25 - Constraints and coping measures of coastal community toward safe drinking water scarcity in Southwestern Bangladesh

Abstract

In recent years, access to safe drinking water has been a major problem in many countries across the world. Bangladesh, known as the “land of water,” also faces a safe drinking water crisis. Bangladesh, particularly the southwestern region, being located downstream greatly faces safe drinking water supply problems due to salinity in surface water and arsenic in groundwater as well as the frequency of drought. On the contrary there are a number of socioeconomic factors that aggravates the coastal communities’ vulnerability toward safe drinking water scarcity. Therefore this chapter investigates extent and underlying causes of safe water scarcity, different sources of safe drinking water in the coastal area already used by the community people, constraints associated with existing technologies, and how science and technological interventions can play a proactive role to cope with safe drinking water scarcity. Finally, this chapter concludes with few recommendations.