In the last fiscal year, Chittagong WASA reported a 30% water wastage, resulting in a revenue loss of over 100 crore taka. Over the past decade, the system loss has doubled, with the rate in the 2013-14 fiscal year being 15.24%.
According to Chittagong WASA’s annual report, the authority produced 176,511 million liters of water in 2023-24, but lost 52,962 million liters in revenue due to non-revenue water (NRW). This NRW refers to water that is produced but does not generate revenue, due to reasons such as leakage, illegal connections, or meter faults.
In other words, with an average tariff of 19.37 taka per thousand liters, the authority lost over 100 crore taka in potential revenue.
Chittagong WASA has the highest system loss among the four state-run water supply agencies. According to data from the relevant authorities, Rajshahi and Khulna WASA had system losses of 17.5% and 29%, respectively, in 2023-24. Dhaka WASA reported a system loss of 20% in the 2021-22 fiscal year.
Despite spending 6,336 crore taka on network expansion and pipeline replacement, water wastage at Chittagong WASA continues to increase year after year.
Officials attribute significant revenue loss to pipeline leakage, illegal connections, and metering errors. Consumer and water resource experts blame some corrupt WASA staff for manipulating the metering system to steal water.
Due to wastage, many of the 89,508 customers of Chittagong WASA are experiencing a severe shortage of water. Habib Ullah, a resident of the Cement Crossing area of the port city, says, “I get water once a week, but still have to pay a monthly bill of about 600 taka under the minimum billing system.”
Faruk Hossain, a resident of the Patenga Makbul Ahmed Society area, mentions that people in his area get water 8-10 times a month but are charged for 30 units of water under the average billing system, even though they only receive 8-12 units.
Sajjad Hossain, a revenue officer at Chittagong WASA, acknowledged these complaints, confirming that many customers are billed for more water than they actually use.
Consumer rights activist SM Nazir Hossain stated that due to WASA’s incompetence, consumers are forced to pay extra, putting a financial burden on them.
Nazir, Vice President of the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB), said, “The impact of system loss falls directly on consumers. If this loss is reduced, WASA will generate more revenue without the need to increase prices.”
He also accused some corrupt WASA officials of manipulating the meters to steal water. He warned that unless strict actions are taken against the culprits, system loss will continue.
Chittagong WASA’s chief engineer, Maksud Alam, admitted that metering errors are the primary method of water theft. He said, “All water supply authorities in the country face system loss, but we are working to bring it down to a reasonable level.” He also stated that the internationally recognized NRW standard is 15%.
Failure to Reduce Water Wastage Despite New Pipelines
To reduce water wastage, Chittagong WASA replaced approximately 45 kilometers of old pipelines under the Karnaphuli Water Supply Project (Phase 1) at a cost of 1,715 crore taka, funded by a 919 crore taka loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
In addition, under the World Bank-funded Chittagong Water Supply Improvement and Sanitation Project, which cost 1,539 crore taka, 150 kilometers of old pipelines were replaced.
A further 700 kilometers of pipeline replacement was carried out under Phase 2 of the Karnaphuli Water Supply Project, costing 3,082 crore taka, with 2,451 crore taka funded by JICA.
However, despite these development projects, pipeline leakages still cause an annual wastage of at least 900 million liters of water, valued at 25 crore taka.
When asked why wastage is increasing despite such large-scale development, Maksud said, “5% of system loss is due to pipeline leakage, while the remaining 25% is due to other issues that need to be addressed.”
Muhammad Rashidul Hasan, Head of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (CUET), attributed the significant water wastage to poor planning. “Chittagong WASA has installed new pipelines without proper planning, which has led to further leakages.”
Currently, Chittagong WASA supplies about 45 crore liters of water daily through a 1,300-kilometer pipeline network. However, 35-40% of the port city’s area still remains outside the service network.
Source: The Daily Star
