City Desk :
Enforcement of policies is the key to combat water pollution for ensuring safe drinking water in Bangladesh, an official of the United States (US) said here today on the eve of the World Water Day.
“There can be gaps between policies and enforcement, but the question is how big the gap is as it will determine the quality of the water,” he said at a debriefing session in the capital, reports BSS.
The official said that policies alone are not enough to ensure safe drinking water to people, the role of media and public awareness are also important.
He showed an example that how lives were brought back in the dead rivers in the United States through proper policy and implementation.
Asked whether the US government has any plan to provide assistance to revitalize heavy polluted Buriganga river, he said that no plan is yet on the card from the US side regarding this.
The official said that United States Agency for international development (USAID) has been working in Bangladesh through various projects to ensure safe water for the people of Bangladesh for quite a long time while Washington is committed to work in the future in this field.
As environment forest and climate change minister Saber Hossain Chowdhury asked for US assistance in monitoring wet land, forest and river contamination in Bangladesh, he said Washington is actively considering these.
“We (the US) believe, we have capabilities to do such kind of programmes on how to manage water in Bangladesh,” he said.
The US government has taken up a project titled “US Global Water Strategy-2022-2027” through which 22 million people will get safe drinking water and the same amount of people will access safe sanitation across the world.
“Bangladesh will also be benefited immensely from this strategy,” said the official.
Bangladesh’s water strategy will also benefit from the US’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Sea Level Rise Viewer, he mentioned.
He said, the USAID is focusing on giving importance to rainwater harvesting to reduce stress on excessive use of groundwater in Bangladesh.