The Department of Public Health Engineering under the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives of the Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh has an Upazila Public Health Engineering Office in each Upazila. Which is managed by the Executive Engineer at the district level and the Supervising Engineer at the divisional level and the Chief Engineer at the headquarters.

Designation of the Head of the Department: Assistant Engineer, Department of Public Health Engineering

History:

The Department of Public Health Engineering is an important organization under the Local Government Department. The Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) was established in 1936 with the responsibility of improving public health through safe water supply. Later, in 1945, the responsibility of providing sanitation services was added to it. Immediately after Bangladesh gained independence in 1971, the government first emphasized the rehabilitation of the destroyed water supply and sanitation systems and subsequently started establishing new infrastructure through DPHE. In the same vein, the responsibility of constructing and managing safe water supply and sanitation systems in the entire country, except for the areas under WASA, is currently vested in this department. Safe water and sanitation play a very important role in protecting the health of the public. The Department of Public Health Engineering is working tirelessly to provide safe water and sanitation facilities to the people. As a result, Bangladesh occupies one of the top positions in the entire South Asia in terms of safe water and sanitation coverage. The main responsibility of the Department of Public Health Engineering is to maintain various types of safe water sources (tubewells) and sanitary latrine facilities in rural areas. In addition, this department provides technical assistance to the Union Parishad through the WATSAN Committee for the maintenance of rural water supply and sanitation infrastructure, strengthening health care and providing necessary assistance for the development of the surrounding environment. Due to rapid urbanization, the demand for municipal water supply and sanitation is increasing day by day. To meet this demand, this department is assisting municipalities in planning and institutional development under technical assistance including construction of water supply and sanitation infrastructure. In addition, it is implementing necessary activities to keep safe water supply and sanitation systems operational in emergency situations caused by floods, cyclones, epidemics, etc.