At 2:40pm, Ashraf arrives at a tap stand in the market area of Camp-22 in Teknaf with a large water container. After filling it, he carries the water through hilly and uneven paths to his hut, a journey that takes seven to eight minutes.
He carries containers on both shoulders and in his hands.
Ashraf lives with his elderly parents and four siblings, making the daily collection of water his responsibility.
“Whether I am healthy or sick, I have to collect water. My body aches from carrying it. We are given 20 litres of water per person for drinking, cooking, bathing and sanitation. But 20 litres is nowhere near enough,” Ashraf said.
“One can go without a meal, but one cannot go without water. We cannot pour extra water after using the toilet, so foul smells remain. This is how we are living,” he said.
The situation becomes worse during the dry season. On rainy days, there is some flexibility, but in the dry season, even getting 20 litres becomes difficult. As a result, many have to bathe once every three or four days.
“If we use water for bathing, there is no water left for cooking or other urgent needs,” Ashraf said.
He credited Oxfam’s water supply system with reducing their suffering. Previously, residents had to collect water from distant locations, and women often faced harassment while traveling to and from those places.
“It is not possible to live amid so much hardship. We want to return to our own country,” Ashraf said.
Women also bear the burden
At the same tap stand, Ayesha arrives with her eight-year-old daughter. Her husband is sick, so she collects water for the family every day. It takes about five minutes to walk from their home to the tap stand.
Ayesha has two daughters, one son and a sick husband. Carrying all the water alone is difficult, so she sometimes brings her daughter with her.
“Twenty litres per person is not enough for cooking, eating and bathing. The supply decreases during the dry season. We cannot bathe every day. One person has to bathe one day and another the next,” she said.
During a visit to her home, half-washed pots and utensils could be seen. Ayesha said the lack of water means the dishes cannot always be kept clean.
“We wash them when we cook,” she said.
How the surface water treatment plant works
DSK Assistant Engineer Fazlul Karim said DSK and Oxfam have been jointly working to ensure safe water in Rohingya camps since 2017.
He said the biggest challenge in Teknaf is groundwater. At a depth of 20 to 30 feet, there are layers of stones and rocks, making it difficult to extract sufficient water.
The camp requires about 500,000 litres of water a day, which is why a surface water treatment plant has been established.
The biggest challenge comes during the dry season. From December, canal water begins to decline for the next five months. During this period, water is collected through a pipeline from an area about 5km away, where there are no residents and only a few farmers cultivate land.
The muddy water is first clarified using alum and then disinfected with chlorine. The water is subsequently tested at the plant’s own laboratory. According to WHO standards, residual chlorine should remain between 0.2 and 0.5mg per litre.
Water quality is tested at the treatment plant, tap stands and households. A third-party monitoring team also regularly tests water samples. Two to three checkers and a hygiene team work in the field every day.
From the treatment plant, water is sent to a second storage tank before being distributed through four blocks to 137 tap stands. Water is distributed at 7am and 2:40pm every day.
Three separate tap stands serve the host community, providing safe water to 693 local residents.
When the canal dries up, the per-person water supply falls from 20 litres to 15 litres. The WASH sector says the supply should never fall below 10 litres per person. So far, however, the supply has not dropped to that level, with the minimum remaining at 15 litres.
Host community’s life also changing
Host community residents also had to collect water from distant locations before Oxfam’s treatment plant was established.
Local beneficiaries said people were previously reluctant to marry their daughters into the area because women faced harassment while collecting water in the early morning and evening.
The nearby tap stands, which provide water twice a day, have now reduced the hardship faced by local residents.
Population rises as aid declines
RRRC Md Mizanur Rahman said the biggest challenge is maintaining the services that already exist.
The Rohingya population is increasing for two reasons. Conflict across the border continues to drive new arrivals, while around 225,000 children have been born in the camps over the past nine years.
At the same time, international funding is declining.
Maintaining food, education, health and infrastructure services has become increasingly difficult. Many organizations are winding down projects as funding comes to an end, while assistance from UN agencies has also decreased.
Mizanur Rahman warned that if the trend continues, even ensuring the minimum food supply could become difficult in 2027.
He said further cuts in services could also make law and order a major challenge.
Bangladesh cannot bear the expenses of supporting 1.2 million people from another country over the long term while also struggling to improve the living standards of its own population.