Construction of the groundwater treatment plant of Chuadanga municipality, built at a cost of about 10 crore taka, was completed eight years ago. At its inauguration a promise was made that clean and safe water would reach every home in the municipality within just one week. That promise has still not been kept. Having lain idle for so long, the plant’s valuable machinery has deteriorated and become unusable.
Meanwhile, about 200,000 people in the municipality are still forced to use water laden with iron, dirt and a foul smell. Residents suffer every day for want of clean water.
Construction of the groundwater treatment plant at Chhagalfarm Para in the Chuadanga municipal area, under the 37 District Towns Water Supply project, was formally inaugurated on 15 December 2014. Construction began in January 2015 and was completed in December 2017.
The project could not be brought into operation even after it was handed over. An overhead water tank with a capacity of 680 cubic metres was later built in 2020 at a cost of about 1.5 crore taka, but that too was never put to use. All told, the project, costing about 10 crore taka, now lies abandoned.
At present water is supplied to customers directly through pipelines from the municipality’s 14 pump houses. Residents complain, however, that the water supplied contains excessive iron, is yellowish and foul-smelling, and is unfit for drinking and everyday use. Many families are forced to use filters, while others buy clean water from the market. More than a thousand customers have already disconnected the municipal water supply because of the poor quality of the water.
With the plant shut for so long, valuable equipment including sluice valves, motors, filters, pipes, the reserve tank, the pump gallery, the generator and the electrical transformer is deteriorating. Staff quarters and other buildings have fallen into disrepair. The surrounding area, overgrown with weeds and undergrowth, has now turned into a jungle. Residents say that unless action is taken quickly, the installation, which cost crores of taka, will become completely unusable.
According to the municipality, the treatment plant can produce 350 cubic metres of clean water an hour and about 3,500 cubic metres a day. That would meet about half the municipality’s total water demand. At present the daily demand of about 6,500 customers is around 7,500 cubic metres. There are 113 kilometres of pipeline for supplying water in the municipal area. But because the modern treatment plant is not operating, customers are deprived of that benefit.
Residents complain that the promise made at the inauguration to supply drinking water within a week has not been kept, eight years on. As a result, an investment of crores of taka in public money has been rendered ineffective, while residents have to live with the health risks of using unsafe water every day. They demand that the treatment plant be brought into operation quickly to ensure a supply of clean water, and that the reasons for the project lying idle for so long be investigated and those responsible held to account.
A resident of the municipality, the lawyer Kaiser Hossain Joarder, said drainage and unclean, unsafe water were two problems that had long become a curse for the people of Chuadanga municipality. “We have been living with the same problem year after year. A modern water treatment plant was built at a cost of crores of taka, but because it has not been brought into operation the public is getting no benefit from it. The plant must be started quickly and a supply of safe and clean water ensured.”
Another resident, Shahid Hossain, said the water that comes through the municipal pipeline is often difficult even to use, let alone drink. It contains excessive iron, dirt and a foul smell. “Such a large water treatment plant has lain shut year after year, when if it were operating we would have had the chance to get safe and clean water. This is not only my demand but the long-standing demand and expectation of the whole municipality. Our demand is that the plant be started quickly and a supply of safe water ensured.”
The sub-assistant engineer of Chuadanga municipality, Md Anisuzzaman, said the treatment plant had been shut for a long time and that running it is expensive. The amount of water this one plant would produce is not enough to meet the demand of the whole municipal area, he said. Three or four more treatment plants would be needed, or separate lines laid in certain areas. There is also a shortage of staff, he said, adding that the matter had been brought to the attention of higher authorities at various meetings.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report