The government's support to supply pure drinking water in the southern coastal areas of the country was continuing at a snail's pace, causing an inhuman living condition and risks of health hazards.
The condition in the upazilas like Mongla, Shoronkhola, Kachua, Rampal, Morelganj, Shyamnagar, Dohata, Munshiganj of Khulna, Satkhira and Bagerhat remained critical for years.
Talking to the local people, development workers and government officials, it was learnt that the main sources of drinking water in the upazilas were ponds and canals. About 95 per cent people of the areas depend on the ponds as also buying water in containers from the suppliers.
Due to the high intensity of salinity, tube-well water has become unsuitable for drinking. At present, the water of only a few tube-wells is suitable for drinking.
The entire coastal area is very poorly developed because of geological condition, making installation of deep and shallow tube-wells difficult.
On the other hand, most of the hand tube-wells operate at a very shallow depth, pumping out water with high salt content.
As a result, majority of the inhabitants depend on ponds and canals to collect water for drinking and similar other purposes, which often make them vulnerable to diseases due to use of contaminated water as well as poor hygienic and sanitation practices.
The fresh water crisis also increases the workload of women as they, sometimes along with their infant children, have to walk long distances for collecting drinking water that causes losing their productive working time.
Mr Shamim, executive engineer of the department of public health and engineering at Bagerhat, told the FE that they have partially solved the water crisis in the municipality areas by setting up surface water treatment plants. But they could not do it at an expected level in the rural areas.
He said that primarily they used to install Pond Sand Filters (PSFs), but people started gathering saline water for shrimp cultivation in those ponds. There are 324 PSFs in seven unions of Mongla. But 100 of those are dysfunctional. On an average, 15 people are benefited from one PSF.  
"Now we are focusing more on Rain Water Harvesting Plants (RWHPs). We have set up around 600 RWHPs over the last six years," he added.
On an average, 18 people can be benefitted from one RWHP. The cost of one RWHP is around Tk 40,000.
Besides, the government was planning to set up river osmosis (RO) plants. In 2014, two ROs have been constructed on test basis in one union of Mongla.
Mr Shamim suggested that the household level allocation for setting up RWHP and RO should be increased to address the safe drinking water crisis in the coastal areas.
Seeking anonymity, one NGO executive working in Mongla Upazila said that the total population of Mongla upazila is 1,37,947. A total of 60 RWHPs (15 in each union) will be established in 4 unions by 2018.
He said 30 RWHPs have been established in the first year and 30 will be set up in the second year. The sites were selected giving priority on the areas where the scarcity of safe drinking water is higher and women have to go a long way (3-5 km) for collecting water.
Four families (about 18 people) are getting service from one RWHP having a capacity of 10,000 litres. These families are responsible for maintenance. The beneficiaries had contributed 20 per cent of the total expenditure of the RWHPs, he added.
Another NGO executive working in Morelganj said 100 per cent of the 2,94, 576 people of the area face water crisis.
The number of PSFs in the six unions of Morelganj upazila is 308, but only 98 ones are functional. The number of tube-wells in the upazila is 423 - only 279 are functional.
There is no budget allocation for water and sanitation in two unions of Morelganj.
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Source: The Financial Express