Chittagong Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Chittagong WASA or CWASA) is a semi-government organization established on 16 October 1963 under the East Pakistan Ordinance No. XIX, 1963. It operates under the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development, and Cooperatives. CWASA was created with specific responsibilities for constructing, improving, expanding, operating, and maintaining water supply infrastructure for domestic, industrial, and commercial purposes. It is also charged with developing, operating, and maintaining sewerage systems, drainage facilities to manage rain, flood, and surface water, as well as solid waste management, having separated these responsibilities from the port city’s Public Health Engineering Department.
The city’s piped water supply began after 1892 when Chittagong became the headquarters of the Assam Bengal Railway Company. A water treatment plant with a capacity of 1.8 million liters per day, using Foy’s Lake as a source, was built in 1929. Initially, CWASA inherited 25 deep tube wells supplying about 20.25 million liters per day. Under financial aid from the World Bank, a first major water supply project sunk 13 deep tube wells in Kalurghat and built an iron removal plant and booster station, increasing supply to 45 million liters per day. A second project during 1981-1988, also with World Bank assistance, treated water from the Halda River via the Mohara Water Treatment Plant and increased Kalurghat iron removal plant capacity to 67.5 million liters, raising city water supply to 180 million liters per day at that time.
Currently, Chittagong WASA supplies about 240 million liters per day against a demand of 500 million liters daily. Of this, roughly 37% comes from surface water and 63% from underground water. CWASA is implementing projects such as the Karnafuli Water Supply Project, the Mohara Water Extension Project, and the Chittagong Water Supply Improvement and Sanitation Project (CWSISP), which is supported by the World Bank to modernize the sewerage system.