Wasa & water
Kamol's write-up on WASA water (Sept:26) along with the two vivid pictures depicting the horrifying quality of Wasa water is really beyond words. What is Wasa supplying; and getting paid for it too! Has the CTG, while catching all other wrongdoers, allowed Wasa to indiscriminately pollute the water as well as spread diseases to all its customers and get away with it? It is a sad story again of poor governance; more so where it is
needed most!
The statement of MODS Zone 6, is only partially true. I keep my underground tank regularly cleaned at three or four months intervals. Add alum twice weekly; yet the amount of slime that piles up is unbelievable. This is the WASA water quality in Gulshan residential area with no slums or dirty areas all over. The idea of leakage of water is a bit off logic, With the Wasa water line at some positive pressure (gauge); and the surrounding
area at practically zero pressure (gauge): how can mud and slime go into Wasa water?
This defies logic and commonsense! The real reason most likely is damage of Wasa's deep well filters, and the resulting accumulation of slime and mud in Wasa's overhead tanks and pipelines. Are Wasa's tube-wells cleaned periodically? Are the wells drawn out and filter nets renewed at regular intervals? These do get damaged with the net outer surface chocked and the negative suction pressure inside the net wall when pumps are running.
This is a fact of life, and wells need regular backwash and filter repair after lifting the well casing. One wonders if this is done strictly by Wasa!
When I was working with a food processing industry (private sector) we did this regularly, and the water quality off the pump delivery and the overhead tank outlet was analysed on daily basis. This was important as random samples of our products both by us and the overseas makers (whose process was used in manufacture) for hygiene and biological purity! Why does not Wasa adopt this method and have the same process done by say
ICDDR,B or BUET for which they may charge may be around taka six to ten lakh annually. The fund can easily come from removing some of the idle overhead manpower at the higher level in Wasa. One wonders if this will ever be done! Who cares if a large number of our less fortunate citizens suffer from cholera and gastro intestinal diseases for which public hospitals are kept full! We save money to disregard quality of water by Wasa and pay probably a lot more in health facilities to cure diseases coming from poor quality Wasa water!
A classical case of robbing Peter to pay Paul!
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. 
Related News
NHRC response to The Daily Star editorial
25 April 2024, 05:00 AM
Letters to the Editor
Destruction of Hargazi Canal
24 April 2024, 08:18 AM
Letters to the Editor
Trapped in a never-ending scroll?
31 December 2023, 13:37 PM
Letters to the Editor
When will the government learn from past dengue outbreaks?
22 August 2023, 03:00 AM
Letters to the Editor
Install fire-escape facilities in every building
17 August 2023, 20:03 PM
Letters to the Editor
Comments