The Rajshahi Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) has started extending the water supply network to the households of marginal communities aimed at bringing them under the safe drinking water supply coverage.
To this end, pipeline installation works were opened at the Sairgachha area to expand 4,000 metres of pipeline from Wards 1 to 10 in the city in the first phase.
“We are hopeful about the successful completion of the works within the shortest possible time,” said Zakir Hossain, Managing Director of Rajshahi Wasa, while inaugurating the pipeline installation works on Wednesday afternoon.
Illustrating aspects of the pipeline network expansion venture he told BSS that the Rajshahi Wasa is intended to supply water to households of all marginal communities in all 30 Wards of Rajshahi City Corporation.
Within the shortest possible time, the Rajshahi Wasa is also going to implement a mega-project aimed at supplying safe drinking water among Rajshahi city dwellers.
Hossain said the project titled "Rajshahi Wasa Surface Water Treatment Plant" will be implemented with an estimated cost of Tk 4062.22 crore to remove the existing water supply related problems.
Chinese Government will extend a loan worth Tk 2313.59 crore as project assistance.
Rajshahi WASA authorities recently signed a four-year agreement with a Chinese company to set up the new surface water treatment plant to increase the surface-level water supply by reducing dependence on groundwater.
Under the project, raw water intake, treatment plant and booster pump station will be constructed. To this end, a total of 52.48 acres of land in the Jothgosaidas and Sarengpur areas in Godagari Upazila and the Balia area in Paba Upazila have already been acquired.
Zakir Hossain said the project has also installed 53-kilometer main pipelines and 48- kilometres of primary and secondary distribution pipelines for initiating a strong water supply network.
The mega project has been adopted to supply fresh drinking water under a 40-year water supply management master plan.
Giving a salient feature of the project, he said the project will carry water through pipelines from the Padma River, purify it and then supply it to city houses.
The surface water-based plant with the capacity of treating 200 million litres of water daily will be set up at Farhadpur, 26.5 kilometres west from the city under Godagari upazila.
From this water purification plant, fresh drinking water will be supplied to all 30 wards in Rajshahi City Corporation and its surrounding areas as well as 11 wards of Katakhali and Naohata municipal areas.
All old pipelines and hydrants of the city will also be repaired and renovated under the project.
He also said the RWASA has, so far, brought more than 404,000 city dwellers under its water supply coverage.
“So far, we have brought 73.28% of Rajshahi city’s total population around 6.52 lakh population under the water supply coverage,” RWASA Managing Director Zakir Hossain said.
Currently, 7.78-crore litres water is being extracted through 96 production pumps in all 30 wards under Rajshahi City Corporation daily against the total demand of 11.33-crore litres.
There are 712.50-kilometre pipelines to distribute the extracted water.
The government has adopted the mega project to remove the city’s water problem. Under the project, water from the Padma River will be supplied to households for only drinking purposes after necessary treatment.
Upon successful implementation, the project will ensure customer satisfaction according to water demand through boosting supply from 71% to 100% average daily consumption until 2035.
