People in the Gopalganj municipal area have been going through a severe crisis of drinking and cooking water for the last month as the water supply is neither suitable for drinking nor cooking.
Bottled water companies and faraway tube wells have now become their sources for usable water. Over 2,00,000 people live in the municipality, most of them poor.
Men and women have to wait in long lines for their share of tube-well water, from early in the morning to late into the night every day.
Most people there depend on the semi-deep tube-wells at Nichu Parha, Udayan Road and Miaparha as well as some further places for water. The rest are buying bottled water.
Local water authorities say river water from the Madhumati River is refined step by step before being and then supplied to municipal residents.
Water flow into the river drastically fell in the middle of March and a salt water incursion occurred. As there are no desalination machines, they are forcibly releasing it in the supply line, authorities say.
Miaparha’s housewives Kabita Bhakta, 38, and Nichu Parha’s Reva Biswas, 45, say they cannot drink the water as it is salty. They gather water from tube wells far away and drink it.
“Water-borne diseases have broken out due to drinking saline water,” says Narad Kumar, who lives on Theatre Road, adding, “I am struggling to treat my family suffering from stomachache and various water-borne diseases.”
The municipal authorities should take measures immediately to supply potable water and bring an end to their sufferings, he demanded.
Gopalganj Civil Surgeon Dr Sirajul Islam said salt water is harmful for people suffering from heart diseases. They must not drink it, he insisted.
Local Niloy Drinking Water Company owner Md Shamim Khan says they are struggling to meet the demand for bottled water.
Salination of the water supply was discovered in March and will continue till June, said Executive Engineer of Gopalganj Public Health and Engineering Department.
To overcome this problem, eight new deep tube wells have been proposed and approved. It would be possible to supply potable water all year round once this project is done, he added.
Gopalganj Mayor Md Rezaul Haq Sikder Raju said they have no option but to supply saline water for lack of a desalination machine.
He said the project for setting up deep tube wells to overcome this crisis would, however, begin in July. Once it begins, they will try hard to complete it as soon as it is possible.