Water ATM booth: A low-cost solution to Dhaka's drinking water crisis

Photo: Rajib Dhar/TBS

• Water price in the ATM booths is Tk0.40 per litre
• There are about 350 booths in the capital
• Currently, 294 booths are in operation in different areas
• About 3 lakh families are collecting water from these booths
• About 12 lakh litres of water are sold every day
• Dhaka Wasa is running the project in cooperation with Drinkwell, USA
   

Shahina Begum, a resident of the Agargaon area of Dhaka, used to face a severe crisis frequently due to the dirty and smelly water supplied by the Dhaka Wasa at her home. 

Even boiling the water was not enough to make it drinkable. As a result, she started buying bottled water to meet the needs of her three-member family. It costs her around Tk1,000 per month.

However, the water ATM booths of the Dhaka Wasa finally ended her suffering. Now she can collect pure drinking water from a water booth set up in her area with Tk0.40 per litre. It costs only Tk100 to meet the demand for drinking water for her family for the whole month.

"The water from the Wasa line is not drinkable even after boiling. But now I can get pure drinking water at a very reasonable price at the booth," Shahina Begum told The Business Standard.

Not only Shahina Begum, but about 2.95 lakh families from different areas of the capital are also regularly buying drinking water from 294 water ATM booths in Dhaka.

The Dhaka Wasa set up water ATM booths in collaboration with a US project titled Drinkwell at about 350 locations of the two city corporations of Dhaka. About 50 of these booths are currently closed.

Rameshwar Das, director of the Water ATM Booth Project and executive engineer of Dhaka Wasa, said that in the beginning, water ATMs were installed to provide clean water to the lower-class people of the city.

"But now all classes of people are collecting water from these booths. Currently, about three lakh families are availing of this service. Around 1.5 crore people are regularly collecting water from ATM booths," he said.
He further said that there is a proposal to increase the water price from Tk0.40 per liter to Tk0.90 per litre including VAT.

The Dhaka Wasa and Drinkwell have plans to set up 500 water ATM booths in Dhaka under this project. Besides, some booths have also been set up in Chattogram and Rajshahi through this project.

According to sources, the first water ATM booth was set up in the Mugda area of the capital in 2017 to provide safe water to the poor people of the city at a low cost. The Dhaka Wasa signed a deal with the Drinkwell, USA for the project. Later they started setting up booths in different parts of the city to meet the demand of the customers.

People concerned said water extracted directly from the ground is sold in these ATM booths after several stages of purification. This water has no dirt or bad smell and there is no need to boil it for further purification.

Customers start coming to these booths to collect water in the morning every day. Sometimes, they have to stand in long queues in front of the booths to collect water.

As soon as water ATM cards are inserted in the booth, water starts falling into the container through a certain pipe. When the card is removed, the water stops falling.

Monir Hossain regularly collects water at a water ATM booth in Eskaton. He said, "I come to the booth once a week by a rickshaw to collect water for my family for the whole week. For my four-member family, water worth Tk100 is enough to meet the demand of a month."

Zohra Begum was waiting to collect water at an ATM booth in Mugda. She said, "We have been collecting drinking water from this booth since it was opened. There is no need to boil water by consuming gas. Many people who cannot come to the booth regularly have hired van pullers who collect the water for them and deliver to their houses."

Humayun Kabir, operator of a water booth in Agargaon, told The Business Standard, "The booth here is open from 6:30am to 10:30pm. We have around 3,000 customers here. About 200 people collect water here every day." 

"If there is any problem in the water booth, our service men come and fix it. Besides, we clean the water chamber every day," he added.

Customers can get an ATM card for Tk50 by going to the Wasa water ATM booths with a photocopy of the national identity card, and two copies of passport-size photos. The ATM cards can be recharged through the booth operator from Tk10 to Tk999 at a time. However, customers can also recharge their cards through mobile banking services.

The Dhaka Wasa and Drinkwell, USA have jointly won the Award for Corporate Excellence (ACE) from the United States Department of State in the climate resilience category for setting up water ATM booths in Bangladesh to provide low-cost clean water to the people.

On 18 November, the US State Department's Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs announced the names of the winners of the award for 2022.

The award will be officially handed over to the Dhaka Wasa in February this year.