Dhaka's water ATM users grow, but booth expansion fails to keep pace

Every week, Jamilur Rahman hires a rickshaw van and travels nearly two kilometres from his home in West Kafrul to collect drinking water from a Dhaka WASA water ATM booth in Agargaon. The journey is tiring and costly, but for him and his family, it remains the cheapest way to ensure safe water.

"Bringing water from such a distance is difficult, but boiling water or buying alternative drinking water costs much more," Jamilur told The Business Standard. "If there were a WASA water booth closer to home, it would make life much easier."

Jamilur is not alone in his struggle to access safe drinking water. 

His daily routine reflects a growing reality in Dhaka, where many residents increasingly rely on water ATM booths for affordable, purified drinking water, even as the number of such kiosks remains largely unchanged.

At the Agargaon booth alone, hundreds of people collect water daily using prepaid cards, making it a crucial source of affordable and safe drinking water for nearby neighbourhoods. 

This is due to the lack of such booths in those areas, making access difficult, particularly for elderly residents and low-income households who must travel long distances or arrange for transport to collect water.

For nearly a decade, Dhaka WASA's Water ATM programme, operated by Drinkwell, has quietly reshaped access to safe water in low-income parts of the capital. Today, the network supplies around 47 million litres of purified water every month at Tk0.70 per litre, plus VAT – nearly 20 times cheaper than bottled water sold commercially.

Despite the steady rise in demand, the number of booths has not expanded at the same pace, raising questions about how long the system can cope with growing pressure.

Data from Drinkwell show that more than 750,000 families now hold Water ATM cards and rely on the 302 kiosks operational across Dhaka as their main source of drinking water. 

In informal settlements, where piped water is often unsafe or unreliable, dependence on the ATMs has also increased sharply. Yet no major expansion has taken place in recent years, even as the city's population continues to grow.

WASA plans limited expansion
Over the years, since 2017, the network of water ATMs has shrunk rather than expanded. 

Dhaka WASA Executive Engineer Shahina Khatun told TBS that the utility initially installed 354 water booths across the city, but 52 were later shut down because of low customer turnout and operational losses.

"We are installing booths based on demand," she said, adding that Dhaka WASA plans to set up 50 new booths to respond to rising needs.

Although Dhaka WASA's agreement with Drinkwell is due to expire in June 2026, Shahina Khatun said the contract would be renewed. "This is an essential public service, and it cannot be discontinued," she added.

Growing demand, static infrastructure

Urban planners and water governance experts warn that the widening gap between rising users and static infrastructure could strain the system. As more families depend on the same number of kiosks, queues have grown longer in some neighbourhoods, and operators face increasing pressure to keep machines functional around the clock.

The Dhaka WASA-Drinkwell Water ATM model was co-founded by Minhaj Chowdhury, a Bangladeshi-American public health professional, after years of field research into water contamination. The partnership operates under contractual and donor oversight, with Dhaka WASA supervising the programme.

Public records show that Drinkwell is fully foreign-funded, has remained loss-making since its launch, reinvests all revenue locally, and is not allowed to remit profits abroad. The programme has been audited by donors throughout its operation.

Internationally, the initiative has been widely recognised. In 2022, it received the US Secretary of State's Award for Corporate Excellence, highlighting Bangladesh's innovation in decentralised safe water delivery.

Despite this, the programme has recently faced what experts describe as misinformation and distorted narratives, which they warn could undermine public trust at a time when demand is at its highest.

"When I took this initiative for low-income people in my country, I felt their pain over drinking water," Minhaj Chowdhury told TBS. "After operating the project, I saw that people were attracted by the low price and fresh water."

He added that the network has also supported livelihoods. "The programme has created more than 700 direct jobs and 3,500 indirect livelihoods. Operators, mostly aged between 20 and 25, run kiosks at the community level. Notably, 34% of operators are women, many earning an income for the first time."

'No alternative if this stops'

For users, especially women who manage water for families, the impact is deeply personal. The value of the water ATMs goes beyond price. 

In Korail slum, Jhilmil Begum said safe water has brought peace of mind. "The biggest benefit is knowing our children won't get sick from drinking water," she said.

"If this stops or becomes expensive, we have no alternative," she added.

Experts and local residents argue that Dhaka WASA now faces a crucial choice: either stabilise and expand the Water ATM programme in line with rising demand, or risk weakening one of the city's most effective public health interventions.

Beyond Dhaka, the Drinkwell Water ATM model is also operating with Chattogram WASA, Rajshahi City Corporation, Khulna WASA, Narayanganj City Corporation and in Faridpur's Saltha Bazar – suggesting that the challenge of balancing demand and expansion extends well beyond the capital.