In the summer, Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) faces around 70 crore litres of water shortage due to electricity blackouts and lower production capacity. On the other hand, Dhaka Electricity Supply Authorities (Desa) said they have to contend with a shortfall of around 600 megawatts (MW) in electricity supply a day.

Small traders seem to be the worst affected. The crafts workers in the Old Dhaka have to face power failure at least four times in the first four hours of the workday.

The conch shell workers at Shankhari Bazar used to design 25 pairs of Shankha (conch bangles) a day, whereas now they struggle to come up with even 10 pairs for continual power outages.

"We just can't do without power since we use electric saws to cut the conch shells. We need light also to have the conch shell ornaments engraved with designs. The job requires immense craftsmanship and cannot be done in the dark," Pradip Kumar Nath, a conch artist, told The Daily Star yesterday.

Usually, the workers could earn up to Tk 200 for crafting 100 conch shells, but in the summertime plagued by power disruptions their income comes down to Tk 40.

Faced with similar problems, some businessmen at Islampur told this correspondent that newspaper reports are of no use; it's all their "lot in life".They said they wonder who to turn to when the interim administration is "not doing much to remedy the situation".

Muhammad Nesaruddin Bhuiyan, office secretary of Islampur Bostro Babosayee Samity, said five thousand shop owners in the country's premier fabric market are left to count losses as their earnings have fallen by up to 30 percent.

"Most of us do have generators now, but to run those we have to buy octane and employ an operator and all these leave adverse effects on the money we make in business," he said.

He added that per unit power produced by generator costs them Tk 12 while it is Tk 6.50 otherwise.

Besides, the complementary work like packing and wrapping comes to a halt as soon as the lights go off.

Desa said they managed to supply 1,200 MW when the demand was 1,600 MW yesterday.

Talking to The Daily Star, the locals of Chankharpool, Bakshibazar, Bangshal, and Narinda said they are no stranger to power and water crises. For years they have been subjected to these and there's no sign yet of a let-up in the sufferings that mount to an unbearable level in the summer, they alleged.

Following public outbursts, water supply in Tantkhan Lane, Nakir Deuri, Chankharpool, Nazimuddin Road, Hosnidalan, and Nawab Bagicha areas was regularised only yesterday. But many still complain of filthy water coming out of their taps and tube-wells.

At house No eight in Nokir Deuri, a tube-well was releasing yellowish sand-mixed water. Like other households in the neighbourhood, they too have the tube-well hooked up to the Wasa line to get more water as tap water reduces to a trickle due to low pressure.

Many of the old town dwellers said they have become quite habituated to using dirty water, but that too has been hard to find for the last few weeks.

"We get safe drinking water only if there's enough pressure in the Wasa pipeline. But most of the time the pressure is very low and we are left to use muddy water," said KM Razzak.

"Electricity supply is regular only in the weekends. And for the rest of the week life is miserable," he added.

A staff of the Nazimuddin Road Wasa pump said that they could not supply water to the Nawab Bagicha, Hosnidalan, Nimtoli, Nazimuddin Road, Chhakku Miar Goli, Tantkhana Lane and Ali Nokir Deuri as the lone pump went out of use.

"We need at least two pumps for the area that is vast in size. The pump we have can supply 2,700 litres of water a minute and meet just half of the demand," said Kamal Khan, assistant pump operator.

"But due to power outages, we cannot operate the machine and can achieve only half the capacity," he added.

Asked about the poor quality of water, he said they supply clean water but it ends up being filthy at the household ends due to leaks in the pipeline.

Wasa last set up pipeline in the area nine years ago and in the interim the roads were dug up on numerous occasions that might have resulted in holes and cracks, the local people said.