MD Taqsem reports WASA supplies filthy water to 59 areas in Dhaka

Dhaka WASA Managing Director Taqsem A Khan, who claimed last month water supplied by the utility is perfectly drinkable, has signed a report that says it supplies dirty water to 59 areas in the capital.

The agency received complaints over quality of water in these areas under 10 of its MODS Zones in past three months, according to the report submitted to the local government ministry on May 13 and presented to the High Court on Thursday.

The areas range from Jatrabarhi in the south to Uttara in the north and include Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Dhanmondi, Mohakhali, and Tejgaon.

A local government ministry, which had been formed following High Court orders last year to test the piped WASA water, told the court that it would take over Tk 7.5 million to test 355 samples from these areas in three laboratories for harmful bacteria or virus, and physical and chemical analysis.

The High Court on Nov 6 last year issued a set of rules asking why the WASA's failure in supplying safe drinking water will not be declared illegal and the authorities will not be ordered to take measures to supply safe water.

A World Bank report on water supply, sanitation, hygiene and poverty in Bangladesh was attached to the writ petition, following which the court issued the rules.

Tanveer Ahmed, the lawyer for the petitioner, said on Thursday, “The report signed by WASA MD Taqsem A Khan states that water in 59 areas under its 10 zones are most polluted. The report refers to complaints filed by 292 subscribers in past three months.”

The High Court asked Dhaka University microbiology department head Sabita Rezwana Ahmed, a member of the committee formed by the ministry, on May 21 to get expert view on whether there is any way to reduce the cost of the tests, according to Tanveer.

File Photo: Dhaka WASA Managing Director Taqsem A Khan speaking at a roundtable organised by Unilever and UNDP at a Dhaka hotel on Nov 29, 2018 on the Sustainable Development Goal on water and sanitation. Photo: Abdullah Al Momin

The issue came to the fore recently after Transparency International, Bangladesh or TIB on Apr 17 released a report saying about 91 percent of households in Dhaka burn 3.32 billion of gas annually to boil water before drinking.

“Dhaka WASA’s water is 100 percent drinkable in World Health Organization standard,” Taqsem said three days later in reaction to the TIB report.

As his comments drew huge criticism, protesters brought water supplied by WASA and demanded that Taqsem drink it.

The WASA MD, however, refused to drink the water blaming unclean water tanks for the filth.

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