(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - It was around midnight when a teenaged girl with a plastic container in hand waited in queue at a water pump in the city's Malibagh to collect drinking water. She did not know when her turn will come.
Shamira Khatun (17), a garment worker, said although it is the holy month Ramadan, she still has to come to the water pump to collect drinking water after a whole day's work, as the contaminated piped water of WASA is still unfit to drink.
She alleged that as a working girl she has to face huge difficulty in collecting water every night from the pump since there is no other alternative. Sometimes she has to pay money to the pump operators.
Abdul Halim (22), a rickshaw puller hailing from Dinajpur, said the access to safe drinking water in the capital remained a dream for the poor city dwellers and they are deprived of all other civic amenities.
"As we're poor, we can't afford to buy drinking water. We've to drink the contaminated water supplied by WASA," he said adding that he has fallen sick drinking such piped contaminated water.
In the wake of increasing demand with the beginning of Ramadan, the water crisis turned acute in the city amid already inadequate supply of water by WASA.
Official sources said that about 90 percent water of Dhaka WASA comes from underground sources. Around 590 pumps are functional to extract underground water to meet the water demand of the city dwellers. Recently, groundwater level has significantly dropped in the city due to overexploitation.
The rapid growth of urbanization in Dhaka city has been putting considerable pressure on health and other services such as water supply, and sewage and solid waste management. This makes it difficult for the authorities to keep pace with the demands of the rising urban population.
Although the poor are deprived of all civic amenities, they are also the worst victims of discrimination in procuring water. The poor have to pay more to buy water, which is really a violation of human right.
Amina Khatun, a resident of Malibagh slum, alleged that a muscleman gave WASA connection to their slum from where all slum dwellers collect water with each family paying Tk 200 per month.
An executive engineer of Dhaka WASA said on condition of anonymity that it is true the poor slum dwellers buy water at high price as they have no legal connection of WASA.
He said the Dhaka WASA have around 590 pumps to extract water from underground sources. "The underground water is clean. But it becomes contaminated when supplied through pipelines. To repair and replace the pipes for distributing safe water is a continuous process." UNB
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