Editorial
75 million people at risk!
The World Bank unveiled a report titled “Promising Progress: A Diagnostic of Water Supply, Sanitation, Hygiene, and Poverty in Bangladesh” on October 11. It portrays a dismal picture of water quality in the country. Seventy-five million Bangladeshis (nearly half the population) are drinking contaminated water where there is presence of arsenic and E-coli bacteria, depending on the region. Forty-one percent of water supplied has bacteria at source and 13 percent water contains arsenic. As the report points out, “E-coli bacteria was present in 80 percent of private piped-water taps sampled across the country, a similar rate to water retrieved from ponds.”
Needless to say, the comments are less than salutary and we can only imagine the impact of the contamination on people's health. There are certain things that are beyond our control like climate change which is increasing both the frequency and intensity of natural disasters that play havoc with water and sanitation services. We need to move away from dependence on tube wells to piped water which can be monitored and treated. Nearly 95 percent of the rural populace and 70 percent of urban residents depend on tube wells where it is very difficult to monitor water quality. With continued dependence on groundwater comes the challenge of depleting water tables that may be causing arsenic contamination of water supply.
We need to move to piped water supply which will require a major overhaul of existing piped water networks, especially in urban areas. The problem is that illegal connections and frequent pipe breaks also result in contaminated water when sewerage drain water mixes with piped water supply. It is up to policymakers to prioritise the repair and maintenance of piped water systems if we wish to improve on the nutritional disadvantages of early childhood which are linked to poor water quality and sanitation.
- Courtesy: The Daily Star /Oct 14, 2018
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