Barishal City Corporation needs Tk7crore to restart two water treatment plants which are in ruins after a decade of negligence. Many equipment of the two plants at Beltala and Dopdopia have been stolen and unusable, recent TIMES field visit reveal.
The plants were constructed by the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) and inaugurated in February 2018 to reduce dependency on groundwater.
But the systems operated for only eight months before becoming non-functional.
Barishal’s daily demand for drinking water stands at about 7.2 crore litres a day, but the city’s 38 underground pumps can supply around 3.2 crore litres. The reactivation of the surface-water plants is expected to ease the pressure on underground sources significantly.
“We have been supplying water to 36,000 consumers using 38 pumps that draw from underground aquifers,” said BCC Executive Engineer for the Water Section Md Omar Faruk.
“Once the plants are operational, pressure on groundwater will reduce by about 50 percent. Since the treated water will go through chemical purification, it will also help control waterborne skin diseases and protect the water’s mineral stability.”
BCC’s Chief Health Officer Khondker Manjurul Imam said the plants would play a key role in addressing public health concerns.
“Waterborne skin infections are common in Barishal. With these treatment plants, pathogens will be killed through chemical processing, producing fully purified water that can help eliminate such diseases,” he said.
Workers were found at the site who started reinstallation process. Many admitted that the plants had been left derelict for 10 years, during which vital components including motor panels, cables, pumps, filtration units, and angle flocculators were stolen or corroded beyond repair. New generators and transformers are now being installed.
“Almost the entire system had failed,” said one worker. “Everything from cables to devices was looted. Still, we are trying to restore it. Water supply may resume by the end of next month, with full repairs completed by December.”
Despite the massive losses, the city corporation has invited new tenders worth Tk 7 crore to restart the plants. Officials said the initiative is essential to protect Barishal’s depleting groundwater, which is dropping by about one centimetre each year.
“We are determined to bring these plants back online soon to ensure safe water for city residents,” said BCC Chief Executive Officer Md Rezaul Bari.
“The DPHE-built plants cost Tk 56 crore, but when they were handed over, only 35–40 lakh litres of water were being produced daily instead of the projected 1.6 crore litres. That’s why we initially refused to take them over. But given the alarming fall in groundwater levels, we are now repairing and reactivating them.”
However, residents and civic groups have called for an Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) investigation into the original project’s expenditure, alleging that large-scale irregularities may have led to the waste of Tk 56 crore in public funds.
