Water bodies to be preserved in capital to ensure sustainability
Sunday, 27 June 2010
To ensure the capital's sustainability, the government should prioritise preserving water bodies in implementing the Detailed Area Plan (DAP) to protect surface water by controlling pollution, encroachment and reviving water bodies, reports UNB.
Emphasising augmentation of the navigation system by dredging water bodies to control floods during the rainy season, the environmentalists urged the government to take immediate measures to stop encroachment of water bodies to keep water flow viable in the city.
"Surface water is the only resource for Dhaka City as well as for the country," said Mohammed Ataur Rahman, Director of the Programme on Education for Sustainability of IUBAT (International University of Business Agriculture and Technology).
He said people should protect surface water to meet all necessary demands as the country's groundwater is decreasing and gradually seeping further into the ground. "Preservation of surface water can help enrich groundwater, and that can ensure sustainable development."
Rahman said the rising crisis of drinking water in the country's rural and urban areas can be mitigated through recycling water for the households, along with proper treatment of domestic and industrial waste before they are discharged into the water bodies like rivers and canals.
The authorities concerned should take immediate measures for creating mass awareness to stop misuse of water and also move to take legal steps to protect the country's natural resources for sustainable development, he said.
He said taps and showers must not run continuously when we take a bath or wash crockery, utensils and clothes. Any leakage of pipes and broken water taps should immediately be repaired or replaced.
"Used-water of bathrooms should be re-used for washing commodes; kitchen-used-water should be used for watering kitchen garden," the IUBAT professor said.
Although the total water of the earth is still inexhaustible, a great scarcity of fresh water exists in Bangladesh, where average rainfall is as high as 2000 mm/year and 143,000 cusec of water flows in the rivers, he said.
The overall situation of water resources of Bangladesh is very deplorable. This crisis is not only affecting city life but also agriculture, which is in a very alarming situation, Ataur said.
The rivers flowing around the cities - Turag, Buriganga, Balu and Sitalakhya - have been turned into open sewage canals. Industrial wastes from the dyeing & garments, tanneries & leather, oil & chemicals, clinics and medicine factories, and poultry farms, domestic garbage, feces and many other harmful substances are being dumped into the rivers and fresh water bodies.
Emphasising augmentation of the navigation system by dredging water bodies to control floods during the rainy season, the environmentalists urged the government to take immediate measures to stop encroachment of water bodies to keep water flow viable in the city.
"Surface water is the only resource for Dhaka City as well as for the country," said Mohammed Ataur Rahman, Director of the Programme on Education for Sustainability of IUBAT (International University of Business Agriculture and Technology).
He said people should protect surface water to meet all necessary demands as the country's groundwater is decreasing and gradually seeping further into the ground. "Preservation of surface water can help enrich groundwater, and that can ensure sustainable development."
Rahman said the rising crisis of drinking water in the country's rural and urban areas can be mitigated through recycling water for the households, along with proper treatment of domestic and industrial waste before they are discharged into the water bodies like rivers and canals.
The authorities concerned should take immediate measures for creating mass awareness to stop misuse of water and also move to take legal steps to protect the country's natural resources for sustainable development, he said.
He said taps and showers must not run continuously when we take a bath or wash crockery, utensils and clothes. Any leakage of pipes and broken water taps should immediately be repaired or replaced.
"Used-water of bathrooms should be re-used for washing commodes; kitchen-used-water should be used for watering kitchen garden," the IUBAT professor said.
Although the total water of the earth is still inexhaustible, a great scarcity of fresh water exists in Bangladesh, where average rainfall is as high as 2000 mm/year and 143,000 cusec of water flows in the rivers, he said.
The overall situation of water resources of Bangladesh is very deplorable. This crisis is not only affecting city life but also agriculture, which is in a very alarming situation, Ataur said.
The rivers flowing around the cities - Turag, Buriganga, Balu and Sitalakhya - have been turned into open sewage canals. Industrial wastes from the dyeing & garments, tanneries & leather, oil & chemicals, clinics and medicine factories, and poultry farms, domestic garbage, feces and many other harmful substances are being dumped into the rivers and fresh water bodies.