(PDF) Urban Development and Water Supply System: A Case Study on Comilla City Corporation

The Nugget

Urban development and water supply are intricately linked. In Comilla City, rapid population growth and urban expansion outpace the development of a reliable water supply system, leading to significant shortages and health issues among residents.

Make it stick

🚰 Water is life: Access to sufficient and safe drinking water is fundamental for improved quality of life in urban areas.
🏗️ Urban expansion outstrips supply: Comilla City’s population is growing faster than its water infrastructure can support, causing widespread shortages.
⚠️ 30% of families in slums face severe water shortages, impacting health and hygiene.
🔄 Water supply is intermittent: Residents typically receive only 2-4 hours of water per day, insufficient for their needs.

Comilla Municipality initiated water supply in 1925; however, the current system, managed by CoCC and DPHE since 2011, struggles to meet demand.
The geographical area of CoCC has expanded from 37.50 km² to 53.04 km² since 1982, but the water supply has not kept pace.
Over 30% of families in slums do not have adequate access to water, leading to severe health consequences.

Urban land use has shifted dramatically between 2001 and 2016, with 52% residential, 17% commercial, and 9% agricultural land.
As urban sprawl continues, 6.36 km² of agricultural land is lost per year.
The city’s future water demand is projected to significantly exceed current supply capacities.

The daily water demand for Comilla is 1.5 crore liters, but supply is only 1.08 crore liters, resulting in a 27.73% deficit.
Quality issues include iron contamination and insufficient treatment processes, leading to public dissatisfaction.
Three distribution systems exist: gravity, direct pumping, and pumping with storage, but maintenance is poor, leading to inadequate service levels.

"Water supply is the basic responsibility of any city or town authority."
"Roughly 30% of families in slums suffer from acute water shortages."
"Despite ongoing urban expansion, water supply provisions have not increased at a comparable rate."
"Management of water supply systems often suffers from insufficient manpower and technology."
"Providing new water supply lines is considered essential to support the growth of water consumption demand."

This summary contains AI-generated information and may have important inaccuracies or omissions.