March 14 was observed annually as the International Day of Action for Rivers to raise public awareness of destructive water development projects and health and sustainable management of the watersheds. This observance was initiated in 1998 by International Rivers, an ecological organisation located in California, USA.
The pride of Bangladesh is its rivers with one of the largest networks in the world with a total number of about 700 rivers including tributaries, which have a total length of about 24,140 km. They consist of tiny hilly streams, winding seasonal creeks, muddy canals, some truly magnificent rivers, their tributaries and distributaries.
Even though such a large part of the country is affected by river pollution in Bangladesh, need to say, this is a man-made disaster. Although the government has repeatedly enacted laws, it is unable to enforce the law mainly for political reasons. All the governments of Bangladesh have failed to enforce the law properly. From the capital city of the country to the remote areas, illegal river occupation and sand lifting are going on. During the summer and the winter many rivers dry up then crops are cultivated by some people with the help of local influential and politicians to earn money illegally. Because of this, ordinary people cannot say or interrupt anything for fear. Lack of public awareness is also one of the major causes of river pollution. Many of them do not know that the river is polluting due to his actions.
The water from these contaminated rivers is being drained into other rivers. Thus, other rivers are being polluted. We know, the city that has more industrial factories, the people of the city are more for different reasons. But in this country, the city has more industrial factories, the population is more. The city becomes more polluted and the city’s rivers are also more polluted. And because of these polluted cities and polluted rivers, the disease transmission of people in those cities is even higher. Gazipur and Narayanganj cities on the outskirts of Dhaka are also being heavily industrialized. As a result, the Shitalakshya River in Narayanganj and the Turag River in Gazipur are also reaching the level of pollution at Buriganga.
Today, the Buriganga River is afflicted by the noisome problem of pollution. The chemical waste of mills and factories, household waste, medical waste, sewage, dead animals, plastics, and oil are some of the Buriganga’s pollutants. The city of Dhaka discharges about 4,500 tons of solid waste every day and most of it is released into the Buriganga. According to the Department of Environment, 21,600 cubic metres (5.7 million US gallons) of toxic waste are released into the river by the tanneries every day. Experts identified nine industrial areas in and around the capital city as the primary sources of river pollution i.e. Tongi, Tejgaon, Hazaribagh, Tarabo, Narayanganj, Savar, Gazipur, Dhaka Export Processing Zone and Ghorashal. Most of the industrial units of these areas have no sewage treatment or effluent treatment plants (ETPs) of their own.
If the river pollution continues, one day all the pheasant rivers of this country will become polluted and become dead river. The riverine Bangladesh will take the form of a dead river country. Or on one side the rivers will be filled and on the other the villages of this country will merge with the river due to erosion. There will be no 68 thousands villages and 700 rivers. However, our concerted efforts can still help Bangladesh to restore its lost past form. We still spend a day in the dream for such a day, watching every single sunrise for such a day
(Md. Zillur Rahaman is a Banker and Freelance Contributor. Email: [email protected])
