Competition organised on World Water Day

A two-day competition to commemorate World Water Day was organised involving 200 volunteers from 15 districts of Bangladesh, said a release Sunday.

Coca-Cola in Bangladesh in partnership with JAAGO Foundation organized the event titled 'Great Water Challenge' on 21 and 22 March in Dhaka.

Five-member teams from 15 districts across the country participated in the event. The teams were given specific tasks relating to water management, including cleaning the lake, collection of waste materials, and community awareness so that they can better understand the value of water, how water is crucial to the ecosystem  and also spread the message to people in the vicinity.

The Challenges coupled with the door-to-door community awareness drives, aimed at educating not only the participants, but the community members as well on the importance of water conservation and protection. The Great Water Challenge was reviewed by a panel of judges including JAAGO Board members and the management committee and Jhalokathi became the winner and runner up will be declared.

The Banani Lake in Dhaka is an important and central water body to the city, yet has been contaminated due to garbage and waste thrown into it. The challenge for the teams was to clean the lake using nets and shovels while travelling on boats. To learn the value of water, the teams also had to go through tough two days as they were only allowed to use minimum amounts of water for drinking and showering purposes and get minimum money for food and meals. Another aspect of the challenge was to pick up waste materials that contribute to Dengue, a deadly disease which is spread through contaminated water and mosquito breeding in discarded containers like cans, bottles, leaves, coconut shells, vehicle tires, pots and pans, broken appliances etc.