People in 10 upazilas of Khulna division are suffering from an acute shortage of potable water.
People of Koyra, Dakop, Paikgachha, and Botiaghata upazilas of Khulna, Assasuni, Shyamnagar, and Kaliganj upazilas of Satkhira and Rampal, Mongla, and Morrelganj upazilas of Bagerhat suffer from a severe water shortage.
Residents of these upazilas receive a sufficient supply of drinking water from July to December. However, they face a water crisis in the other months of the year, even though various public and private initiatives were taken to solve the problem.
According to the Department of Public Health Engineering (Khulna), 67% of people in the district receive a supply of potable water while the remaining 33% have to find their own ways of coming by water.
Md Akmal Hossain, executive engineer of the department, said that 1,848 tube wells are in operation in Khulna district to extract potable water.
“At the same time, more filters are being installed in Dakop, Paikgachha and Koyra upazilas and a community-based rainwater harvesting plant with a capacity of 15,000 litres are being set up at the initiative of the Department of Public Health Engineering and Department of Women's Affairs,” he added.
Akmal Hossain assured that if these are implemented, the sufferings of the people of the area will be lessened.
About 2,000 plants, like Pressure Sand Filter (PSF) and rainwater harvesting, have been set up in the area to solve the water problem.
However, the plants get damaged easily due to a lack of proper care as locals are in charge of looking after them.
Abdus Sattar, a resident of Bagali village in Koira, said: “The water plant in Banshkhali school is about 5km away from our house. At first, we got good water from there. But now that the system is broken, we now drink water from ponds in the area.”
Anwar Hossain, a resident of Dakshin Bedkashi Union, said: “There is river water all over the area. However, drinking water has to be fetched from a tube well that is 7km away.
“Every initiative taken by the government is ruined by storms every year. Diseases are on the rise among women and children in the area due to the use of saltwater. Being a remote area, no one can help anyone.”
Shamim Arefin, executive director of the non-governmental organization AOSED, said the environment and climate change in the region every 3km.
He added that only long-term planning can help reduce the water crisis.