By Md Aynal Haque
 
RAJSHAHI, April 27, 2024 (BSS) - Maity Saren, 49, wife of Dukhu Saren of Rahi village under Godagri upazila in the district, is now happy with the safe drinking water supply facilities.
 
"We had to face multifarious problems relating to fetching water for our four-member family," said Maity while talking to BSS on Saturday, adding that the problem has now been solved.
 
Shyamoly Hasda, 42, wife of Sukhen Saren, also expressed her happiness over the water supply system. She is now getting the requisite water for her seven-member family.
 
Like them, around 17 lakh villagers are getting drinking water through pipeline-based water supply installations, including 1,579 deep tube-wells, in the water-stressed Barind area for the last couple of years.
 
The villagers located in the drought-prone areas are getting arsenic-free safe drinking water from 3.2 lakh household connections through 79,310 tap-points round the year directly at present.
 
Barind Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA), the ever-largest irrigation providing state-level entity, has brought the households under drinking water supply coverage through implementing a project titled "Drinking Piped Water Supply from Irrigation Deep Tube-wells" in 25 upazilas of Rajshahi, Naogaon and Chapainawabganj districts.
 
Some 1,579 water supply installations including an equal number of overhead tanks, 4,190-kilometer distribution line and other necessary systems were constructed in four consecutive phases of the project since last 1995.
 
BMDA Executive Director Engineer Abdur Rashid told BSS that the initiative was taken to reduce the acute crisis of drinking water in the drought-prone Barind area, especially during the dry season.
 
In addition to extension of the water supply installations he said necessary chemicals and equipment of the water testing laboratory were arranged to make the water free from arsenic contamination and other harmful chemicals.
 
The main objective of the scheme was to supply round-the-year potable water to every person in the targeted area.
 
Engineer Rashid said there is a shortage of drinking water in the vast Barind tract during the dry season and the problem has become acute for the last couple of years.
 
The existing shallow water technologies have become ineffective currently and demand for deep tube wells has increased in the area due to rapid declining of groundwater table along with arsenic contamination in shallow aquifers in some areas of the country.
 
But, he said, the cost of the deep tube-well is very high and especially unaffordable for the poor community. In this situation, our public health is in a threatened condition due to lack of proper sanitation facilities and inadequate hygiene practice.
 
Apart from this, the farmers are gradually becoming vulnerable due to excessive use of groundwater through irrigation and the existing adverse impact of climate change depletes groundwater table, which makes the hand-driven tube-wells inoperative.
 
So, Piped based water supply is contributing a lot towards maintaining round-the-year drinking water supply to the remote villages, where the nearby irrigation deep tube-wells are functioning.
 
Like the urban people, he said the supply system has become more dependable and helps eradicate diseases caused due to lack of safe drinking water.
 
Prof Redwanur Rahman of Institute of Environmental Sciences in Rajshahi University said the villagers cannot extract underground water through tube-wells due to abnormal lowering of underground water during dry season.
 
Apart from this, the changed climatic condition has been posing a serious threat to the overall public health in the vast Barind tract.
 
Coordinated efforts of different government and non-government organisations are essential to stem the crises, Rahman said.
 
Ataur Rahman, Chairman of Badhair Union Parishad under Tanore upazila, said there is a shortage of drinking water in the region during dry season and the problem has become acute for the last couple of years.
 
But, pipe-based water supply ensures safe drinking water for locals, he said.