A Digital database needs to be maintained for the conservation of waterbodies
This is World Water Day today. On the occasion of the day, a discussion meeting and iftar distribution program was held in front of the National Press Club in the joint initiative of Bangladesh General Citizens’ Society and Bangladesh Mobile Phone Consumers Association-BMPCA.
Former founding chairman of Safe Food Authority Mostak Hasan Mohammad Iftekhar, president of Joladahar Rakkha Andolan (Movement for preserving waterbodies) Ibnul Saeed Rana, Advocate Abu Bakar Siddique, Advocate Billal Hossain, political figures, social workers and people of various professions were present at that time.
It was presided over by Mohiuddin Ahmed, convener of the organization and president of the Bangladesh Mobile Phone Consumers Association-BMPCA.
The meeting demanded special instructions from the government to determine and protect the natural geographical location of rivers and water bodies by creating a digital database soon.
It was said on the occasion that the government should intervene strictly in river encroachment and the trade that has started with river sand. We have already noticed that a proper investigation should be done into the picture of rampant corruption that has emerged in the excavation of Brahmaputra River. All our rivers and canals need to be decontaminated.
Chairman of Jatiya Gonotantrik League Md Jalil, Green Party Chairman Raju Ahmed Khan, Jatiya Swadeshi Party Chairman Mizanur Rahman Mizu, members of the organization Mohammad Azizul, Abul Kalam Azad, Doctor Aminul Islam, Mohammad Babul, Sheikh Farid, Md Naqib Khan and others were also present in the event.
After the event, water and Iftar were distributed among the pedestrians and common citizens.
While discussing the matter, the speakers said, we are celebrating the day like other countries of the world which has been celebrated since 1993. Motto of the day is, “Water for Peace” has come true. Because like the water crisis in other countries of the world, the future water crisis in our Bangladesh is being observed right now. A family in the coastal areas of the country has to walk for about two hours to collect water. Chittagong WASA water has become salty, all the rivers around Dhaka are polluted today. Dhaka WASA collects water from the Shitalakshya river because the water is highly polluted, so the production cost of WASA has to be increased to de-pollute this water. Even though the water of Padma is not completely polluted yet, the water of that Padma will become polluted very soon. As a result, it will become difficult to meet the demand of our capital where the daily demand is about 226 crore liters of fresh water. Eventually, the water crisis will continue to increase day by day. It is said that in the year 2030, the world's water demand will be 40 percent more than the current demand. But from where this huge amount of water will come from and how to meet the demand of this water; a proper plan has not been taken yet.
The Government of Bangladesh is working towards building a developed, prosperous, smart Bangladesh by 2041 and has pledged to ensure access to clean water for all, which is one of the SDG goals. A study by the United Nations revealed that 74 percent of the water collection work is done by women. 63 percent of people face problems in getting clean water. 75% of the people of the country still depend on tube wells, in many areas water containing arsenic and, in many areas, water does not come out from the tube wells. Currently, 41 districts of the country are affected by arsenic. It is said that only 34 percent of people in the country get clean water. The people of Dhaka may be buying and consuming the water of Dhaka WASA at the same price, but if you calculate it, it will be seen that the people of the coast spend four times more than that. Due to pollution and climate change, fresh water is becoming a major crisis. Bangladesh's wetlands are disappearing day by day, especially Dhaka's wetlands are all occupied due to which the underground water level of the capital has gone down a lot.
