Dhaka water supply falls by 500m litres thanks to power cuts

Dhaka, June 8 -- Dhaka WASA has said the frequent power cuts have slashed water production by 400-500 million litres, adding to citizens' woes amid sweltering heat.

Taqsem A Khan, managing director of Dhaka WASA, apologised for the inconvenience and demanded that power authorities deliver an uninterrupted electricity supply to the WASA pumps, reports bdnews24.com.

After the Payra Power Plant completely suspended operations earlier this week, Bangladesh has once again been hit by crippling power outages. That led to an acute shortage of water supply for the people in different areas of the capital.

Taqsem said Dhaka needs 2.85 billion litres to 2.95 billion litres of water daily, but production dwindled to 2.4 billion litres due to the power cuts.

"We can't run the pumps when there's no power. So people in some areas of Dhaka are not getting water. We are constantly in talks with the Power Division. We've asked them to set up a dual connection for WASA pumps," he said.

Taqsem said the extreme heat sent demand for water soaring but a lot of water was also being wasted.

"We're facing two different issues. Number one, production has fallen. On the other hand, the water is hot when people turn it on and so many wait for a long time for cool water to flow through. That is wasting a lot of water."

"It rained a bit today. The Met Office said rainfall will increase after June 15 and the problems will gradually disappear." Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from The Financial Express. For any query with respect to this article or any other content requirement, please contact Editor at contentservices@htlive.com