"Besides the deployment of the army, these seven teams will try to secure the continuous supply of water in Ramadan," said Managing Director of the Water and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) ANH Akhtar Hossain.

At recent meeting the Local Government and Rural Development (LGRD) decided to deploy the army at strategic points of the city so that citizens do not face acute shortages of water. The army is expected to be deployed from the very first day of Ramadan.

"Despite our effort, the water supply may prove inadequate as Wasa only supplies water to two lakh houses of the city. A recent study says that the city consists of 3.6 lakh houses," said Hossain.

"How do the remaining 1.6 houses survive? They cannot subsist on hand tube wells and surface water. This section of people is surviving by pilferage of Wasa water," said Hossain.

Wasa supplies water to dwellers from about 400 pumps and two water treatment plants located at Syedabad and Chandi. The demand of water in the city is 170 crore litres per day while Wasa can barely supply upto 160 crores.

Replying to water crisis in some areas of the city before Ramadan, Hussain said, "Due to sudden breakdowns of pumps, the water supply may be disrupted in some areas. We are already taking measures to solve these problems. Seven new deep tube wells will be installed and another seven will replace the ones that are malfunctioning, in the first week of Ramadan."

"In many areas like Sobhanbag, Mohmmadpur and Dhanmondi, the water crisis has already been solved. Now we are struggling to supply water to Mirpur since the ground water level in that area has gone down drastically," said Hossain.

"As the natural recharge of water is being hampered by the indiscriminate filling-up of wetlands around the city, the problem of water will multiply in the near future. We still heavily depend on surface water," he added.

Among 160 crore litres, Wasa can produce only 26 crore litres of water from two water treatment plants and the rest comes from the 400 deep tube wells.

"I am still learning about the Wasa affair as I took over office only on October 15. I am working out the short and long term strategies to solve the immediate problems of water supply," he further said.

The city dwellers in many areas face acute shortages of water every Ramadan. "This year, I can say that the people of the city will suffer least," said Hussain.