Bangladesh : Dhaka Environmentally Sustainable Water Supply Project

Water and other urban infrastructure and services / Urban water supply

Water security. The government has set a target of providing safe water coverage and full sanitation throughout the country by 2015. However, achieving and sustaining this target remains a major challenge, with population growth in urban areas much higher than the national average._Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (DWASA) provides water supply to about 90% of the population of 10.7 million in its service areas of about 400 square kilometers (km2), but is unable to provide sufficient quality and quantity of water to its beneficiaries despite continual efforts for improvements._It plans to expand its service areas to about 500 km2 by 2020 and 600 km2 by 2035, with a projected population of about 29 million. This requires significant capital investments to increase the level of supply, while ensuring long-term water security._

Environmental sustainability. DWASA has been relying heavily on groundwater as a source of water supply,_but current abstraction is beyond sustainable yields. Groundwater resources are depleting, and the water table is falling by 23 meters per year, which makes the lifetime of deep tube wells shorter, with 4060 deep tube wells becoming inoperable each year. Groundwater extraction needs to be reduced from 1,900 MLD in 2012 to 1,360 MLD by 2020 and 1,260 MLD by 2025, when the overall supply needs to be increased to cater to the growing population in larger service areas. The main existing source of surface water is also being polluted rapidly. Out of the total 2,400 MLD currently provided by DWASA, 450 MLD is provided by the Saidabad WTP, which abstracts surface water from the nearby Sitalakhya River. The river water quality is deteriorating, particularly in terms of high ammonia concentration during the dry season owing to uncontrolled industrial effluent discharges into the river. The ammonia concentration is becoming higher than the design standard that a pre-treatment unit can satisfactorily treat to an acceptable levelputting the sustainable operation of the WTP at serious risk. This makes it essential for DWASA to find an adequate and sustainable source of raw water for achieving its long-term development objectives. Meghna River will be a new source of water supply for Dhaka, which has good water quality and ample quantity even during the dry season.

Improved access to and quality of sustainable water supply services in Dhaka

More reliable and improved security of water supply and sanitation in Dhaka achieved

New surface water supply system developed

Existing distribution network in zone 6 strengthened

DWASA's management and administration capacity improved

Empowerment of women and vulnerable groups in LICs supported

Consulting services will be engaged using ADB's Guidelines on the Use of Consultants (2013, as amended from time to time).

Management, design, and supervision consultants will be engaged for the Gandharbpur WTP and related works (from intake to injection point and distribution reinforcements) and management and supervision consultants will be engaged for DNI in zone 6. An estimated 591 person-months (all national) of NGOs will be provided to (i) assist the implementation of the resettlement plans, (ii) undertake awareness campaign programs on water conservation and hygiene education in zone 6, and (iii) supporting improved access to low income communities in zone 6. Three teams of NGOs will be recruited to support resettlement implementation in different project areas. Consulting firms and NGOs will be engaged using the quality- and cost-based selection (QCBS) method. Out of two consultancy packages and three NGO packages, a standard quality:cost ratio of 80:20 will be used for one consultancy package and two NGO packages, while the ratio of 90:10 will be used for one large management, design, and supervision consultancy package and large NGO package, both relating to construction of intake, WTP, and raw water transmission line.