Bangladesh Water Works Association (BWWA) launched the 2nd Sustainable Water Management Expo 2025, uniting industry experts and organisations to combat the nation's pressing water and sanitation challenges through cutting-edge solutions.
On Thursday morning three-day event, running until October18, inaugurated at capital's International Convention City Bashundhara.
Expo features 28 stalls displaying sustainable water, wastewater and environmental management technologies.
Operating daily from 10am to 8pm, it provides a platform for sharing insights, exploring innovative technologies and strengthening collaborations towards achieving a greener future.
Mohammad Anwar Hossain, BWWA President, highlighted the expo's importance for achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6, ensuring water and sanitation availability for all. He identified four critical focus areas: integrated water resources management, wastewater treatment and resource recovery, climate resilience adaptation, and digital water solutions utilising IoT and artificial intelligence systems.
Md Shahjahan Mia, Dhaka WASA Managing Director, delivered the chief guest's remarks, advocating for privatising water supply operations to foster healthy competition and guarantee safe water delivery. He revealed that currently only 33% of Dhaka's water originates from surface sources, whilst excessive groundwater extraction has triggered land subsidence, creating earthquake risks measuring approximately 7 on the Richter scale. Furthermore, merely 24% of households connect to sewerage lines.
Hasin Jahan, WaterAid Bangladesh Country Director, warned about the dangerous imbalance between water usage and waste, emphasising that simultaneous over-extraction and wastage threatens sustainability. She advocated for adopting new technologies whilst removing policy barriers preventing innovative initiatives.
Mohammad Zobair Hasan, Deputy Executive Director of Development Organisation of the Rural Poor-DORP, shared alarming WHO and UNESCO data revealing 61% of Bangladesh's population lacks safe sanitation access. Despite 69% having safe water access, 31% remain without, contributing to waterborne disease outbreaks including last year's cholera epidemic.
"Budget allocation remains critically low, with no separate development funding for water and sanitation under poverty reduction schemes last fiscal year," he stated.
Citing a 2017 study, he noted at least TK 185 per capita allocation is required, totalling approximately TK 15,000-30,000 crore nationally. He highlighted handwashing awareness achieved 74% success through two decades of combined government and private sector efforts, largely accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic.
