The Daily Star June 11, 2002 

       

      29m in country have no access to safe drinking water



      Staff Correspondent


      About 29 million people in Bangladesh presently do not have access to safe 
      drinking water as they drink water with arsenic in excess of the 
      permissible level. A workshop in the city yesterday revealed this.
      The discovery of widespread arsenic contamination in groundwater has 
      dwarfed the commendable success that Bangladesh has achieved in the water 
      supply sector. It has lowered the safe drinking water coverage to only 74 
      per cent from 95 per cent of the population.
      However, people should not get terrified since deep tube-wells are least 
      likely to be affected by arsenic in contrast to the shallow ones, said 
      S.M.A. Muslim, chief engineer of the Department of Public Health and 
      Engineering.
      "We are even planning to seek technological assistance from Japan to 
      ensure that deep level of underground water does not get affected by the 
      arsenic- contaminated water of shallow level," he added.
      The workshop was arranged by the Bangladesh chapter of an international 
      organisation styled Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council 
      (WSSCC) to present its position paper.
      The position paper prepared by members of the WSSCC Bangladesh aims to 
      draw the government and other organisations into ensuring safe water 
      supply and proper sanitation to the poor. Shafiul Azam Ahmed, water and 
      sanitation specialist of the World Bank, presented the paper.
      The paper focused on sanitation coverage and stated that only about 40 per 
      cent households in the country have any kinds of sanitary latrines. The 
      vast majority of the population still practice open defecation. 
      This causes to spread germs and pollute water leading to mortality due to 
      water-borne diseases. The paper suggested launching a campaign on 
      sanitation and hygiene promotion to improve the situation.
      The participants observed that the environment is confronting the negative 
      effects caused by these problems in the water supply and sanitation 
      sector. 
      The workshop was presided by Dr Dibalok Singha, national coordinator, 
      WSSCC- Bangladesh. Saidur Rahman, joint secretary of local government 
      ministry, Rokeya Ahmed from Water Aid, and representatives from UNICEF, 
      CUP, CARE Bangladesh and Proshika, among others, were present. 
      The workshop was supported by the Department of Public Health and 
      Engineering and Danish International Development Agency.