Water worries in Pabna
Tap water supplied by municipality too risky for consumption
The lone water treatment plant of Pabna municipality that went out of order five years ago remains shut for lack of funds, below, the pipes that supply water from Poilanpur through dirts and sludge itself tell the tale of risks and contamination.Photo: STAR
Water supplied by the Pabna municipality has been found 'highly contaminated by faecal coliform', exposing nearly 1.5 lakh residents to serious health risks. Although the municipality officials brushed aside the findings of the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE), sources in the municipality said the dilapidated network of underground water pipes and lack of water treatment were definitely causing the contaminating the pipe water. The Civil Surgeon's office in Pabna reported outbreaks of diarrhea affecting over four thousand within six months between January 1 and June 30. More than half of the total patients are residents of Pabna municipality area, hospital sources said. Complaints from the local people and a rise in the number of diarrhea patients in the local hospitals prompted the DPHE to conduct bacteriological analysis on samples of supply water in the municipality area. “The DPHE collected six samples of supply water in sterile laboratory jars from key points of the municipality in April and June this year,” said Monzur Morshed, the upazila officer of the DPHE. “DPHE laboratory in Rajshahi examined the samples and found that five samples tested positive for high count of coliform bacteria,” Morshed said adding that presence of high count Iron was also detected in the samples. The samples were collected from Library Bazar, Radhanagar, Nurpur, BSCIC area, Abdul Hamid and Hospital Roads of ward no 9 under Pabna municipality area. Md. Zamanur Rahman, executive engineer of DPHE, Pabna told this correspondent that although the iron count in the water was not so serious but faecal coliform poses serious threat to human health. “It is clear that the extracted underground water is free from contamination but once the water gets into the broken pipes it quickly gets contaminated and I suspect that 80 percent of the volume of supply water is contaminated in Pabna municipality area,” Rahman said. Md. Tobibur Rahman, executive engineer of Pabna municipality brushed aside the DPHE test reports and said Pabna supply water is free from contamination. “The municipality authorities strictly maintain quality and the contamination found by DPHE tests might have come from contaminated laboratory jars in which the samples were collected,” Tobibur said. DPHE officials, however, maintained that all laboratory jars used for collecting samples were thoroughly sterilised prior to collecting samples. Seventy-eight lakh litres of water is pumped through a network of 112 kilometre long pipelines. The actual requirement of the municipality stands at 1.45 lakh litres, Md. Ataur Rahman, assistant engineer of Pabna municipality, also the head of the water section told this correspondent. Sources said that lack of maintenance of the pipelines is causing the contamination. At many places water pipes are broken and getting linked with sewerage lines. Consumers at different localities complained of bad odor in the pipe water. DPHE and district health department sources claimed that lack of proper water treatment and poor maintenance of pipelines makes supply water risky. Ironically, a water treatment plant built at a cost of Tk 68 lakh in 2002 by the Pabna municipality authorities now remains 'abandoned' for five years . “A pump at the treatment plant broke down. It could not be repaired for lack of funds” Ataur Rahman said. “Water treatment plant is too costly for us to build it immediately and solve the problem. We are now giving priority to ensure potable water for all. Then we will think about the treatment plants.” Tobibur Rahman, the engineer said, adding that the pipeline maintenance work was continuing. District health department officials warned that cases of patients with diarrhea are very high due to bad water. In 2011 alone, 4,801 people were admitted to the diarrhea ward at Pabna Medical College Hospital (PMCH). Dr. Tahsina Begum, Civil Surgeon of Pabna termed the situation alarming for public health. “We found that residents of the municipality suffer most in cases of diarrhea outbreaks and other water borne diseases. And it is mainly due to continuous exposure to contaminated water,” Dr. Tahsina said. “We are now advising people to boil water before consumption,” she added.
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