Sayedabad Water Treatment Plant Phase-III is unlikely to be ready by 2023.
It will force Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (DWASA) to depend mostly on pumping groundwater for city dwellers for at least two more years.
The authority will also miss a 2022 deadline to meet 80 per cent of Dhaka's water demand from the surface while 20 per cent from the underground - a goal set by DWASA amid fast-depleting groundwater level, said Pierre Yves Pouliquesn, Chief Executive Officer for Africa, Middle East & India at Suez, a French company that won the contract for construction of the plant.
The new plant will be built at Sayedabad that will double the treatment capacity of existing two water treatment units (Sayedabad Phase-I and Phase II), reaching 900,000 million litres per day for the whole station.
The project will sustain the operations of Sayedabad Phase-I and Phase II by replacing the raw water supply from the Shitalakkha River, which is feared to be unfit soon for drinking water treatment due to growing pollution, by the Meghna River.
This will require the construction of a new water intake in the Meghna River, a pumping station of 900 million litres per day as well as the laying of two 26-km long raw water pipelines, according to the project details.
"Sayedabad Water Treatment Plant Phase-III will not be completed by 2023," said Mr Pierre. "It's because setting up of the pipeline will take time," he said, adding that financing for the pipeline from Meghna River to the plant has been delayed. "But most of the works will be completed by 2025."
He was giving a presentation before a group of Bangladeshi journalists who visited the Suez office in Paris, France recently.
Suez Marketing Director for Indian Subcontinent Jean MarcLangard also took part in the presentation.
The depletion of groundwater level, reportedly 2-3 metres annually, is also causing contamination of groundwater in some places, creating concerns among city dwellers.
"In some cases, groundwater might not be drinkable due to contamination," said the Suez CEO.
He, however, appreciated efforts in supplying water in Dhaka and said the city has made remarkable achievement in last 10 years.
"We're working on water management in Dhaka. We're looking into what the countries want to do. For Bangladesh, we're concentrating on water supply. Yes, Dhaka WASA is on the right track to treat water. Dhaka WASA will be achieving its target by 2025," he said in reply to a question.
Asked about the delay in getting finance for the pipeline, Mr Pierre only said: "We're dealing with the construction of the water treatment plant."
He said they will treat water from Meghna River as the quality of water is good. "It's easy to treat the water of Meghna and there is plenty of water in the river."
On May 16 last year, French Development Agency (AFD) signed a long-term loan agreement of € 115 million with the government of Bangladesh for implementation of the project. AFD acts as the lead financial partner for this project.
The total project cost is € 575 million, out of which € 185 million will be financed by the Danish government through Danida Business Finance, € 90 million by the German government through KfW, € 40 million by the European Investment Bank and € 5.0 million by the European Union.
He said Dhaka is a growing city and it is needed to supply water to the growing number of people. But there is no clean water closer to the city.
According to an estimate, the population of Dhaka increases by 4.2 per cent per year - one of the highest urban growth rates in the world - and water production will need to double by 2030 to meet the metropolitan demand.
Dhaka's drinking water supply network serves 80 per cent of its residents, or nearly 12 million people, according to Dhaka WASA. Pockets of unserved areas remain, particularly in the slums. Almost 80% of the supplied water is drawn from underground reserves through around 640 deep tube-wells, supported by fossil-fuel based pumps.
Following completion of DWASA's upcoming surface water treatment plants, the Meghna River is estimated to become the source of more than 50 per cent of the total drinking water supplied to Dhaka.
However, DWASA faces two major environmental problems: the amount of water extracted from aquifers exceeds their recharge capacity, and rivers surrounding Dhaka are becoming more and more polluted.
Taking part in the presentation, Mr Jean gave an overview of Suez's becoming leader in Bangladesh's industrial water management after the acquisition of GE Water in 2017 and the creation of Suez WTS, which is an equipment and technology solutions provider for water and wastewater treatment, water reuse and outsourcing.
They have so far developed 23 references in Bangladesh's textile, food & beverage, power and tobacco industries.
"The general trend in Bangladesh is very good," Mr Jean spoke about the industrial water management practices.
Replying to a question, he said waste management is a huge issue. "Yes, waste to energy will be required in cities like Dhaka. When the city will decide about it, we'll do waste management," he said.
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