PM Hasina pledges to ensure safe water for all by 2030

Bangladesh will be able to ensure safe drinking water for its entire population by 2030, says Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

On Saturday, she inaugurated the Dhaka Water Conference at the Hotel Pan Pacific Sonargaon in Dhaka.

The three-day summit features Delta Conference and a meeting of High-Level Panel on Water representatives, to design future strategies to face the challenges of safe water management, sewerage and sanitation.

Addressing the inaugural session, Hasina said Bangladesh ensured access to safe water for 87 percent of its population by 2015 and that her administration was working for full coverage by 2030.

She hoped interactive expert dialogues at the Dhaka Water Conference, Delta Conference and other sessions would help make future strategies on water, sewerage and sanitation.

Water accounts for 90 percent of disasters in the world and almost 70 percent of deaths in natural calamities are linked to floods and water-related diseases, according to Hasina.

"Access to safe water could not be ensured for about 1 billion people in the world until now as less than 1 percent water resource of the earth is considered safe for drinking,” she said.

The water usage pattern has changed significantly due to population growth and fast urbanisation but "the threat to the availability of drinkable water still persists", she said.

About 40 percent of people in the world are suffering more or less from a lack of safe water, she said. More than 1.7 billion people can't meet their demand for water even though they live in the river basins.

Hasina said her government successfully spearheaded the campaign for safe water bringing 87 percent people under safe water coverage while the figure was 98 percent in urban areas.

Moreover, 99 percent of the population is now under sanitation coverage, she added.

Bangladesh has initiated a 100-year Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 for the coordinated water resources management, according to the prime minister.