ABSTRACT
Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries of the world and facing massive urban population growth, which is currently estimated to grow at 4.2% per annum (DPHE, 1999). Bangladesh has an urban population of about 35 million, just over 25% of its total population. Projections indicate that more
than 50% of Bangladesh population will be living in urban areas by the year 2025 (BBS, 2001). All major urban centers in Bangladesh have slums and squatter settlements, the largest concentrations being in Dhaka (the capital city), followed by Chittagong, Khulna and Rajshahi cities. As per the Slum Mapping and Census, 2005, 62.7% of the slum dwellers use municipal taps as source of their drinking water; 33.4% use tube wells and 3.8% use other sources like rivers, ponds, lakes, and canals. In 40.9% of the clusters, one tap is shared by 6-10 households while in 22.7% clusters; a single tap is shared by 11-20 households (Water Aid, 2007).Against a target of 477 MLD (million liters/day) water supply during the Fourth Five Year Plan for Pourashava (municipality) and Upazila (sub-district), only 296 MLD was achieved (Fifth Five Year Plan: 1997-2002) although recently, the government has allocated more resources to local urban infrastructure (Swapan, 2001). The deficiencies in urban infrastructure and services including water supply, sanitation, drainage, solid waste collection and transportation system range from sever to extreme. The major sources of drinking water, both in public and private slums are municipal taps and tube wells. In case of bathing a considerable portion of slum dwellers use rivers, ponds, wells, lakes and ditches. Slum dwellers collect water from municipal taps located either along the public streets or in public places while private slums often get their water from the landlords’ house. Besides tap water, tube wells within the slum or neighboring areas also play an important role in supplying drinking water to slum dwellers.
