A bench of Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Md Khairul Alam said that “We need water; pure water and we want pure water.” 

The HC came up with the remarks when advocate AM Masum who represented Wasa, explained its measures centering a previous water test report that had found evidence of contamination in water.

AM Masum said Wasa has sent water samples from Patla Khan Lane for fresh testing to Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) and International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) after implementing the recommendations proposed by that report.

“We will submit the water report of Mirpur area later as it will arrive on Sunday and we need more time”, he said while the court fixed July 30 for next hearing on the matter.  

A four-member probe body formed by the HC on July 7 submitted the report that had found existence of harmful elements including bacteria and ammonia in water after testing water samples from 10 zones of the capital.

Earlier on May 21, the High Court issued an order to test Wasa water samples from 34 locations in the capital.

Mohammad Tanvir Amed, a counsel of the writ petitioner, moved the court after a World Bank report said that over 7.5 crore people of Bangladesh drink unsafe water.

The report noted that 41 percent water sources contain harmful bacteria and 13 percent water contains arsenic. It said about 80 percent water supplied through pipelines contains harmful bacteria.
The following month, the High Court ordered the authorities concerned to form a committee to test Dhaka Wasa water.

It asked the LGRD and Cooperatives Ministry to file a report within May 15 after fixing the expenditure required to test the water.