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With abundant water resources, Bangladesh faces various water contaminations mainly caused by pollutants, bacteria, and pesticides. Historically, water sources in Bangladesh came from surface water contaminated with bacteria. Drinking infected water resulted in infants and children suffering from acute gastrointestinal disease that led to a high mortality rate. According to UNICEF, 38.3% of Bangladeshis drink unsafe water from bacteria-contaminated sources. Bangladesh is facing an acute reliable drinking water scarcity. Bangladesh's surface and ground water are highly saline due to rising sea levels.
Available options for providing safe drinking water include deep wells, traditionally dug wells, treatment of surface water, and rainwater harvesting. Between 2000 and 2010, the government installed those safe water devices in arsenic-affected regions of Bangladesh. Between 2000 and 2012, the proportion of Bangladesh population who drink water with arsenic had decreased from 26.6% to 12.4%. There are 19.4 million Bangladeshis still drinking arsenic-contained water.
Bangladesh has a low level of cost recovery due to low tariffs and poor economic efficiency, especially in urban areas where revenues from water sales do not cover operating costs.
Only 56% of the population was estimated to have access to adequate sanitation facilities in 2010. But a new approach to improve sanitation coverage in rural areas, namely the community-led total sanitation concept, was introduced in Bangladesh and is credited for having contributed significantly to the increase in sanitation coverage.