The recently-completed Karnaphuli Water Supply Project Phase-1, which was supposed to ease the perennial water crisis in the port city, is itself facing a major challenge due to the leakages in the old pipelines of Wasa.

With the completion of the project Chittagong Wasa (Water Supply and Sewerage Authority) was ready to supply an additional 143 million litres of water in the city but the challenge has popped up before the inauguration of the project.

According to the Wasa officials, the additional flow of the water which Chittagong Wasa on a test basis started to supply with the earlier amount of 180 million litres on November 1 for 72 hours, created around 800 leakages in the old distribution pipelines across the city.

The Wasa authority has managed to repair more than 500 leakages but there are around 250 leakages yet to be repaired and more leakages are appearing every day due to the pressure of additional water.

After completion of the new project -- which is likely to be inaugurated on February 12 -- Wasa was supposed to cover 70 percent of the daily demand of 500 million litres of water in the city by adding the new production to the earlier amount, Wasa officials said.

Currently Wasa is being able to supply only two-third of its production from its new project through the old and leak-prone pipelines.

Terming the old pipelines a major challenge, Managing Director of Chittagong Wasa AKM Fazullah on December 1 at the project site in Rangunia upazila's Pomra union said the pipelines are 40 to 60 years old and cannot bear the pressure of additional water.

“We are currently providing 90 to 100 million litres of water through the newly completed project and can supply up to 120 million litres. But if the full production of water is supplied more leakages are likely to appear in the supply lines”, he said.

“Our team is working in the field 24 hours to repair rest of the leakages,” he said, adding, the Wasa authority is yet to repair leakages in some major areas like Enayet Bazar, Halishahar, Agrabad and EPZ.

When asked why they did not change the old pipelines before implementing the phase-1 of the project, the Chittagong Wasa managing director said before the 72-hour testing period they did not think that the pipes would not be able to handle the pressure of the additional water.

The leakages are not only a major challenge to the water supply in the city, but also responsible for accidents due to the overflow of water on the road.

Every now and then accidents are taking place injuring commuters as roads are being slippery due to the regular flow of water through the leakages.

Mohammed Hashem, a local shop owner in Kazir Dewry area, said he recently witnessed at least five motorcycle accidents in one day in the area.

The regular flow of water on the roads is also responsible for the wastage of a huge amount of supply water, said Hashem.

Aiming to setup distribution pipelines across the city the Wasa has signed a deal with Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) in 2013 under the phase-2 of Karnaphuli Water Supply Project, said Fazullah.

“By now around 20 percent of the project has been completed and we are hoping to complete it by 2021. After that there will be rarely any case of leakages in the pipelines,” Fazullah said, adding, the longevity of the new pipes is 80 to 100 years.

Under the new project around 600km of distribution pipeline will be installed across the city, he further said.

According to the documents of Wasa, the Karnaphuli Water Supply Project Phase-1 was completed spending Tk 1848.52 crore. Of the total, the government gave Tk 884.22 crore, Chittagong Wasa, Tk 24 crore and Jica gave Tk 940.31 crore.

The project was taken in March 2006 and completed in 2016.

The project was the only water treatment plant that Wasa implemented since 1988 in Chittagong. Although many projects of water treatment plant were taken by this time, none could be implemented for various reasons including bureaucratic complexity, Fazullah said.