Securing Dhaka’s water supply

Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Dhaka WASA) under the Local Government Division (LGD) of the People's Republic of Bangladesh has appointed a joint venture led by Mott MacDonald to the Saidabad water treatment plant project, which will deliver drinking water to more than 4.5 million people in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Working closely with JV partners Sweco and Artelia, Mott MacDonald will lead on the management, design, supervision and construction of the water pumping station and transmission pipelines, and the overall improvement of the distribution system.

​​The scheme is one of the largest in the world, with water pipelines crossing multiple rivers and water courses, traversing cross-country, urban carriageways and developed areas. Water will be drawn from the Meghna River using a high-performance pumping system, which will feed twin pipelines more than two metres wide and over 30km long.

Due to a reliance on extracting ground water through tube wells, Dhaka’s water table has been dropping between one and two metres a year. By collecting surface water, the scheme will help to restore the balance in the ground water table and prevent any further reduction.

A technically challenging project, the water treatment plan will see the installation of large pipes underneath densely populated, complex urban environments. The seismically prone soils in the region mean that the proper seismic control measures must be included as part of the design.

“We’re proud to be working on such a vital project for communities in Dhaka,” said Chris Preston, project principal, Mott MacDonald. “Due to the mix of cross country and urban terrain the pipes pass through, the project poses a number of unique challenges, and close co-ordination with the various stakeholders involved will be vital for the project’s success.”

The project is delivered on behalf of the Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority, and funded by the Government of Bangladesh GoB, the French development agency AFD, and German development agency KfW.