
"The mining of aquifer in Mirpur area is alarming which is 2-3 metres, the highest in Dhaka against the average one metre. The inhabitants mostly suffer there during dry season," he said.
Residents of Mazar Road, Ahmadnagar, Uttar and Dakkhin Bishil, Rupnagar, Monipur, Senpara, Mirpur section 1, 2, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, Pallabi and Mirpur DOHS will get 150m litres water daily.
At present, DWASA supplies 450 million litres water to Mirpur through 92 deep tubewells in zone 4 and 73 deep tubewells in zone 10. Seeking anonymity DWASA officials said the ground water level is depleting so fast in Mirpur area that they have to install 5/6 deep tubewells every year at a cost of Tk 15 million or more that become dysfunctional within a year. In Dhaka, a total of 2.4 billion litres of water is supplied by DWASA.
About 75 per cent water is extracted from under ground and 25 per cent is surface water. By 2021, 70 per cent will be surface water and 30 per cent ground water, WASA MD said.
In a presentation, Hankuk consultant said 71 per cent construction work of the well field is completed and overall project progress is 75 per cent, including land acquisition and customs clearance. The major project components are - 46 deep tubewells, two iron removal plant (75,000 m3/day each), over ground reservoir (8160 m3), chlorination building/generator building, office building, transmission and distribution pipelines (42 kilometer), and SCADA system. Of the total 42- km pipeline, work on 39- km has been completed.
Work on Aminbazar river crossing had started on October 17 this year and it will be completed in January next year. The Chaira bridge crossing work will start in November, 2017 and complete in February 2018.
WASA officials said the iron level is high in the water which is 1.7 mg per litre (ppm). Thorugh the iron removal plant (IRP) it will be brought down to 0.8 ppm. The allowable limit is 1.0 ppm, they added.
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