Water Sensitive Appliances: A Solution to Water Crisis in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Water crisis is a severe problem in Dhaka city, the capital of Bangladesh. The current population of 1.7 crore of the city is already deprived of clean water along with other basic facilities. In context of this problem, this study has tried to investigate whether use of water sensitive fixtures in households can minimize water crisis by reducing losses or not. A cost benefit analysis has also been conducted to assess the financial viability of introducing these fixtures in the city. Various water saving equipments such as low flush toilets, low flow showerheads, low flow basin faucets, water efficient dish washer, front loading washing machine etc. were considered while analyzing the efficiency of water savings. A thorough literature review was conducted to find out water requirement of the proposed and traditional fixtures. Cost of these water sensitive fixtures and also conventional ones were collected from field survey. Around 45 % less annual water consumption was found in a typical 5 storied building for the water sensitive fixtures in comparison to traditional ones. The proposed system was also found financially viable as its cost minimization capacity was significantly higher than the conventional system. The results of the study indicate that current water crisis in Dhaka can be reduced noticeably by introducing water sensitive fixtures in households.