Community Perception to Reduce Safe Drinking Water Scarcity A Case Study at Debishing Para In Rajshahi City Corporation Area, Bangladesh

Abstract

The safe drinking water crisis is recognized as one of the major problems and the significant barrier to improve health and wellbeing in Rajshahi city. Basically, RWASA (Rajshahi Water Supply and Sewerage Authority) supplies water at Debishingpara in Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC). Safe drinking water crisis is becoming intensified day by day in Rajshahi City. The objective of the study is to identify local problem regarding safe drinking water scarcity in the community and to propose a communitybased Strategies for reducing safe drinking water crisis. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) approach was applied to identify the problems and suggest the community-based solution by involving community people. The study has been conducted by collecting data from a focus group which consists of 8 members (4 males and 4 females) on supplied water and water collection system. Causeeffect diagram and Pair-wise Ranking Matrix was used as PRA tools to understand the causes and impact of drinking water scarcity and identify the main difficulties to access safe drinking water. According to the focus group discussion, the community people suffered mostly due to lack of water purification system, less number of tube well and existence of iron in the water. The study includes a dream map which obtains suggestions from the participants of the focus group. This study emphasizes on the community participation in the participatory forum to discuss appropriate solutions relating to the supplied water in the community. This study also tries to incorporate relevant policy and strategy to improve the condition.

Assessment of Domestic Water Usage and Wastage in Urban Bangladesh : A Study of Rajshahi City Corporation

“…The supplied water has issues with odor, iron, and a dark color, respectively. Government water is frequently contaminated with trash, filth, and an offensive odor (Ferdous et al, 2018). The source of the water can have a significant impact on how much water people use.…”