HC orders testing WASA water from 34 points
The High Court on Tuesday issued an order to test WASA water samples from 34 locations in the capital, reports UNB.
The bench of justice JBM Hassan and justice Md Khairul Alam ordered the WASA to provide Tk 170,000 to cover the test expenses.
The local government secretary has been asked to collect the money from the WASA authorities.
The bench also asked a four-member committee, formed at the court's order to test water, to file a report within 2 July.
Water samples will be collected from four sources (underground, surface, Buriganga and Shitalakkhya rivers), 10 distribution zones, 10 risky zones based on customers complaints and 10 randomly picked areas.
The samples will be tested at icddr,b, BUET'S Bureau of Research, Testing and Consultation, and Dhaka University's microbiology laboratory.
Before issuing the order, the court heard the expert opinion of professor Sabita Rezwana Rahman, chairperson of Dhaka University’s microbiology department.
Advocate Tanvir Ahmed, who filed the writ petition, stood for himself while deputy attorney general Motahar Hossain represented the state.
A WASA report, placed before the court on 16 May by LGRD and Cooperatives ministry, noted that water supplied by it is contaminated in 59 areas in 10 zones in the capital.
Tanvir brought the matter to the court after in October last year after a World Bank report said that over 75 million people of Bangladesh drink unsafe water.
The report noted that 41 per cent water sources contain harmful bacteria and 13 per cent water contains arsenic. It said about 80 per cent water supplied through pipelines contains harmful bacteria.
In the following month, the High Court ordered the authorities concerned to form a committee to test the water supplied by the Dhaka WASA.
The court on 8 May sought a list of areas receiving highly-contaminated water supplied by the WASA. Five days later, the court expressed displeasure as the report was not submitted.
It asked the LGRD and Cooperatives ministry to file a report within 15 May after fixing the expenditure required to test the water.