Water Crisis and Urban Poor: The Case of Poor Communities in Dhaka City, Bangladesh

Abstract

Slums are one of the most common features of the poor countries like those in South Asia and deprivation of basic rights among the slum dwellers is well known. Water scarcity and lack of access to safe drinking water has long been a part of the lives of slum people. This paper has attempted to recognize issues such as the intensity of the water crisis problem, its causes and its impact on the lives of the urban poor in Dhaka city, based on the interaction with people of two slums. The paper has concentrated on presenting the whole scenario of the water crisis problem of the slum dwellers, especially on the basis of their own interpretation and experiences- that is from an insider’s view. It has also paid close attention to the fact that how these basic problems of poor are used by the people of other classes for their own economic benefits and how they play an important role to let the water scarcity problem to persist.

Keywords: Water crisis, Slums, Urban Poor, Urbanization, Poverty, Government, NGOs, Policies