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HC directives on water we drink

Authentic test of quality long overdue
16 March 2010, 18:00 PM
EDITORIAL
WITH the citizens quietly suffering intake of polluted and stinky Dhaka WASA water at great risk to their health, it remained for a human rights and environmental body called Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh to petition before the High Court for civic justice. Consequently, the HC taking cognizance of the gravity of the public interest issue has issued a couple of directives to the government for getting water supplied in certain specified areas of the city tested by appropriate authorities. Of course, it is for DWASA to supply potable water to the city dwellers but there are certain testing authorities that are supposed to periodically check on the quality of piped water. The government has been directed to get the water tested by the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution(BSTI) and Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research(BCSIR) and submit a status report before the court in two weeks. Concurrently, the government is to obtain a report from the World Health Organisation(WHO) whether the water contains trinhalomethane(THM), which is carcinogenic, in four weeks' time. We welcome the initiative of the civic rights body and especially the prompt intervention of the court with specific directives for time-bound compliance. Apart from the worry over any cancer inducing element, the totality of water supply situation in Dhaka city has always been a matter of grave concern for the risks it held for the city dwellers. But like most other civic amenities, water supply has received low priority, its enormous value to life notwithstanding. Let's not forget that not even half of the demand for water is met by DWASA. The deficit in water supply is itself a disservice which is all the more pronounced when one takes into account WASA's poor management of its existing resources. But this is due largely to lack of modernisation of both the sources of water supply and treatment of water as such. Meanwhile, the mix-up between sewer lines and water lines that take place in the monsoon in particular will have to be set right. All of this is a policy matter of high importance beyond the ambit of WASA. While the overwhelming dependence on ground water is hollowing out the subterranean with falling water table threatening land subsidence, some of the long-coveted water-treatment plants to draw surface water have yet to graduate out of the drawing board. And, whatever little surface water is drawn from the rivers is so polluted that to treat it requires a concoction of chemicals which in turn makes water odorous. Policy makers at the highest level will have to decide on a strategy to reduce dependence on ground water and proportionately increase use of surface water including harvested rain water.

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