Dhaka, April 13 (IANS) A severe water crisis gripped parts of Bangladesh, leaving tens of thousands of residents without access to safe drinking water.

The crisis posed serious public health risks and threatened agricultural output in the Feni district of the South Asian country. More than 1.67 lakh tube wells across the coastal district are dried up, local media reported.

The Feni District Public Health Engineering Department (DPHED) said that water is unavailable in 1,67,386 tubewells as the underground water layer dropped significantly. The crisis further deepened in several upazilas of the district where around 70 per cent of tubewells have stopped yielding water, reports the leading Bangladeshi media outlet, UNB.

Due to the crisis, the locals are forced to consume unsafe water from ponds and ditches, which leads to outbreaks of diarrhoea and other waterborne diseases.

"There is no water in tube wells, ponds, or canals. Rain is the only solution," said the health department's Executive Engineer, Md Shafiul Haque.

Meanwhile, the reports suggested that 9,871 tube wells out of the registered 36,811 have been not functioning since a long period of time.

And nearly half of the remaining tubewells are dried up with no access to water. Adding to that 50 per cent of the two lakh shallow tube wells installed privately are not producing safe water.

Further, the Fulgazi Upazila of the district reflected a grim picture as the situation is dire amid the water crisis. Kulsum Akter Sharifa, a resident of Sharifpur village's Kazi Bari, said that five out of 11 families have deep tubewells, but there is no access to safe water.

"We're suffering terribly trying to collect water for drinking and cooking. We're forced to fetch water from distant sources," the resident said.

Another resident said that none of the 35 deep tubewells in his village are functioning. "This is the reality in almost every ward of our union. We have no safe water," he added.

Last month, according to a report in The Daily Star, Bangladesh is facing an escalating water crisis, the struggle for safe drinking water is becoming increasingly dire in several districts -- both in urban centres and remote villages.