Despite Bangladesh’s significant strides in providing access to safe water, only 34.6% (UNICEF) of the population has access to safe drinking water, a figure that urgently demands our attention. On top of that, salinity poses a serious environmental risk to freshwater ecosystems in the coastal region of Bangladesh.
The scarcity of potable water is becoming increasingly acute due to climate change, which combines rising sea levels, decreasing groundwater levels, altered upstream river discharge, and more frequent and intense cyclones and tidal surges.
Drinkable water sources are often contaminated during frequent disasters such as floods, cyclones, and tidal surges, which deposit large volumes of saline water and make safe drinking water a scarce commodity in the southern coastal belt, a key working area of the PPEPP-EU project.
As freshwater sources like ponds and tube wells are diminishing due to increased salinity, people have no choice but to drink and use contaminated water. This has led to a surge in health hazards, including diarrhoea, jaundice, skin diseases, and sores, posing a serious threat to the well-being of the population.
PPEPP-EU is actively addressing this dire potable water crisis in the coastal region. The project ensures access to safe drinking water for its members and the local community by setting up water treatment plants in communities, distributing water tanks for rainwater harvesting at the household level, and supplying potable water to vulnerable households after natural disasters.
Many communities, mostly extremely poor people residing in the coastal belt, cannot afford to buy drinking water at a high cost. Women and children are often forced to walk miles to fetch water from ponds or other local sources. PPEPP-EU has established 17 Reverse Osmosis (RO) plants in Khulna and Satkhira to desalinate and purify water to address their water crisis.
These plants collect water from open sources instead of extracting fast-depleting groundwater. Each plant produces 8,000 litres of water per day and supply water to 300 households. Project participants and other community members can collect water for a minimum service charge, BDT 0.50 per litre, which is subsequently used for the maintenance of the plants.
Furthermore, the project distributes rainwater harvesting tanks to ensure safe drinking water and promote a healthy life and sustainable growth for these households. Members harvest rainwater in these tanks during monsoon, and use this water for drinking and cooking for up to six months in the dry season.
The project has so far distributed nearly 2,170 rainwater harvesting tanks among project participants living in the most salinity-prone areas in the coastal belt.
In the aftermath of Super Cyclone Amphan in May 2020, the project eased the water crisis in Satkhira, the worst affected district, by providing some 2,800 families with nearly 10 lakh litres of potable water in Gabura and Anulia unions. Under the initiative, each household received 16-18 litres of water daily until the situation improved.
“At that time (after Amphan), we had to bring drinking water from far away villages. Sometimes we had to drink contaminated pond water, and my children and family members suffered from chronic stomach problems. But we are grateful to PPEPP-EU for distributing free drinking water that saved our lives,” said Amirun Nessa from Satkhira’s Shyamnagar upazila who received potable water after the cyclone followed by a rainwater harvesting tank.