The curious case of WASA managing director
Although the managing director of Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (WASA) has claimed that the water provided by them is 100 per cent drinkable, he himself does not always drink that water.
Taksim A Khan drinks boiled water at home and the WASA's bottled water 'Shanti' outside and tap water at times.
He said this at a press conference at the Dhaka Reporters Unity following a recent TIB finding that said city dwellers have to burn gas worth Tk 3.32 billion every year to make the WASA water drinkable.
Although the WASA MD made such comments on Saturday, at a press conference at its headquarters in Karwanbazar on 28 March he had said, "You should boil the water a little bit, around 10 minutes."
He also claimed on Saturday that there was no problem at the source of WASA water, but the problem was in the 'pipelines'. There were holes in the pipelines while they were broken and dirt remain in the clients' water tanks.
"We are replacing the pipelines taking huge initiatives. By 2021, we will ask people to drink tap water," he said.
"We’ve collected 243 samples from different parts of Dhaka from 11-29 November and found the standard of water was satisfactory," he further said.
Many on the social media, following the MD's comments, asked whether he would take responsibility if anyone gets sick drinking the WASA water while many referred to the extra money they had to spend for making it drinkable.
The TIB report on Wednesday said 91 per cent clients boiled the water for drinking. It said natural gas worth at least Tk 3.32 billion is burnt every year for boiling the water. Regarding this Taskim said, "Our water is 100 per cent drinkable. So this is surprising that you are burning gas."
There have been researches over the WASA water before. In 2017, ABM Bodruzzaman, professor of civil engineering at BUET, conducted a research over the quality of the water. Water samples were taken from Dhanmondi, Kalabagan, Lalmatia, Malibagh, Bangshal, Nazira Bazar, Sutrapur. The survey showed the quality of water at various areas of Old Dhaka was much worse than that of Dhanmondi, Kalabagan and , Lalmatia.
"Germs were found in the water of 40 per cent of the surveyed areas. It was seen that the water quality was much worse during the monsoon than the dry season. This proves that there are holes in the pipelines that cause the contamination," Bodruzzaman told Prothom Alo on Saturday.
In 2015, BBS (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics) revealed that 65 per cent people of the country drink unsafe water that contained arsenic and e-coli (bacteria in excretion). According to the survey, water in the cities, including Dhaka, is more contaminated than that of the villages. Also an iccddr,b (International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh) study in 2014 said 63 per cent water in Dhaka was contaminated by e-colli.
The TIB survey findings revealed on Wednesay that overall more than one third of service recipients are dissatisfied over not getting water as per demand, not receiving feedback after filing complaints, being forced to bribe WASA staff while seeking services and so on.
At the press conference on Saturday, the WASA MD termed the TIB study 'one-sided and ill-motivated'.
TIB executive director Iftekharuzzaman said Taskim's statement did not reflect professionalism. The WASA managing director and two directors were included when the study was carried out, but he did not object then, he added.