The availability of pure drinking water has decreased in some parts of our country. In a bid to safeguard safe water in hilly and coastal areas, government has planned to conserve rainwater.
According to a report published in this daily on Saturday, the Ministry of Water Resources (MOWR) will start work on two separate projects worth Tk 46.51 crore and Tk 3.56 crore respectively for digging ponds and dighis to conserve rainwater in coastal and hilly areas of Khulna, Barisal, and Chittagong divisions. These projects will play a major role in groundwater refill, supply of potable water in disasters, reduction of salinity of water, development of agriculture, fisheries and forestry.
The projects will improve access
to, and quality of, sustainable
water supply services
This initiative of the government aims to conserve rainwater by digging ponds and dighis on government land and maintaining it. Water will be delivered to the locality through connection from these reservoirs.
The key advantages of these projects will be sustainable water supply to a growing population in hilly and coastal areas, this includes improved accessibility and reliability of water supply, as well as amplified quantities of water and enhanced water quality. Other indirect benefits which will arise are the employment of skilled and semi-skilled workers in those regions during the construction works.
The projects will also support in forming community-based organisations, with the help from government organisations, to make them eligible for legal pure water connections. Households in low-income communities, including those which are headed by women, will then have access to pure water supply either through legalization or new connections. All in all, the projects will improve access to, and quality of, sustainable water supply services in those areas. Also, investments in these types of projects will help strengthen the water supply system of our country as a whole.