Buriganga must be saved from dying
Shahiduzzaman Khan | Sunday, 24 August 2008
The Buriganga river is dying. It appears that nobody is caring about its dangerous after-effects. While the dwellers of Dhaka city are neglecting this issue, the river is slowly losing its life day by day. City fathers, its dwellers and the relevant agencies are to be blamed for this. The government is apparently doing nothing to stop the industrial units surrounding the river from spewing out dangerous chemicals into the river. It must take appropriate steps to stop further pollution of Buriganga water so that the aquatic lives are saved.
A group of environmentalists called for forming an authority to save Buriganga and other rivers and introducing a river patrolling team to take care of the rivers. They appeared seriously concerned over the precarious condition of the rivers around the capital. They said solid and liquid wastes of different factories are being dumped into Buriganga, Balu and Turag rivers causing serious pollution of waters and silting of riverbeds. As a result, vessels cannot ply in the Buriganga stretching from Kamrangirchar to China-Bangladesh Friendship Bridge. Local people could start the dredging of the rivers manually if these were demarcated.
Only recently, the interim administration has taken a move to save the dying river Buriganga, whose pollution is posing serious threat to the health of 16 million people living in and around the Dhaka city. It formed a committee recently to find ways to reduce the level of pollution in the rivers around the capital, including Buriganga, and reclaim their banks from encroachers.
Passing through the southern side of the capital, the river contains water intoxicated with frequent dumping of industrial and solid wastes, sewage and oil spillage from vessels. The situation of the river, once known as the lifeline of the capital, has by now become worst with its water turning pitch black and toxic in many portions in and near the capital. It will continue to deteriorate if the present level of pollution continues. No plant or animal can survive in such water.
A recent study conducted by the Department of Environment (DoE) found the level of dissolved oxygen in the river water is almost zero while fresh water contains dissolved oxygen level from six to seven milligram per litre. The department collected sample of water from five points in Buriganga and found the degree of dissolved oxygen at 0.10 milligram per litre only in one place and water sample of four other points produced the level of dissolved oxygen at nil.
According to the results of the tests, water pollution has reached a very dangerous level in this river. Two technical committees are working now to identify the sources of pollution and review of the previous steps taken by different agencies and related laws and rules to help future actions.
The extent of pollution in the Buriganga definitely poses a serious threat to the health of residents in and around the capital.
Experts identified nine industrial areas in and around the capital city - Tongi, Tejgaon, Hazaribagh, Tarabo, Narayangang, Savar, Gazipur, Dhaka Export Processing Zone and Ghorashal - as the prime sources of river pollution. Most of the industrial units in these areas have no effluent treatment plants. More than 60,000 cubic metres of toxic wastes from textile dying, printing, washing and pharmaceuticals enter into the Dhaka canals and river system every day while nearly 4.0 million people directly suffer the consequence of poor water quality of the river system caused by untreated textile industry waste alone. Besides, Dhaka city discharges about 4,500 tonnes of solid waste every day, of which maximum 30 per cent are disposed at designated dumpsites.
Industrial waste accounts for 60 per cent of the total river pollution followed by municipal wastes and improper handling of other wastes. There are few other factors responsible for pollution, which would be taken into consideration while the government would draw comprehensive programme to prevent pollution of river water. The committee would suggest few immediate measures, and draw short-term and long-term programmes to this direction. It said in a preliminary observation that a central effluent treatment plant was being set up at the Dhaka Export Processing Zone, but most of the industrial units outside are not acquiring and operating standard effluent plants. It suggested that treatment plants could be set up at the industrial zones where the plants were yet to be established on partnership basis.
Demanding immediate implementation of the recommendations of the taskforce regarding Buriganga, experts said there is no time for sitting without doing anything. It is already late and it is the last time if the government wants to save the river. They said Buriganga has already become a dumping ground for all kinds of dangerous toxic wastes. The percentage of soluble oxygen in the pitch black water of the Buriganga has come down to a nil at certain places.
The movement to save the Buriganga has taken a new turn as increased number of people are taking interest in it. The government took a number of good decisions but pace of their implementation is very slow. People will have to come forward to force the government to implement its decision regarding the Buriganga and other rivers. Residents from the old part of the city should be engaged in the movement to save the Buriganga as their lifestyle is closely interlinked with it. Demanding the widening of the river as per catastrophe survey (CS), environmentalists said if the government would have implemented the taskforce decisions, the condition of the river could not be so miserable.
