The five rivers surrounding the capital city of Dhaka have turned terrible as their water stinks of bad smell due to severe pollution mainly caused by the industrial effluent and waste from the sewer pipes. Pollution of the five rivers — Buriganga, Shitalakshya, Balu, Turag and Dhaleshwari continues unabated, posing a threat to environment and public health.
These five rivers have become so polluted that their waters have turned pitch black, emitting foul stench round the clock. People living near the rivers are being compelled to smell foul odor and inhale toxic air.
There are a good many factories beside the five rivers. They dump their waste in the rivers, thus polluting their water. Besides, waste from the sewer lines fall into these rivers, worsening the situation.
Though the government took various measures to free the rivers from pollution, the Buriganga, Shitalakshya, Balu, Turag and Dhaleshwari are still being polluted with household and industrial wastes.
Encroachment upon these rivers are also going on under the very nose of the authorities concerned. Local influential people are allegedly grabbing river banks.
Unabated pollution and grabbing has put the Buriganga and other rivers into death throes. If grabbing continues, Buriganga will disappear from the map of the country.
The five rivers have become so
polluted that their waters have
turned pitch black, emitting
foul stench round the clock.
Fourteen years back, the government took the Buriganga River Restoration Project. It also took measures to protect other rivers surrounding the capital city. Under the project, the Water Development Board (WDP) will increase 141 cusec water flow of the Buriganga by bringing 245 cusec water from the River Jamuna during the dry season.
The project has so far witnessed 83 percent progress till date while the prime minister asked the executing agency concerned to implement it as early as possible. But the fund crisis and unplanned development of structures like bridge and encroachment of river banks are the major barriers to the project implementation.
Bad smell originating from the polluted water of Buriganga, Dhaleswari, Pungli, Bangshi and Turag starts spreading in and around the rivers’ bank areas soon after the monsoon as their water quality starts deteriorating seriously. The situation improves for two to three months during the monsoon.
If the project would have been implemented within the timeframe, the water flow and navigability of these rivers including Buriganga would increase during the dry season and pollution would also decrease.
But due to unchecked disposal of industrial and household wastes in the Buriganga, Turag, Balu and Shitalakkhya rivers, their ecosystem have been destroyed. No aquatic life or organ can survive in the rivers during the dry season for lack of dissolved oxygen (DO).
About 50,000 tonnes of wastes including 60 percent industrial effluent are dumped in the Buriganga and other rivers surrounding the capital. The authorities concerned must devise a master plan with the joint efforts of the LGRD and water resources ministries to maintain the navigability of the rivers. Dumping of industrial and house waste in the rivers must be stopped. The authorities have to set up an integrated effluent treatment plant to recycle wastes
All the stakeholders must be involved in saving the Buriganga, Shitalakshya, Balu, Turag and Dhaleshwari by freeing them from encroachment and keeping it free from pollution, maintaining its normal flow and taking long-term measures to develop their navigation.
