Severe water crisis in some parts of Old Dhaka is causing acute suffering to the residents.
The residents of different areas, including Gendaria, Sutrapur, Gualghat, Narinda, Lakshmibazar, Rhrishikesh Das Road, Kaltabazar, Islampur, Loharpul, Faridabad, Mugda and Jatrabari are passing days in acute scarcity of water.
They have alleged that the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority failed to supply enough water to the areas to meet their daily necessities.
Dhaka South City’s ward-41 councilor Sarwar Hossain Alo has told New Age that the water supply authorities took no step though he had submitted several complaints to them in the last one month.
Jannatul Ferdaus, a student of Jagannath University and a former resident of Rhrishikesh Das Lane, has said that she left the area because of the acute water crisis.
I could not take shower and do my household works day after day as there was not even a single drop of water in the line,’ she said.
WASA officials have said that they are now capable of producing 2,450 million litres of water every day against the demand for 2,400 million litres per day.
The WASA runs 712 deep tube-wells and five water treatment plants in the city to supply water in the capital.
Dhaka WASA director (technical) AKM Shahid Uddin has said that resident of some areas are facing water crisis as the WASA is replacing some deep tube-wells.
Though the production is more than the demand, the dwellers of some areas are facing water crisis due to some technical problems,’ he added.

Aurangabad: After a long break, the city and several parched areas of the district received sustained medium to heavy showers during the 36 hours that ended on Thursday evening with Aurangabad recording over 60 mm of rainfall.
Aurangabad district, whose many parts have been receiving water tankers due to acute water shortage, can witness improvement in water availability in the backdrop of strong revival of monsoon.
While the circle-wise data for rainfall received till Thursday evening was not available immediately, private weather observatory at MGM recorded 63mm of rain in Aurangabad by till 5.30 pm.
Light to medium showers that started on Wednesday midnight continued with varying intensity for the next 36-hours till Thursday evening, making weather conditions pleasurable.
In the wake of poor monsoon, Aurangabad district was supplied with as many as 326 tankers with Gangapur (78), Vaijapur (66) and tehsil limits of Aurangabad (50) witnessing maximum water shortage.
As per official records, Aurangabad was facing nearly 53% water deficit until latest revival of monsoon.
Director of APJ Abdul Kalam Astro Space and Science Centre Shriniwas Aundhkar said cyclonic depression resulted into revival of monsoon in Aurangabad and other parts of the region.
“The good rainfall is likely to continue over the city for next 24-hours.
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A major United Nations report, released in June, shows that the world is not on track to meet a U.N. goal: to bring safe water and sanitation to everyone by 2030.
Will people have enough water to live?
Two main factors are pushing the planet toward a thirstier future: population growth and climate change.
Top 10 countries with lowest access to clean water near home Sources: The Water Gap: State of the World’s Water 2018/WaterAid; The World Bank India has improved water access in rural areas, but remains at the top of the list for sheer number of people (163 million) lacking water services.
Most of the world’s freshwater goes to agriculture, mainly to irrigating crops but also to raising livestock and farming aquatic organisms, such as fish and plants.
“There just isn’t enough water to meet all our needs,” says Paolo D’Odorico, an environmental scientist at the University of California, Berkeley whose team analyzed the food-water-energy nexus in a paper published online April 20 in Reviews of Geophysics.
Source: World Energy Outlook 2016 Special Report: Water-Energy Nexus/IEA Then there’s climate change.
The map below shows how water stress — the ratio of water use to water supply — is expected to look by the year 2040.
Top 20 cities with the largest urban water deficits in 2050 Source: M. Flörke, C. Schneider and R. McDonald/Nature Sustainability 2018 In the face of such inexorable changes, it’s easy to despair.
If nations follow commitments similar to those in the agreement, 60 million people across Asia could avoid dire water scarcity by 2050, the team wrote in June in Environmental Research Letters.

