The Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and Cooperatives in Bangladesh is primarily responsible for formulating water source development plans, constructing water supply facilities, and transferring facilities to local governments in rural and urban areas (excluding Dhaka, Chotgram, Khulna, and Rajshahi). The company was also required to provide technical support to local governments for operation and maintenance, as needed. However, the DPHE’s inappropriate selection of facilities due to insufficient consideration of natural and social conditions, inadequate operation and maintenance of facilities due to lack of ownership, human resources, and capacity of local governments, lack of technical support by the DPHE, and lack of a sustainable monitoring system for water supply facility operation status and water quality, etc., have all contributed to a lack of safe and well-controlled drinking water supply. The lack of technical support from DPHE, and the lack of a sustainable monitoring system for the operation of water supply facilities and water quality were bottlenecks in improving the supply rate of safely managed drinking water.
Under these circumstances, the Government of Japan provided support to DPHE to develop comprehensive technical guidelines (Guidelines), set information management standards and strengthen information management systems, improve the ability of each region to select appropriate water supply facilities, formulate medium- and long-term plans, and establish monitoring systems for water supply facilities and water quality. However, dissemination and establishment of the guidelines and county-level water resource potential maps to regional offices is still in its infancy, and DPHE’s knowledge on the operation and maintenance of piped water supply facilities is insufficient to provide technical assistance to regional cities, leaving it with challenges in its support capacity.
This cooperation will support the implementation of water supply projects based on DPHE guidelines, the selection of water supply facilities using water resource maps, and the acquisition of basic knowledge on the operation and maintenance of piped water supply facilities throughout Bangladesh, thereby improving DPHE’s comprehensive management capacity for safe water supply throughout the country and contributing to the improvement of safe water supply services. This will contribute to the improvement of safe water supply services.
© Source JICA