Tangail Correspondent:

Tangail municipality does not have adequate water supply lines compared to the demand of its customers, leaving a large number of residents deprived of civic amenities.

The municipality currently has three elevated reservoirs and four treatment plants. Of these, a high reservoir and two treatment plants are in the College Para area, a high reservoir in the Bagan Bari area, a high reservoir and a treatment plant in the Sabalia area, and another treatment plant in the Kagmari area. There is also a water tank adjacent to the Zila Sadar field.

Out of the municipality’s 18 wards, wards 2, 4, 8, 9 and 10 have no water supply lines. Partial areas of wards 1, 3, 5, 7, 12, 15 and 17 are covered, while wards 6, 11, 13, 14, 16 and 18 have supply lines but with very low water pressure.

According to AHM Jahangir Alam Khan, assistant engineer of the concerned water supply department, the number of registered customer connections is 8,176, but only 4,500 are operational. The monthly bill is Tk 250 for a 0.5-inch diameter connection, Tk 600 for 0.75-inch, Tk 1,600 for 1-inch, Tk 3,600 for 1.5-inch and Tk 7,200 for 2-inch connections, he said.

The water supply centre has 17 permanent employees and 33 daily-basis workers. A demand and collection report for June shows that the daily demand for water is 25 million litres, while the daily supply stands at 9.3 million litres, leaving a shortage of 15.7 million litres.

“To supply water according to demand, high reservoirs and treatment plants will have to be increased,” he said.

Residents complain that the crisis has left them in severe difficulty.

Raham Ali of West Akur Takur Para in Ward 3 said he has had no water from his supply line for over a year, yet bills continue to arrive.

Md Rubel Miah of Purba Adalat Para said water does not flow properly, and what little comes is dirty and smelly, forcing him to shut off the connection.

Raihan Miah of Akur Takur Para said installing deep tube wells is too expensive for most families. “We are interested in taking supply water as the water from deep tube wells is purified in the high reservoir of the municipality and then supplied, but there is not enough supply from the municipality,” he said.

Contacted, Municipality Administrator Md Shihab Raihan said, “After taking charge here, I realised that despite the demand for water in various areas, there is no water supply system from the municipality.”

“To this end, I have contacted the higher authorities of the government and the Inclusive Sanitation Project. A project will start by the end of this year. It will build 20 kilometres of water pipelines in Tangail town and four more water treatment plants. I hope that when this project is fully implemented, the town residents will no longer have this water problem,” he added.