ISLAMABAD: The water woes of the three million population of Quetta are worsening with each passing day as the underground water level has further deepened to over 300 metres, while the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) has failed in finding a practical solution.
Quetta requires some 200 million gallons of water daily to run routine affairs, but Wasa could only manage to provide 100 million gallons and the demand is increasing due to rapid surge in population.
He said Wasa was operating 400 tube wells in Quetta which were insufficient to meet the requisite demand.
He said the “tanker mafia” was operating some 2,000 commercial tube wells in different areas of Quetta due to which water reserves have come under intense pressure.
Meanwhile, the people have also complained of acute water shortage and of the “tanker mafia”.
“After school, I have to fetch potable water from a nearby area.
The entire area is deprived of drinking water.
Balochistan govt, Russian company join hands to end drought through cloud seeding Abbas Khan, a resident of Surki Road, another victim of water scarcity, said the quarters concerned were providing water just for 20 to 30 minutes after two days, which was not enough to meet household needs.
Fazal Lashari, a resident of Qambrani Road said, “We are left on the mercy of water tankers.
We are compelled to pay Rs1,000 to Rs2,000 for each water tank to meet our daily needs.” Abdul Khaliq Achackzai said, “The government must ensure that no new commercial tube wells are operated and existing ones should also be regulated.” He said dams were the only practical solution to the issue which must be constructed on priority to help meet human and agricultural requirements in the province.

After decades of industrialisation and urbanisation in the Pearl River Delta, the Dongjiang now serves more than 40 million people, including 7.4 million in Hong Kong, putting a strain on the river as the main water supply for the whole region.
Over the next three years, Hong Kong is expected to pay more than HK$14.4 billion to Guangdong under the new “DongShen Agreement”, which stipulates that the unit price of Dongjiang water will rise by 0.3 per cent a year, according to documents submitted by the Development Bureau to the legislature.
The rate of overall water losses in Hong Kong increased to 33 per cent in 2015 from 26.5 per cent in 2010.
This is considerably higher than in other developed cities: Tokyo successfully reduced its leakage rate to 2.7 per cent by 2010, from 20 per cent in 1955.
Although leaks from Hong Kong’s government water mains had decreased to 15 per cent in 2015 from 20 per cent in 2010, water losses from private pipes have surged sixfold, to 14 per cent, over the same period.
The government should introduce a policy that makes such data publicly available to help identify the heaviest users.
To ensure an abundant supply of water in the years to come, Hong Kong needs a comprehensive policy to strengthen its water management.
Accelerating pipe repair in public and private systems to reduce water waste.
Practising greater data transparency and improving measurement to increase accountability.
Freshwater makes up only about 2 per cent of the world’s water and Hong Kong must do more to protect this scarce resource, especially when the world braces itself for future uncertainties brought on by climate change.

Residents of Emali town breathed a sigh of relief when the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) contractor stepped in to provide free water.
ALSO READ: Why private equity firms shun Kenya China Roads and Bridges Corporation came to the rescue of the locals after Nulturesh Water Company, which supplies water to Emali town and other parts of Makueni County, discontinued its services.
This followed a week-long workers’ strike over delayed salaries, which prompted the company to suspend most of its staff.
“Until the Chinese company came to our rescue, we had suffered for over a month without water.
We bought unsafe water from unknown sources for between Sh30 and Sh40,” said Ndanu Muiya, a resident.
The Chinese contractor, which has been supplying water to the residents, for two weeks now, draws the commodity from its borehole.
Water bowsers then transport the water to a tank where locals get it.
Avoid fake news!
Locals suffering Mr Xu Zeng Quan, the deputy general manager for section 7 of the SGR, which covers Emali and surrounding areas, told The Standard they were responding to the locals’ need after seeing their suffering.
Nulturesh Water Company is based in Kajiado County where Governor Joseph ole Lenku has insisted it should increase supply to residents.

Five Kitui legislators are reading a sinister motive in the Ministry of Water’s proposal to disband the Tanathi Water Services Board.
The proposal is part of water sector reforms that seek to introduce regional water bodies.
Those against the reforms are Nimrod Mbai (Kitui East), Rachael Nyamai (South), Edith Nyenze (West), Paul Nzengu (Mwingi North) and Woman Representative Irene Kasalu.
The regional offices of Tanathi Water Services Board are currently in Kitui town, but staff and machinery are set to be relocated to Mombasa if the new water policy is implemented.
Under the contested water policy, Kitui and Makueni counties would be served under Coast Water Services Board, while Machakos would be under Athi Water Services in Nairobi.
During an event hosted by Nzengu in Tseikuru last Friday, the MPs said the disbandment of Tanathi board will make Kitui lose Sh5 billion in water projects, some of which are funded by the African Development Bank.
Nzengu said he will introduce a private motion at the National Assembly to oppose the disbandment of the Tanathi board.
He urged his colleagues to rally behind him.
He said Ukambani’s water problems should be dealt with from within the region.
We will not accept this move because our water challenges are unique to those of other regions,” Mbai said.

