Minister warns pollution and groundwater depletion threaten safe water supplies.
Water Resources Minister Md Shahiduddin Chowdhury Anee today said despite an abundance of water in deltaic Bangladesh, industrials wastes and pollution continued to cause scarcity of safe water particularly in Dhaka.
“Wastes from 11 industrial zones which grew up around Dhaka posed a major challenge on the environment and water,” he said while addressing the ‘World Rivers Day 2026 celebration and Mark Angelo River Award Giving ceremony at the ‘Pani Bhaban’ in the capital.
Anee said safe drinking water shortage was becoming increasingly acute throughout the country also because of the continued depletion of groundwater and “the crisis cannot be addressed merely by installing deep tube wells.
“There is a war going on for oil, and very soon we may have to enter an identical war for safe drinking water. You will not get water even if you want to buy it with money or dollars,” said Anee, who studied Applied Chemistry and Chemical Technology at Dhaka University.
The minister said during his visits to his Lakshmipur constituency in southeastern Bangladesh he frequently received applications from common people seeking installation of deep tube wells.
“But a major question is how many people’s demand for safe drinking water can be met by installing only 300 to 500 deep tube wells a year in a constituency with a population of four to 4.5 lakh people,” he said.
Anee said in some cases water became so contaminated that it was not possible even to be touchedt, let alone bathe in it.
He acknowledged the growth of fish farms in some areas but feared if all of the cultivated fish were safe for consumption due to pollution as studies by various expert teams found the presence of toxic metals in water.
The minister called for an intensified social campaign for protecting the environment with an extra focus on water saying the government alone could not accomplish the task.
He simultaneously urged everyone to extend their hands for canal excavation programmes by turning them into a social movement.
Anee said merely engaging in politics, providing leadership and staging movements is not enough to transform the country into a democratic one, rather “we now have to launch a movement for our survival and our generation must build a new and beautiful Bangladesh by meeting the needs of the next generation”.
The minister also stressed the need to highlight Bangladesh’s rights and demands at the international level for environmental protection particularly against the challenge posed by climate change.
