Staff Correspondent

At a time when Dhaka is experiencing a sweltering heat wave, many city dwellers are grappling with an acute water crisis.

The residents of many areas of the capital city, including Banani, Kalabagan, and Badda, are informing us that they are facing a severe shortage of water in their supply lines.

They said they were not getting water from the supply line of Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Dwasa) for the last two to three days, disrupting their daily activities like cooking, washing and bathing.

Talking to the Daily Sun, Banani I block resident Rafiqul Islam said residents of his building had not gotten water since 2 May noon.

“Due to the water shortage, we cannot cook food, take baths, use washrooms. Also, the children and elderly members are passing tough times amid the scorching heat without water,” he added. When contacted, WASA Zone-5 Executive Engineer Mohammad Tawhid Elahi on Friday evening told the Daily Sun that they had nothing to do with it as they had no option to solve the problem.”

“The problem has surfaced due to the low pressure of deep tube well water. Due to the depletion of the layer of underground water, the tube well cannot produce the required quantity of water. As a result, the water cannot be distributed to some high-rise buildings,” he added.

He further said, “To solve this problem, we need to set up new tube wells but we are not getting it.”

Meanwhile, Dhaka WASA Deputy Managing Director (operation and maintenance) Engineer AKM Shahid Uddin told the Daily Sun he also got the same complaint from Badda area but the problem has no temporary solution. He said, “Consumers have to wait a little bit. Amid the heat wave, the demand for water is very high. When the hit comes down, the demand will fall and it is expected that water scarcity will not persist then. Usually, we get the same complaint every year this time.”