Qatar Charity’s water plants bring respite to coastal people

Gulam Rabbani :
People in most of the coastal districts in Bangladesh especially the south-western districts are facing a dire crisis of potable water as freshwater aquifers are not available at suitable depths and the surface water is highly saline.
This crisis has made people’s life hard there and individuals in those areas often suffer from waterborne diseases, skin diseases, Cholera, and Diarrhea, due to this crisis. Meanwhile, government efforts are insufficient to address this problem. As a result, most of the people in this region still pass their days without purified drinking water.
Addressing the issue, Qatar Charity (QC) has long been working for providing clean drinking water for the coastal residents by digging deep tub wells and installing water treatment plants.
Recently, QC has installed 410 water treatment plants in five coastal districts in Bangladesh which benefitting more than 22,000 rural communities. The benefitted districts are Satkhira, Gopalganj, Jessore, Barguna, and Jhalakathi.
During a recent visit in Satkhira district, where QC has installed 268 water treatment plants, it was seen that local people have gathered to collect potable water from the QC’s water plant and they expressed their good feelings about getting clean water at their doorsteps while talking to us.
Papia Khatun, a resident of Indira village of Satkhira Sadar upazila, said, “The plant that Qatar Charity has installed is a big relief for us. Earlier we used to drink tube well water which was not pure.”
Rowshan Ara, a resident of Sardar Para village of Assasuni upazila of the district, said, “Earlier I had to walk long distances to collect potable water from a deep tube well. However, there were many problems with that water. Now we are getting purified water from this plant.”
Md Asaduzzaman Babu, Chairman of Satkhira Sadar upazila parishad, said “It’s a great intervention by Qatar Charity. There is a huge crisis of potable water in this district as it’s a district along the Bay of Bengal. The surface water of these areas is saline and it contains unsafe levels of iron. In this context, the locals are blessed by the QC’s initiatives and they are now drinking fresh water in place of contaminated water.”
Kaushik Roy, a government official of the Public Health Engineering Department, said, “Satkhira region is a highly saline belt. Water resources are available here. But the water of these resources is contaminated in various ways. Iron and arsenic levels are high in the water here. As a result, people here are regularly affected by water-borne diseases.”
Forwarding thanks to Qatar Charity and its benefactors, he further said, “QC is providing clean drinking water ensuring the water quality of their plants as per the World Health Organization (WHO) indication in its guidelines. The government is encouraging these projects.”
In the field of Water and Sanitation, in 2022, QC set up 1,542 deep tube wells, solar-driven water pumps, and water treatment plants in many regions of Bangladesh, especially in the coastal districts where poor people have been suffering from salty water.