Saving the Buriganga has, thus, become a matter of great concern for the entire nation, whose interest is not only the protection of the Buriganga but also of other rivers and water bodies, including the Balu, the Turag and the Sitalakhya. Water is the most crucial element for survival of all living organisms, and it must remain free from pollution.
The rivers that surround Dhaka are the lifeline of the capital. The population of the city, which was merely 0.1 million in 1906, has jumped to over 1.2 million now, but the authorities have so far failed to prepare and implement any effective plan to keep the rivers free from pollution and illegal land grabbers. It transpires that the authorities launch frequent drives to remove unauthorised structures from the riverbanks; more for publicity than for any tangible result. During the last several years, series of drives had been launched for clearing unauthorised structures, but gradually those were rebuilt. There have been repeated demands from different non-government organisations to protect the recovered water bodies so that land grabbers cannot recapture such land. But the demands have apparently fallen on deaf ears.
It is widely believed, and not without basis, that there is an understanding between the land grabbers and a section of employees working with the concerned government agencies. Encroachment and pollution of the rivers surrounding Dhaka, including the Buriganga, continue despite the existence of more than a couple of dozen government agencies involved in the management of the rivers and water bodies.
Bangladesh is the lower riparian country of the Ganges-Padma, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna (GBM). But those rivers are being increasingly degraded by untreated domestic raw sewage, industrial effluents, and run-off pollution from chemical fertilisers and pesticides. With the passage of time, the river has now been turned almost into a "septic reservoir" in absence of proper supervision and management by the concerned agencies, as about 22,000 cubic metres of toxic tannery wastes are directly dumped into the river everyday.
The government also enacted the Environment Court Act 2000, which was followed by some amendments in 2002, to set up one or more environment courts in each division to deal with the environment-related offences. But such courts could not ensure speedy trial of the cases due to lack of sincerity and seriousness on the part of DoE officials.
There is a need for creating a powerful body to free the rivers from the clutches of the encroachers and polluters, instead of having so many non-functional ornamental bodies. There should also be sufficient scope for devising ways and means so that the land or water bodies, once recovered from the land grabbers, cannot be recaptured.
szkhan@thefinancialexpress-bd.com
A group of environmentalists called for forming an authority to save Buriganga and other rivers and introducing a river patrolling team to take care of the rivers. They appeared seriously concerned over the precarious condition of the rivers around the capital. They said solid and liquid wastes of different factories are being dumped into Buriganga, Balu and Turag rivers causing serious pollution of waters and silting of riverbeds. As a result, vessels cannot ply in the Buriganga stretching from Kamrangirchar to China-Bangladesh Friendship Bridge. Local people could start the dredging of the rivers manually if these were demarcated.
Only recently, the interim administration has taken a move to save the dying river Buriganga, whose pollution is posing serious threat to the health of 16 million people living in and around the Dhaka city. It formed a committee recently to find ways to reduce the level of pollution in the rivers around the capital, including Buriganga, and reclaim their banks from encroachers.
Passing through the southern side of the capital, the river contains water intoxicated with frequent dumping of industrial and solid wastes, sewage and oil spillage from vessels. The situation of the river, once known as the lifeline of the capital, has by now become worst with its water turning pitch black and toxic in many portions in and near the capital. It will continue to deteriorate if the present level of pollution continues. No plant or animal can survive in such water.
A recent study conducted by the Department of Environment (DoE) found the level of dissolved oxygen in the river water is almost zero while fresh water contains dissolved oxygen level from six to seven milligram per litre. The department collected sample of water from five points in Buriganga and found the degree of dissolved oxygen at 0.10 milligram per litre only in one place and water sample of four other points produced the level of dissolved oxygen at nil.
According to the results of the tests, water pollution has reached a very dangerous level in this river. Two technical committees are working now to identify the sources of pollution and review of the previous steps taken by different agencies and related laws and rules to help future actions.
The extent of pollution in the Buriganga definitely poses a serious threat to the health of residents in and around the capital.