Singapore uses about 430 million gallons a day, out of which up to 30 per cent are desalinated.
To truly tackle water scarcity in the region, countries need to take a step back and rethink the different aspects of water management.
Technology has allowed us to reconsider man’s relationship with the water system, which has traditionally been a one-way process, moving water from supply to demand.
One study by Singapore’s national water agency, PUB, and the National University of Singapore found that a person could save up to 5 litres of water a day using smart shower devices.
The Singapore Government will be deploying these devices over the next two years in new homes under a demonstration project with the Housing Development Board.
Developing countries can also look to institutions that have expressed long-term interest in backing water infrastructure development for the region.
A new approach that encourages the adoption of new technology is exploring new business models.
In Cambodia, some private water operators have started opting to pay for their pump system through annual instalments, which are financed by the money saved on energy and water bills as a result of equipment upgrade.
We can no longer look at traditional practices to address contemporary water challenges.
It is crucial to encourage out-of-the-box, creative thinking in all fields of water resources management, whether it is policy, planning, management, development, as well as institutional, technological and financial aspects.

Special Correspondent, Guardian Minister blasts NMC, OCW for shoddy handling of water distribution Citizens must use water judiciously or face upto 50% cut during summer Need to bring down leakages to 15% Depleting storage at Totladoh, a matter of worry for district What ails our water distribution system Targeted leakage 15% Actual leakage 50% Zone-wise leakage Ashi Nagar 65% Gandhibag 70% Satranjipura 70% Mangalwari 50% Dhantoli 50% Dharampeth 35% Nehru Nagar 30% Laxmi Nagar 25% Hanuman Nagar 25% Due to insufficient rains in catchment area of Pench Dam this year, Nagpur city may face unprecedented water scarcity in next summer due to 50 percent cut proposed in raw water supply by the State Government.
Meanwhile, State Government has decided to release 100 MLD water for the farmers for their Kharip crop immediately.
Traditionally, Water Resources Department (WRD) is releasing water for Kharip crops in October but in view of farmers’ demands, government has taken a historic decision to release water to Nagpur and Bhandara district in this month.
This has adversely affected water storage in Pench dam.
The total capacity of Pench dam is 1092 MM3 but presently, only 352 MM3 or around 21 per cent water is available in the reservoir.
However, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, WRD Minister Girish Mahajan has taken a decision on my (Bawankule’s) request, Guardian Minister added and said, WRD may not release water for Kharip crops in the month of October due to less stock.
NMC should explore other sources for water supply during scarcity days as cut may be increased upto 50 per cent.
Guardian Minister blasted NMC for 60 per cent losses in four zones of the city.
He said, NMC has assured to reduce losses upto 25 per cent within two years but it seems that NMC and Orange City Water (OCW) are not serious to plug the leakages.
He has directed corporators and officers to create awareness among masses to use the water with extra caution.

But somehow, ironically, 70% of the 21 million people who live in Lagos lack access to drinkable water — a lot of residents get water from private water hawkers and water trucks, rainwater or polluted rivers and streams.
And the state wants to fix that by bringing in private companies to fix the crumbling water infrastructure.
That makes sense, in theory: the government can offload the huge costs of repairing the water systems onto private companies with deeper pockets and technical know-how.
But according to a Buzzfeed News report, the company at the top of the Lagos state government’s list for the contract is Veolia, the company whose alleged “botched” role in the cities of Flint and Pittsburgh exposed residents to dangerously high lead levels in water.
Citizens have protested the privatisation of water several times — in 2016, and again in 2017 — and they’re still protesting it!
That’s not a good way to run anything — just based on hope.
They’re not going to spend money on these systems out of the goodness of their heart."
With these kinds of developments, it’s safe to imagine that one day every last drop of water will be controlled by profit-hungry private companies who seldom have any direct line of accountability, and who are definitely not carrying out these projects altruistically.
(Photo: Guardian NG) Philip Jakpor, project manager at Friends of the Earth Nigeria — the local branch of the global environmental group — told BuzzFeed News: "Rather than looking at water from the human-right perspective, the government is looking at 21 million residents and the revenue they can generate.
Lagos is the latest African city to struggle with water scarcity.