DWASA water contains faecal coliform: study

Faecal coliform was found in four of the five underground household reservoirs where the Dhaka Water Supply Authority supplies water through its pipelines to the residents of the capital, according to a study report.

Not only that the study detected faecal coliform in one of the five pumping stations of the Dhaka WASA.

‘All five rooftop reservoirs and the four underground reservoirs included in the study contained total coliform,’ said Mohammad Sirajul Islam, programme manager of the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development that carried out the study.

BIGD unveiled the study report on Thursday at BRAC Centre Inn at Mohakhali in presence of the local government minister Tajul Islam and Dhaka WASA managing director Taqsem A Khan.

The minister or the managing director did not comment on the findings, rather they described the challenges they overcame during the period since the present Awami League government came to power.

Faecal coliform, a facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped,  gram-negative, non-sporulating bacterium and which generally originates in the intestines of warm-blooded animals, causes many health hazards including ear infections, dysentery, typhoid fever, viral and bacterial gastroenteritis and hepatitis.

Experts say that 80 per cent of all diseases and two-thirds of the deaths in developing countries like Bangladesh are attributed to consumption of poor-quality water.

In a power-point presentation, Sirajul said that they tested 15 samples of water from five pumping stations in three points – pumping station, ground reservoir and rooftop reservoir.

Of them, faecal coliform was found in one pumping station, four ground reservoirs and four rooftop reservoirs while total coliform was found in all rooftop reservoirs, according to the study.

Earlier in October last, the World Bank in a report revealed that E. coli bacteria were present in 80 per cent of household tap-water across the country.

Later the High Court ordered for a joint study after Supreme Court lawyer Tanvir Ahmed filed a writ petition following the WB study report.

The joint study by the icddr,b, the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology and Dhaka University, conducted on a total of 34 samples, found total as well as faecal coliforms and E.coli bacteria at unacceptable levels in the eight samples of water supplied by DWASA.

Six of the 34 samples were collected from four DWASA ground water distribution zones and two from its surface water treatment plants at Saidabad-1 and Chandnighat.

The report said that the samples contained both faecal coliforms and E.coli bacteria which are pathogenic and pose immediate threat to public health.

The joint study also found heperotrophic bacteria contamination in samples during total bacterial count tests. 

On July, 7, the High Court directed the DWASA to explain in two weeks why it supplied bacteria-contaminated drinking water to consumers.

On July 24, the court would pass further orders on the issues. The DWASA prayed for four weeks to submit its explanations.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution tests found unsafe for consumption 21 of the 38 samples of drinking water marketed in the capital in jars.

Bacterial contamination was found in a majority of the samples collected from all over the capital during laboratory tests by the BSTI for three months since February 2018.

Each ml of water in the contaminated samples contained more than 1,200 coliform bacteria, above the standard set by the BSTI at 1,000 coliform.

The BRAC study interviewed 768 people in December last and found that 54 per cent of them boiled water for purifying it before drinking.

In April, Transparency International Bangladesh in a study found that 91 per cent consumers of Dhaka WASA had to boil water before drinking and that cost natural gas worth Tk 332 crore annually and nearly 62 per cent service seekers faced corruption and other irregularities while asking for services from the agency.

The Dhaka WASA is the lone government water-supplying agency committed to providing pure water to the residents of Dhaka city which residents should drink without any further purification.

After the TIB report Dhaka WASA managing director Taqsem claimed that the water that his agency supplied was directly drinkable, sparking off stern criticisms.

The BRAC report also found that the residents of posh areas like Gulshan and Banani consumed per capita 509 litres water daily while the average consumption was 310 litres in the residential areas. On the other hand, the people in slum area consumed 85 litres per person daily while Dhaka WASA estimated it to be150 litres.

Experts also expressed their concern as the Dhaka WASA collected 78 per cent water from underground while the water level was decreasing alarmingly.

Taqsem said that the dependency on underground water increased as the surface water sources diminished and got polluted.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net