Port city looks at uninterrupted water supply

The port city is going to witness an uninterrupted water supply to its residents as a new Water Treatment Plant with a daily production capacity of 14 crore litres has started working for the purpose.

According to the officials of the Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa), the newly functioning Sheikh Hasina Water Treatment Plant under the second Wasa project will be able to meet the consumption needs of the city residents.

Earlier, Wasa could supply a maximum of 41 crore litres of water to its consumers. So, the daily water deficit was 9 crore liters. With the launch of the new plant, 14 crore more litres of water will be added to the existing capacity of Wasa.

Confirming the matter, the project director and Wasa Chief Engineer Maksud Alam said, "Water supply has started through elevated tanks in Halishahar of the city since Tuesday morning."

Considering the condition of the pipeline, a 30-lakh litre of water is being supplied initially which will later be increased gradually.

The trial run of the project began from the first week of February this year.

Over the past few weeks, the water had been taken to Nasirabad reservoir and Halishahar elevated tank to make it disinfected.

The engineer said the water of the project is being supplied to the city from Tuesday morning after carrying out all tests.

Sheikh Hasina Water Treatment Plant Project-2 is the largest project of Chattogram Wasa in its 56 years of establishment.

The total cost of the project is estimated at Tk4,491.15 crore with the joint funding from Jica of Japan, Bangladesh government and Chattogram Wasa.

Of the amount, Jica provided Tk3,623.28 crore, Bangladesh government Tk844.80 crore and Chattogram Wasa Tk23.07 crore.

Work on the second project began in 2016 with the aim of supplying clean water to the port city after collecting it from Karnafuli river in Saraf vata area under Rangunia upazila.

The project has been implemented under three packages.

Under Package-1, intake and treatment plants were constructed while reservoirs at Nasirabad and elevated tanks at Halishahar were built. Under Package-2, transmission and pipelines for water conveyance were constructed.

Under Package-3, new pipelines are being laid to replace the old ones in the city.

It was reported that the project was initially scheduled to be launched in June 2020, but got delayed due to non-attendance of foreign experts and workers due to corona.

Later, when they joined the work, the work gained momentum. The trial run of the project started from the first week of February.

Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Minister Tajul Islam and Secretary Helaluddin Ahmed visited the project area on 27 February.

At this time, they inspected the latest status of the project and gave their decision to start supplying water to the city dwellers from Tuesday.

Chattogram Wasa Managing Director Engineer AKM Fazlullah said: "Sheikh Hasina Water Treatment Plant is a great gift of the Prime Minister for the port city people on the birth centenary of Bangabandhu."

"With the launch of this project, we hope that there will be no more water crisis in the city."

At least until 2030, there is no need to worry about water in the city, he said, adding that in terms of water supply, Wasa services will be similar to the developed cities of the world.

Sources said all deep tube wells will be closed which will increase the underground water level. As a result, the fertility of land will also boost.