Water ATMs for Dhaka slums from next month

More than 1.8 million people living in Dhaka's slums are set to receive safe drinking water at an affordable price from next month, as Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Dhaka WASA) rolls out a dedicated water-access programme following a directive from Prime Minister Tarique Rahman. 

The initiative, which will introduce water ATM booths in low-income settlements across the capital, aims to ensure reliable access to treated drinking water for some of the city's most vulnerable residents.

Dhaka WASA has already begun preparations to establish a dedicated distribution system aimed at ensuring the supply of pure drinking water to low-income settlements across the capital.

Speaking to this correspondent, Dhaka WASA Managing Director Md Aminul Islam, a former government secretary, said the authority is working on a mechanism that would allow slum residents to collect treated drinking water easily and at a reasonable cost.

"The Prime Minister has directed that slum residents must have access to safe drinking water. In line with that instruction, Dhaka WASA is developing the necessary system," he said, adding that UNICEF is expected to provide technical and financial support for the programme.

According to the Dhaka WASA chief, water ATM booths will be installed in slum areas so that families can collect purified drinking water through a simple user-based payment system.

Recent official and research-based estimates show that Dhaka remains the country's largest concentration of urban poor.

According to the Population and Housing Census 2022 conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and subsequent urban poverty assessments, the Dhaka City Corporation areas together have an estimated slum and informal-settlement population of around 1.8 million to 2 million.

The capital contains several thousand slum clusters and informal settlements, making it the largest urban concentration of low-income households in Bangladesh.

Nationally, recent estimates indicate that more than five million people live in slums and informal urban settlements across Bangladesh, while Dhaka alone accounts for a significant share of that population.
The number of floating or homeless people in the capital is also among the highest in the country, reflecting continued rural-to-urban migration, unemployment and housing shortages.

Experts say access to safe drinking water remains one of the most pressing public health challenges in Dhaka's densely populated informal settlements. Many residents still depend on shared connections, privately supplied water or sources vulnerable to contamination.

Public health specialists note that improving access to treated drinking water can significantly reduce the incidence of waterborne diseases, including diarrhoea, typhoid and hepatitis, particularly among children.

Dhaka WASA officials said the proposed water ATM model is intended to ensure a reliable supply of treated water while keeping prices affordable for low-income households. The authority is currently identifying priority slum locations and finalising the operational framework for the programme.

If implemented as planned, the initiative would become one of the largest targeted urban drinking-water interventions for slum communities in the capital.