A rampant water and power crisis along with the excessive heat this summer has made life almost intolerable in Chittagong and its adjoining areas.
People of residential areas are the worst sufferers of the water and power crisis; industrial and business sectors are also being affected due to the shortages, allege the city residents. However the concerned authorities claimed water and power supply conditions across the city are currently better than before.
Chittagong Met Office sources said the average temperature in the port city was more than 30 degree celsius for the last couple of days and this would continue.
An acute water crisis was reported in most areas of the city, including Bakalia, Chawkbazar, Dewan Bazar, Bahadderhat, Badurtala, Pahartali, Halishahar, Anderkilla, Love Lane, Jamal Khan, Kapashgola, Kazir Dewri, Sholoshahar, Muradpur, New Market, Enayetbazar and Kotwali.
Aeysha Siddiqua, a housewife of the Halishahar Residential Area, said: “I have been collecting five drums of water a day for Tk500 from the nearby water bodies since there was no water supply the last couple of days.”
Homeowner Md Nur Nabi of Bowbazar said: “Many owners in my area have set up deep tube-wells, finding no other way out of the water crisis. Yet we cannot get enough water as the ground water level is going down.”
Besides, people of the Agrabad, Halishahar, Pahartoli, Bakalia, Nasirabad, Patharghata, Mehedibug, Alkaran, Patharghata, Chawkbazar, Patenga and Chandgaon areas said they were experiencing power outages seven to eight times a day.
Businessman Mamunur Rashid Mamun of the Mehedibagh area said his garment factory production went down due to insufficient power supply, and the load-shedding at night is intolerable.
“Food items stored in the refrigerator keep going bad because of the repeated power failures; we cannot even sleep at night due to the scorching heat,” said Fatema Tuz Zohora from the Bayezid area.
The Chittagong Water and Sewerage Authority (CWSA), since its inception in 1963, has been failing to meet the demand for water in the city areas inhabited by about 7 million people. CWASA can supply 210-220 million litres per day (MLD), of water which is 42% of the 500MLD demand.
CWASA Managing Director (MD) Engineer AKM Fazlullah said about 70% of the water demand can be met after completing the Karnaphuli Water Supply Project at Rangunia upazila in the district, which will add 143 MLD to the supply.
He added that after completing another similar project at Madunaghat in the Hathazari upazila, about 97% of the demand in the city will be met.
The MD urged reducing the water wastage to ensure equal water supply amongst the city residents, and claimed the water crisis is comparatively less this year.
Claiming there is no load shedding in the city, Mohammed Moniruzzaman, public relations officer of the Power Development Board (PDB) in the Chittagong region, said sometimes technical failures caused power disruption for a few moments but the power supply is more adequate than in the past.
He said at present about 700-750mW (megawatts) are produced against the daily demand of about 800-850mW.
“In May last year, we had a 100mW power deficit, while this May we have less than 20mW deficit,” he said, adding that there are a total of 13 power plants in Chittagong, of which production at Shikalbaha Power Plant and a unit of Raozan Power Plant are suspended due to a gas crisis.
