Khulna city administrator seeks faster rollout of Water ATM booths

Khulna City Corporation (KCC) Administrator Nazrul Islam Manju has called for expediting the installation of Water ATM booths across Khulna to ensure safe and affordable drinking water for residents, particularly those living in underserved communities.

He made the call on 11 November at a meeting at the Khulna Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (KWASA) conference room, attended by KWASA Managing Director Md Firoz Shah, Asian Development Bank (ADB) Director of South Asia Water and Urban Development Sector Office Satoshi Ishii, and Drinkwell Chief Executive Officer Minhaj Chowdhury.

Manju said climate change was forcing many families to leave their homes and move to Khulna, increasing pressure on the city's water supply. Around 200,000 people, many living in slums and areas near railway stations, still lack access to piped water.

He said residents frequently approached him seeking safe drinking water. Deep tube wells installed for some communities had failed to provide potable water, while narrow lanes, some only four to five feet wide, in several large wards made pipeline installation difficult.

He identified these underserved areas as priority locations for Water ATM booths.

The city administrator also stressed the importance of ensuring the long-term financial sustainability of safe drinking water projects, saying many initiatives cease operations once their funding ends.

Referring to a Water ATM booth at Khalishpur operated by Drinkwell in partnership with KWASA, he said a financially self-sustaining model could ensure the continuity of such services.

Sharing his personal experience, Manju said his son and daughter used to collect drinking water from Drinkwell's Water ATM booths in Dhanmondi, Dhaka. He was therefore pleasantly surprised to find a Drinkwell Water ATM card in Khulna.

He said Khulna City Corporation could provide land for installing additional booths, following a similar approach adopted by Rajshahi City Corporation in its partnership with Drinkwell.

Emphasising the urgency of the initiative, he said residents needed safe drinking water without delay and called for accelerating the expansion.

KWASA Managing Director Md Firoz Shah assured full cooperation in expanding the network under a three-year memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Drinkwell. The agreement provides for the installation of up to 100 Water ATM booths across Khulna.

ADB Director Satoshi Ishii also joined the discussion and expressed interest in initiatives aimed at improving access to safe drinking water in the city.

Earlier, on 9 November, Ishii led an eight-member ADB delegation to Drinkwell's Water ATM booth at Karwan Bazar in Dhaka, operated in partnership with Dhaka WASA.

Hosted by Drinkwell CEO Minhaj Chowdhury, the delegation later visited the company's control centre in Dhaka to learn how it manages field teams and monitors the operation of its booths.

"Bangladesh's water crisis is a coordination crisis," Chowdhury said.

Read More

PM opens 'Notun Kuri Sports' Season-2 in Khulna

Climate change was putting increasing pressure on urban water supplies every year, he said, adding that cooperation among city corporations, water authorities and development partners could help transform temporary, NGO-driven projects into locally led services with long-term financial sustainability.

"When a city corporation provides land, the WASA provides water, and development partners are part of the conversation, safe water can move from NGO-driven projects with an end date to locally led services that run for nearly a decade, as we have proven in other parts of Bangladesh," he added.