'Water arrives once a week': Many Ctg Wasa consumers suffer due to old pipelines

Toxic waste from factories in Dhaka’s Shyampur area flows directly into the Buriganga River, turning the water black and emitting a strong foul odour. Once a thriving waterway, the river is now heavily polluted with industrial effluents, human waste, and plastic. This photo was taken recently. Photo Mehedi Hasan

Consumers of Chattogram Wasa in some areas, mostly in distant locations from the city, complained that they are currently in a severe water crisis as the supply continues through old pipelines, causing frequent disruptions.

In some areas, consumers said they receive water once after waiting for the whole week.

"Water arrives here once a week, and we have to wake up at night to collect it. During the day, the pressure of water supply remains low," Tonmoy Mohajon, a resident of the city's Patenga area, recently told The Business Standard.

The authorities of Chattogram Wasa office have acknowledged the problem, saying that 10% of their service area is currently facing disruptions.

The new consumers were connected to the old pipelines when work on the water supply system development project was carried out, and that's why they are now facing supply disruptions, they explained.

Chief Engineer Maksud Alam told TBS that the connections in the remote areas are yet to come under the coverage of DMA (district metering area) technology and new pipelines. "New projects for the development of water supply systems, including installation of new pipelines in remote areas are under process. The existing problems will be solved once these are implemented."

Data from Chattogram Wasa suggests that currently, it has a pipeline network of about 1,300 km in an area of 168.21 square kilometres of the city, of which 45 km of pipelines has been replaced under Karnaphuli Water Supply Project-01, and another 150 km under the Chittagong Water Supply Development and Sanitation Project.

In addition, under the Karnaphuli Water Supply Project-02, 700 km of old pipelines have been replaced in an area of 55 square kilometres spanning from the heart of the city. Under the project, the quantity and pressure of water supply is continuously monitored and controlled through DMA (district metering area) technology.

However, water supply to the city's Patenga, Kattoli, Zakir Hossain Road, Dakshin Khulshi, Foy's Lake, Akbar Shah and Hathazari areas was still operating through a 400-km old pipeline.

Currently, under the Bhandal Juri Water Supply Project, a new 133 km pipeline network is being installed in Boalkhali, Patiya and Anwara upazilas.

Chattogram Wasa Superintending Engineer (Mod Circle) Md Nurul Amin told TBS that some new connections had also been made when work on the Karnaphuli Water Supply Project was ongoing, but those are not connected to the new pipeline yet. Due to the old pipelines, supply cannot be made properly.

Works to bring the new connections under the coverage of the new pipelines, and related mod issues are currently underway, he said.

As per data from Wasa Revenue Division, currently there are more than 91,000 connections in Chattogram, of which 93% are residential and 7% are commercial. Around 3.2 lakh people of the port city are under the coverage of the supplier.