Experts identified nine industrial areas in and around the capital city - Tongi, Tejgaon, Hazaribagh, Tarabo, Narayangang, Savar, Gazipur, Dhaka Export Processing Zone and Ghorashal - as the prime sources of river pollution. Most of the industrial units in these areas have no effluent treatment plants. More than 60,000 cubic metres of toxic wastes from textile dying, printing, washing and pharmaceuticals enter into the Dhaka canals and river system every day while nearly 4.0 million people directly suffer the consequence of poor water quality of the river system caused by untreated textile industry waste alone. Besides, Dhaka city discharges about 4,500 tonnes of solid waste every day, of which maximum 30 per cent are disposed at designated dumpsites.
Industrial waste accounts for 60 per cent of the total river pollution followed by municipal wastes and improper handling of other wastes. There are few other factors responsible for pollution, which would be taken into consideration while the government would draw comprehensive programme to prevent pollution of river water. The committee would suggest few immediate measures, and draw short-term and long-term programmes to this direction. It said in a preliminary observation that a central effluent treatment plant was being set up at the Dhaka Export Processing Zone, but most of the industrial units outside are not acquiring and operating standard effluent plants. It suggested that treatment plants could be set up at the industrial zones where the plants were yet to be established on partnership basis.
Demanding immediate implementation of the recommendations of the taskforce regarding Buriganga, experts said there is no time for sitting without doing anything. It is already late and it is the last time if the government wants to save the river. They said Buriganga has already become a dumping ground for all kinds of dangerous toxic wastes. The percentage of soluble oxygen in the pitch black water of the Buriganga has come down to a nil at certain places.
The movement to save the Buriganga has taken a new turn as increased number of people are taking interest in it. The government took a number of good decisions but pace of their implementation is very slow. People will have to come forward to force the government to implement its decision regarding the Buriganga and other rivers. Residents from the old part of the city should be engaged in the movement to save the Buriganga as their lifestyle is closely interlinked with it. Demanding the widening of the river as per catastrophe survey (CS), environmentalists said if the government would have implemented the taskforce decisions, the condition of the river could not be so miserable.
Saving the Buriganga has, thus, become a matter of great concern for the entire nation, whose interest is not only the protection of the Buriganga but also of other rivers and water bodies, including the Balu, the Turag and the Sitalakhya. Water is the most crucial element for survival of all living organisms, and it must remain free from pollution.
The rivers that surround Dhaka are the lifeline of the capital. The population of the city, which was merely 0.1 million in 1906, has jumped to over 1.2 million now, but the authorities have so far failed to prepare and implement any effective plan to keep the rivers free from pollution and illegal land grabbers. It transpires that the authorities launch frequent drives to remove unauthorised structures from the riverbanks; more for publicity than for any tangible result. During the last several years, series of drives had been launched for clearing unauthorised structures, but gradually those were rebuilt. There have been repeated demands from different non-government organisations to protect the recovered water bodies so that land grabbers cannot recapture such land. But the demands have apparently fallen on deaf ears.
It is widely believed, and not without basis, that there is an understanding between the land grabbers and a section of employees working with the concerned government agencies. Encroachment and pollution of the rivers surrounding Dhaka, including the Buriganga, continue despite the existence of more than a couple of dozen government agencies involved in the management of the rivers and water bodies.
Bangladesh is the lower riparian country of the Ganges-Padma, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna (GBM). But those rivers are being increasingly degraded by untreated domestic raw sewage, industrial effluents, and run-off pollution from chemical fertilisers and pesticides. With the passage of time, the river has now been turned almost into a "septic reservoir" in absence of proper supervision and management by the concerned agencies, as about 22,000 cubic metres of toxic tannery wastes are directly dumped into the river everyday.
The government also enacted the Environment Court Act 2000, which was followed by some amendments in 2002, to set up one or more environment courts in each division to deal with the environment-related offences. But such courts could not ensure speedy trial of the cases due to lack of sincerity and seriousness on the part of DoE officials.
There is a need for creating a powerful body to free the rivers from the clutches of the encroachers and polluters, instead of having so many non-functional ornamental bodies. There should also be sufficient scope for devising ways and means so that the land or water bodies, once recovered from the land grabbers, cannot be recaptured.
szkhan@thefinancialexpress-bd.com