Ignores pilferage and system loss
Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority is considering raising the water tariff instead of taking any substantial steps to end water pilferage and reduce system loss to make itself a sustainable organisation.
The Dhaka WASA has already submitted a proposal to the government for increasing the water price by about Tk 1.5 per unit or 1,000 litres, a top official of the government agency said.
The agency ‘is entitled to increase water price by 5 per cent every year. A proposal has been made to raise it up to 10 per cent a year,’ he said.
The DWASA had increased the water price thrice in the past two years.
It has sent a proposal to the local government and rural development ministry, describing why the water tariff should be increased and how it could be restructured, WASA officials said.
DWASA managing director Taqsem A Khan, however, categorically denied having any plan to raise the tariff.
We have neither proposed for increasing the water tariff nor are we planning to do that, he told New Age on Wednesday.
Taqsem, however, said a proposal had been made for restructuring the water tariff only for the stakeholders to think about the issue, not to increase the water price right at this moment.
He said, although Dhaka had a huge natural supply of surface water from four rivers, the high degree of pollution made the process of treating the water really expensive.
If the Dhaka WASA can set up at least three water treatment plants – in Khilket, Pagla, and Sayedabad – more than 60 per cent of the city’s demand for water could be met with surface water, easing the pressure on ground water, Taqsem said.
‘So, it is high time we go for using surface water and we need about Tk 10,500 crore for installing the water treatment plants. But, who is going to give us such a huge amount of money,’ he posed.
‘The donors will not give us the fund if the DWASA is not made a sustainable organisation. And to do that, we need to restructure the water tariff,’ he argued.
Dhaka WASA deputy managing director (operations) Liakath Ali said the agency supplied water at a rate much lower than that in any other city of the subcontinent.
A unit of water costs only Tk 6.34 in Dhaka but its cost in New Delhi is Tk 25, in Chennai Tk 41.75, in Hyderabad Tk 20, in Lahore Tk 22, and in Karachi Tk 26, he said.
The DWASA currently produces around 210 crore litre of water a day against a demand for more than 220 crore litres. Eighty-seven per cent of the water comes from underground and the remaining 26.5 crore litres, or only 12.3 per cent, is surface water treated by four water treatment plants of the agency. The DWASA, however, suffers from a 31 per cent system loss.
Asked whether the WASA had taken any measures to reduce the system loss, Liakath Ali said they had taken initiatives to replace the old and leaky pipelines, the major reason for technical system loss.
The DWASA DMD said they would be satisfied if the system loss could be reduced to 20 to 25 per cent. He, however, admitted that the system loss was brought down to 10 per cent.
