"Hundreds of capital residents are getting safe water from WASA every day"

Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Minister Tajul Islam said that at present, 100% of the capital's residents are getting safe water from Dhaka Wasa 24 hours a day.

 He said this in response to MP Nizam Uddin Hazari's question during the question and answer session in the National Parliament on Tuesday (June 11).

The minister said that Dhaka WASA has formulated the Dhaka Water Supply Master Plan in 2014 with the aim of providing safe and clean water to Dhaka city residents. According to the master plan, water is already being supplied to the city from 5 water treatment plants, which is 34 percent of the current demand. 66 percent of the remaining demand is being supplied through deep tube wells. As per the master plan, the construction of two more water treatment plants is progressing at a fast pace. When these two plants are commissioned, 67 percent of water will be supplied from surface sources. As a result dependence on ground water will be significantly reduced. At present, 100% of city residents are getting safe water from Dhaka Wasa 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

He said that with the aim of ensuring safe sewage management in Dhaka city, Dhaka WASA has formulated the Sewerage Plant Plan in 2013, under which the upgradation work of Pagla sewage treatment plant is already underway and the work of Dasherkandi sewage treatment plant has been successfully completed. The remaining three (Uttara, Mirpur and Rayerbazar) sewage treatment plants are under construction.

In response to the question of Member of Parliament of Noakhali-2 Constituency Morshed Alam, the minister said that according to the joint survey report of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and UNICEF 'Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, 2019' - 11% of the total population of the country is at risk of arsenic pollution.

Highlighting various projects of the government to protect common people from arsenic, he said that various projects are being implemented in rural areas through the Directorate of Public Health and Engineering. Under this, 10 lakh 65 thousand arsenic free water sources will be established by 2025. In this case, apart from deep tube wells, water supply system through pipes, rain water storage system and pond excavation and re-excavation along with solar powered pond sand filter will be installed. This will reduce the risk of arsenic contamination by 5-6 percent by 2025.

Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury presided over the Parliament session.