DPHE provides drinking water to remote villages

The Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) solves the clean drinking water crisis in remote hilly areas of Khagrachari district through a rural water supply project.

The residents of Noymile village in the district’s Dighinala upazila have been struggling for a long time due to a lack of clean drinking water. The only source of clean drinking water in the area is a small waterfall.

However, the locals had to travel through traverse rocky hills to get there. During the dry season, the water crisis in the area takes a severe turn as the waterfall dries out.

The local administration failed to solve the water crisis by installing water pumps, as it is hard to get to the groundwater level on rocky hills. However, the DPHE constructed piped water supply schemes under the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project to provide clean drinking water to the locals.

Over 200 families living in Noymile village have benefitted from the project. Local residents urged to increase such projects to solve the water crisis in other remote hilly areas.

Kavita Tripura, a local, said it used to take her over half a day to just collect drinking water for her family from the small waterfall up the hill.

“I am grateful to the DPHE for relieving us from the misery. We can now easily get water from the pipes they installed,” she said.

Anil Tripura, another resident of the village, said he was glad that the locals do not have to hike about two km to get water.

“However, there are many other villages in the area that are still facing a similar water crisis. I hope the projects will be extended to provide clean water to other villages as well,” he said.

Ganesh Tripura, President of the Noymile Rural Water System Management Committee, said the residents have been facing a water crisis for decades.

“During the dry season, we face an acute crisis of fresh drinking water in the area. But now more than 200 families in two neighbourhoods of the village are getting clean water thanks to the government project,” he said.

UP member Bhuvan Mohan Tripura said, “Only the people living in such remote hilly areas will understand the pain of the shortage of fresh water. I am glad that the government came forward and resolved the water crisis.”

Rebeka Ahsan, executive engineer of Khagrachari DPHE said, “A reservoir with a capacity of 20,000 litres has been constructed and the water is being supplied through stainless steel pipes. The project has been implemented at a budget of Tk 1 crore.

She further added that water is supplied through pipelines in an area of about eight kilometres.