A good initiative to improve biodiversity and the environment of St. Martin has been taken
A project is underway to provide drinking water without using plastic bottles on St Martin, a coral-rich island in the Bay of Bengal. The project is scheduled to be completed next July.
Once it is completed, the island’s residents will easily get clean water. In addition, electricity and organic fertilizer will be produced from the island’s waste under the project.
The Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE), Bangladesh, has taken up this special project funded by the World Bank. The allocation for this is more than Tk 35 crore. Two private companies—Green Dot Limited and Turn Builders—are working on the project.
Executive Engineer of the DPHE, Bangladesh, in Cox’s Bazar, has taken up this special project funded by the World Bank. Ibn Mayez Prathani, an executive at DPHE in Cox’s Bazar, stated that the project will protect St Martin’s biodiversity while solving the local drinking water crisis.
Water distribution on smart cards
DPHE officials in Bangladesh reported a prolonged shortage of clean water in St Martin’s due to lowered groundwater levels and salinity. The island has no reservoirs, canals, or rivers, so rainwater must be conserved during the rainy season.
During the dry season, both local residents and tourists face significant hardships due to water shortages. Pure bottled water must be bought from Teknaf at a high cost to accommodate many tourists.
Abul Manjur, an assistant engineer at the DPHE office in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, stated that this project uses advanced membrane-based reverse osmosis (RO) technology to purify saline water into clean drinking water. This is a long-term, environmentally friendly, and cost-effective solution.
Under this project, 10 smart water booths will be installed across the island through a five-kilometer-long pipeline. These booths will be controlled through smart cards. Each family and other users can get water from the booth using this smartcard. The project is being implemented by Green Dot Limited.
The organization has begun digging a 15-foot-diameter RCC ring well near the Samudra Kanan Resort on the island, reaching a depth of 20–25 feet. Four more RCC ring walls are being built at different places on the island.
A four-story treatment plant building is being constructed, which will include laboratories, research facilities, offices, conference rooms, and dormitories. It will cost Tk 20 crore.
Green Dot Limited Managing Director A.B.M. Jahidul Islam said that the work of laying a water supply pipeline, along with the ring well, is also underway. If the sea conditions are good, the project will be completed by June. The project will be inaugurated in July.
He said that it would be possible to produce 240,000 litres of drinking water daily with this purification technology project. The source of water will be groundwater and rainwater. Water will be collected using five RRC ring wells and submersible, solar-powered pumps.
A 100,000-litre HDPE tank will be installed to store the collected water. A solar system and a 70 KVA diesel generator will be installed to ensure that the water supply is not interrupted during natural disasters.
Customers will have to pay 1 taka for every five liters of water, said ABM Zahidul Islam. He said that the population of St. Martin is about 11,000. If an average of 4 liters of water is taken per person per day, 44,000 liters of water will be required per day. The capacity of the project is 100,000 liters.
In addition to food, the produced water can also be used for cooking and bathing. Initially, 1,000 families will be given smart cards. By recharging the card, as much water as they want can be collected from the booth.
Electricity-biofertilizer production from waste
According to the DPHE, Bangladesh, two metric tons of human waste and two metric tons of solid waste are generated on St. Martin Island every day. During the tourist season of December to January, 120,000 tourists (approximately 2,000 daily) visited St. Martin, despite strict restrictions from the Bangladesh government.
During this time, more than 300,000 plastic bottles, a large amount of chips, and polythene-packaged products are taken to the island. A waste treatment plant is being built to convert harmful waste into organic fertilizer and electricity, protecting the environment and marine biodiversity.
Abul Manjur, the Assistant Engineer of DPHE in Cox’s Bazar, said that an initiative has been taken to manage human waste, solid waste, and plastic waste.
