TIB report is concocted, water is 100% drinkable: Dhaka WASA

Dhaka WASA, the state-owned utility service entity, has claimed it supplies completely drinkable water to the households in the capital.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 20 April 2019, 01:34 PM
Updated : 20 April 2019, 01:34 PM

Its Managing Director Taqsem A Khan came up with the claim in reaction to a report by Transparency International, Bangladesh or TIB at a news conference on Saturday.

About 91 percent of households in Dhaka burn 3.32 billion of gas annually to boil water before drinking, according to a study released by anti-graft watchdog on Apr 17.

"This TIB report has no scientific basis,” Khan said, terming the study “unprofessional, concocted and a bid to belittle WASA’s image”.

“Dhaka WASA’s water is 100 percent drinkable in World Health Organization standard. This information (TIB report) is totally hypothetical and unrealistic. Not all of 17.2 million residents of Dhaka boil water to drink because they don’t need to do so,” he added.

About 62 percent of the service seekers from the state-run utility company were the victims of irregularities, harassment and corruption, the TIB study found.

Khan refuted allegations of corruption brought in the report. "There is no scope for irregularities as the users can apply online for connection now. And all water meters of Dhaka WASA will be automated."

The study was carried out using samples collected between April last year and March of this year from residential, commercial, industrial and slum areas under 10 WASA zones.

“Supplied water is drinkable in many countries of the world. The water can even be directly consumed in many Asian countries. But we cannot think of doing it in Bangladesh,” TIB Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman said while publishing the findings of the study.