Use of surface water to overcome crisis stressed
Wednesday, 23 March 2011
FE Report
Speakers at a seminar urged the government Tuesday to go for proper use of surface water to meet the city's ever increasing demand for safe water. They expressed concern over the fact that the level of underground water is going down by three metres a year. They also called for immediate action at the national seminar marking the World Water Day 2011 at a city hotel. The theme of the World Water Day 2011 is "Water in cities - responding to the urban challenge'. The water supply and sanitation sector development plan released recently by the government estimates a budget gap of 47 per cent, or about US$1.4 billion for water supply and sanitation between 2010 and 2015. Speaking as the chief guest, Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr AFM Ruhal Haque said the problem of safe drinking water is worsening day by day in the urban areas, particularly in the slums where low-income group communities (LIC) reside. "Surface water around the capital is severely polluted by chemical contamination from agricultural and industrial discharge," the minister said, adding that "such tendency must stop for the sake of our own survival." "Many of our citizens, particularly under five children, in the LIC areas have been suffering from various types of waterborne diseases due to the pollution," he said. The health minister said the government has already taken a number of initiatives, including installation of new water treatment plants as one of the prime pledges of the government for ensuring safe drinking water for all. "A joint effort involving concerned ministries, departments, development partners, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civic bodies and other stakeholders is needed in achieving the goal," Mr Haque said. "Actions have been taken to address quantity, quality and security issues of water by several United Nations agencies in Bangladesh," said Ad Spijkers, UN Resident Coordinator. "Concerted efforts by the government and all stakeholders are necessary to meet the urban and rural challenges in Bangladesh, including bridging the growing gap of inequalities in rapidly expanding urban centres and to ensure the right to safe and clean water to all," he said. Meanwhile, in the technical session, Managing Director of Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (WASA) Taqsem A Khan during a PowerPoint presentation informed that they had taken four projects of installing surface water treatment plants involving Tk 108.50 billion (US$ 1.55 billion). He said they will take water from the Padma river for treatment to meet the demand for safe water of the city people through the projects, which will take nearly 10 years to be implemented when the population of the city will be more than 200 million. "There is the place where the development partners have a role to play as the government can't afford full investment in water supply projects," the WASA MD said. He said 37 per cent of the city's total population lived in LIC areas and most of them were provided with safe water through five selected NGOs following an agreement signed in June in 2005. "We're trying hard to bring all the slum dwellers under the coverage of safe water and a total of 395 LICs were served up to March 2009." Vice-chancellor of BRAC University Dr Aninun Nishat, who moderated the technical session, said rapid urbanisaion will put the city more vulnerable to the adverse impact of the climate change. "We've to move forward in a planned way to overcome the problem."
Speakers at a seminar urged the government Tuesday to go for proper use of surface water to meet the city's ever increasing demand for safe water. They expressed concern over the fact that the level of underground water is going down by three metres a year. They also called for immediate action at the national seminar marking the World Water Day 2011 at a city hotel. The theme of the World Water Day 2011 is "Water in cities - responding to the urban challenge'. The water supply and sanitation sector development plan released recently by the government estimates a budget gap of 47 per cent, or about US$1.4 billion for water supply and sanitation between 2010 and 2015. Speaking as the chief guest, Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr AFM Ruhal Haque said the problem of safe drinking water is worsening day by day in the urban areas, particularly in the slums where low-income group communities (LIC) reside. "Surface water around the capital is severely polluted by chemical contamination from agricultural and industrial discharge," the minister said, adding that "such tendency must stop for the sake of our own survival." "Many of our citizens, particularly under five children, in the LIC areas have been suffering from various types of waterborne diseases due to the pollution," he said. The health minister said the government has already taken a number of initiatives, including installation of new water treatment plants as one of the prime pledges of the government for ensuring safe drinking water for all. "A joint effort involving concerned ministries, departments, development partners, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civic bodies and other stakeholders is needed in achieving the goal," Mr Haque said. "Actions have been taken to address quantity, quality and security issues of water by several United Nations agencies in Bangladesh," said Ad Spijkers, UN Resident Coordinator. "Concerted efforts by the government and all stakeholders are necessary to meet the urban and rural challenges in Bangladesh, including bridging the growing gap of inequalities in rapidly expanding urban centres and to ensure the right to safe and clean water to all," he said. Meanwhile, in the technical session, Managing Director of Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (WASA) Taqsem A Khan during a PowerPoint presentation informed that they had taken four projects of installing surface water treatment plants involving Tk 108.50 billion (US$ 1.55 billion). He said they will take water from the Padma river for treatment to meet the demand for safe water of the city people through the projects, which will take nearly 10 years to be implemented when the population of the city will be more than 200 million. "There is the place where the development partners have a role to play as the government can't afford full investment in water supply projects," the WASA MD said. He said 37 per cent of the city's total population lived in LIC areas and most of them were provided with safe water through five selected NGOs following an agreement signed in June in 2005. "We're trying hard to bring all the slum dwellers under the coverage of safe water and a total of 395 LICs were served up to March 2009." Vice-chancellor of BRAC University Dr Aninun Nishat, who moderated the technical session, said rapid urbanisaion will put the city more vulnerable to the adverse impact of the climate change. "We've to move forward in a planned way to overcome the problem."