65% of People in Bangladesh Drink Unsafe Water

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65% of People in Bangladesh Drink Unsafe Water

Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) in a recent survey revealed that almost 65.4% of the people in the country drink unsafe water. The water contains chemicals like arsenic and bacteria like E Coli . Sylhet division has the least amount of safe water

Water and public health experts expressed their concern over the the large number of people drinking unsafe water. They said that this information had questioned the previous government report that said 97% of the people has access to safe drinking water. They said the government should drop such misconceptions and take measures to ensure safe drinking water. 

BBS published the Multiple Indicator Clustered Survey (MICS) report on 5 July. UNICEF provided financial and technical support to BBS for the survey. A total of 2,37,396  people of 52,895 families were interviewed in the survey.

Abdul Malek, secretary of the local government division, in-charge of water and sanitation, said, “I am not saying the information is wrong, but it has no bearing with reality and I do not accept it."

According to the MICS report, harmful E Coli bacteria has been found in the source of water of 41% of the families.

The water which has more than one colony forming unit (CFU) of E Coli in per 100 millilitres of water is considered unsafe water.

Prof Md Ruhul Amin Mia, chairman of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) said, “E Coli is one of the bacterias found in water. We cannot say that the presence of the E Coli is the only reason behind water-borne diseases like diarrhoea. However, in the presence of E Coli, more than one CFU can cause abdominal pain.”

According to the report, the 65.5% of the water used in households has E Coli contamination. Prof Ruhul Amin Mia said, faulty water supply lines and lack of cleanliness are the main causes of E Coli contamination in water.

Though the presence of arsenic is greater in rural areas, the E Coli infection is higher in urban places. As many as 55% sources of water in urban areas and 38.2% in rural areas are infected by E Coli.

Comparing the divisions, Sylhet takes the top place with 61.9% water contaminated by E Coli.

As many as 21.4% drinking water in Sylhet and 20.7% in Dhaka are E Coli contaminated, according to the report.

Source: Bangladesh

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