The third phase of the Saidabad water treatment plant that could have done a world of good to Dhaka’s acute summer water crisis is likely to miss the July deadline for a start because a Danish fund is not yet available.
There are also fears that the water of the Shitalakkhya, the prime source of Dhaka’s water supply, may no longer be treatable because of heavy industrial contamination.
These alarming facts were revealed at a recent meeting of the evaluation committee of the Saidabad phase three water treatment plant project, sources said.
Around 40% or $200m of the $500m project cost is supposed to come from the Danish International Development Agency (Danida).
But, with less than two months to go before the scheduled start of the project, the government’s Economic Relations Division is not yet clear whether the money will come as a grant or a project loan, an official of the Local Government Division told the Dhaka Tribune.
Apart from Danida, the French Development Agency and the European Investment Bank have pledged $130m and $70m respectively.
When contacted, Taqsem A Khan, managing director of Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa), admitted that it will not be possible to kick off the construction of the project by July.
On the basis of a feasibility study conducted recently, the evaluation committee said that the water of the Shitalakkhya will cease to be usable in the near future.
Hence, the use of the Meghna River water has been recommended, but the river’s geographical distance with Dhaka is not as convenient as that with the Shitalakkhya.
The water of Buriganga, the other major river in the capital city, has never been used by the treatment plants, also because of severe contamination, Md Sirajuddin, deputy managing director of Dhaka Wasa, was quoted as saying in the meeting.
In fact, all the water treatment plants in Dhaka might be using the Meghna's waters in the future, meeting sources said.
Dhaka Wasa serves around 12.5 million people in a 360 sq-km area using the water of the Shitalakkhya at a pre-treatment plant and then at the Saidabad treatment plants. The river water, which is a form of surface water, meet 22% of the total demand in Dhaka. Wasa meets the remaining 78% by extracting groundwater.
Ensuring a sustainable source of safe surface water is imperative because according to an estimate of Dhaka Wasa, the groundwater table has been depleting by around three metres every year, with roughly 1.5 metres of annual recharge.
According to a master plan to be implemented by the year 2035, the authorities should be ideally using 30% groundwater and 70% surface water to meet the residents’ demand, which would be effectively reversing the current practice.
Md Khairul Islam, country representative of WaterAid Bangladesh, thinks the water crisis in the capital city is a major politically-sensitive issue.
“The media do not care if a woman in the remote areas of the country has to walk 10 miles to fetch fresh water. But if there is a water crisis in Dhaka, it never skips the media’s attention.”
Buet Professor Dr Mujibur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune that carrying water from the Meghna River without addressing the sewerage system in Dhaka will prove to be expensive for the government.
He also argued that there is enough water in the Shitalakkhya to operate the three water treatments plants at Saidabad.
“The water in the rivers in and around Dhaka is being polluted for a long time because of the poor sewerage system. Most of the human waste of Dhaka goes into the Balu River. Since the Shitalakkhya and Balu are connected, the former is continuously getting polluted,” the professor said.
Local Government Secretary Abdul Malek told the Dhaka Tribune that the project proposal for the third water treatment plant is likely to be placed before the Executive Committee on National Economic on May 5. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will preside over the meeting.
