The government will launch a long-term project on the supply of drinking water across the country through the use of internal sources of water, said LGRD Minister Md Tajul Islam on Thursday.

“A study is underway to implement a master plan for setting up a water grid line to supply drinking water across the country, including the coastal areas,” he told a program on ‘Expansion of Citywide Inclusive Sanitation and Innovation of Sanitation’ organized by ITN-BUET at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) in the capital.

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He said the government is setting several Economic Zones to attract both local and foreign investment and industrialisation. He also said that water will be pumped from the Meghna River to the Mirsarai Economic Zone.

Regarding a new water treatment plant to be set up by Chattogram WASA, Tajul  said many other WASAs, including Dhaka WASA, have set up water treatment plants under the LGRD  to solve the country's drinking water problems.

In addition, the Public Health Engineering Department has been working on water and sanitation for marginalized people.

Meanwhile, regarding safe sanitation, he said that urbanisation has increased the problem of city sanitation not only in Bangladesh but elsewhere in the world. This has to be solved through an integrated programme.

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About power generation from waste, the minister said that all kinds of waste including household and medical waste should be dumped in certain places. “Everyone must be aware to protect the environment.”

He said that many houses in the residential areas of Dhaka city do not have their own septic tank. Their wastes are generally dumped directly into lakes or canals.

“A campaign is being run to make everyone aware about this,” he added.

BUET Vice Chancellor Prof Satya Prasad Majumder, Senior Secretary of LGRD Helal Uddin Ahmed, BUET Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Abdul Jabbar Khan and Deputy Director of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Dr Roshan Raj Shrestha were present at the event.