SOS from rivers around the city

How a boon turns into a bane or a blessing into a curse is best exemplified by the highly deplorable condition of the rivers around the capital city. Nature created these streams for its own sake, man also found them beneficial; but for unsustainable use, those have now turned into bodies of dirty water. Rivers have given humans life and livelihood but, in turn, the latter have pronounced death penalty for the former. These rivers were once the lifeline of the city but now, polluted to the extreme, have themselves become sources of health hazard. The pitch-black water of the rivers and foul toxic smell emitted every moment are taking a heavy toll on health of those who live on the river banks and nearby areas. Given the death throes the rivers find themselves in, the authorities' negligence and reluctance to save them is deplorable.

The city area surrounded by five rivers on all sides, once crisscrossed by many natural canals and dotted with closed water bodies is convex in shape, with the central region a bit elevated compared to the periphery. These special physical features of the land attracted the founders of the city more than 400 years ago. They displayed extraordinary prudence in selecting the spot to set up a military base. From the point of defence strategy, the importance of the terrain was that the rivers around would serve as the first line of defence against invaders. The navigability of the rivers round the year and the natural drainage system were other points of consideration. A good many open and closed water bodies in the city also held excess water and helped keep city free from waterlogging. The then city authorities carefully maintained the navigability of the rivers and allowed none to pollute them. Our present-day policy makers and city authorities proved to be utterly incompetent in comparison to their predecessors. They have not only proved incapable of protecting the natural endowment but also failed to develop a modern drainage and sewerage system befitting the megacity with a population of about 20 million.

In addition to serving the above purposes, the rivers also served as waterways to transport cargoes and passengers. The canals were also used for communication with the city centre. Even during the early years of independent Bangladesh, farmers used to carry their agricultural products to Karwan Bazar wholesale market by boat. These rivers, abound with varieties of sweet water fishes, were important sources of animal protein for the city dwellers. Some of the canals were also used for mooring water vehicles. However, almost none of the facilities are available now due to negligence of the authorities to these natural endowments.

While these canals have been lost almost totally, the rivers are now in their death throes due to encroachment by powerful quarters and dumping of solid waste and industrial effluents. Human waste and waste from slaughter houses are also dumped into rivers indiscriminately. The pollution of the river water has reached beyond purification. Due to drastic fall of dissolved oxygen in the water of the rivers, aquatic plants and animals cannot survive in them. The Buriganga and the Turag rivers are virtually dead rivers; what remains of those now are shadows of their past. Needless to say, other rivers across the country are also not in good health.

The city is now absolutely dependent on ground water to meet its daily need. Had not the rivers been polluted to the present level, a significant part of the demand could have been met with river water. In that case, it would have been possible to supply water to the city dwellers at much cheaper rates. The rivers and nearby water bodies could supply fish to the citizens.

The rivers need to be saved from imminent deaths --- all for a healthy environment and well-being of the city dwellers. Saving the rivers involves such actions as dredging to remove solid waste and silt that have accumulated on their beds over many decades, freeing them from illegal encroachment and imposing complete ban on dumping of waste materials into them.

But the rivers around the city seem to be doomed since those are under nobody's care. There is no clear-cut answer to the question as to who own them and look after them. Despite the importance of the rivers for the ecology and environment of the city and communication, there is no unified authority that can take care of them and save them from impending death. The complex nature of river management would rather hasten the end of their life. The shipping ministry owns the river banks but it does not evict the illegal structures from there. The BIWTA is entrusted with the task but it is a question how many establishments they have knocked down so far. Water resources ministry owns the water but environment ministry has been assigned the task of keeping the water clean. How much the water is kept clean is anybody's knowledge. So many cooks have only spoiled the broth.

However, the rivers cannot be left to their fate, the authorities should take the task of saving the rivers seriously and chalk out a separate plan and make budgetary allocation for the purpose. A powerful taskforce may be entrusted with the task of reclaiming the rivers, canals and water bodies. On different occasions in the past people saw a mockery of river dredging and freeing city canals from encroachment. However, those were nothing more than eyewash. Let the rivers not fall victim, once again, to the negligence of the unwilling authorities.

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