Prof. Dr. Ahmad Kamruzzaman Majumder :
Annually, World Rivers Day takes place on the last Sunday of September. This year the 26th September keeping with the theme, “waterways in our community” it is being celebrated across the country. This day highlights the many values of rivers and strives to increase public awareness to improve the current situation of rivers around the world. Many organizations, academicians, and activists are organizing awareness campaigns and human chains to celebrate this day. In our country, National River Conservation Commission, Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (BAPA), Riverine People, Buriganga Bachao Andolon, Green Voice, and government and non-government universities are arranging the river day programs. They are celebrating this day for saving our rivers because our rivers are dying fast.
We have degraded our rivers to such an extent that it may take a while for them to recover. Although the major rivers of Bangladesh are Padma, Meghna, Jamuna, and Brahmaputra, many other small rivers also join these along the way. But with each day these are facing great threats. Rivers are dumped with various wastes such as household waste, industrial waste, and plastic bags. Wastewater is discharged legally or illegally by a manufacturer, oil refinery, or wastewater treatment facility, as well as contamination from leaking septic systems, and chemical and oil spills. Among the 48 countries of Asia and the Pacific region, Bangladesh has the most polluted waters. According to a World Bank study, four major rivers near Dhaka — the Buriganga, Shitalakhya, Turag, and Balu- receive 1.5 million cubic meters of wastewater every day from 7,000 industrial units in the surrounding areas.
From 1990-2017, about 90 percent of the leather industry was situated in the densely populated Hazaribagh area. Leather factories have been polluting the waters of the Buriganga River year after year. Later, in 2003, it was decided to relocate the leather factories to Hemayetpur in Savar, but the implementation started in 2016. At present, the Central Waste Treatment Plant (CETP) of the leather industry city of Savar has started production of 125 tanneries without full operation. There are 205 plots and 155 tanneries in Savar leather city. Leather processing contaminates different types of liquid water in a few steps. In this case, the sodium chloride and chemicals present in the waste cause soil and water pollution. The waste emitted in the liming process contains alkali, sulfide, and calcium carbonate, proteins which mix with the water and contaminate the water. Again from the process of diluting and tanning the liquid waste mixed with ammonium and chromium dissolves in the water. Pigments, oils, greases are made to dye various leather products. Later, these liquid wastes get mixed in the surrounding reservoirs, ground water or rivers and its ultimately polluting the river water. At different times this fluid mixes with groundwater and changes its quality. Excessive water use, on the other hand, is putting additional pressure on the city’s Central Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP). Where about 30,000 liters of water is required per ton of raw hides the tanneries there use more than 50,000 liters of water. As a result, CETP fails to treat the waste water. And that untreated water is flowing into Dhaleshwari River. There are three rivers (Buriganga, Dhaleshwari and Singha) flowing through Keraniganjupazila. Among them the Buriganga and Dhaleshwari rivers still continue to flow, but the Singha River is almost dead today. On the other hand, Buriganga and Dhaleshwari rivers are constantly getting polluted.
Although there is a lot of wrong already done to our rivers, the silver lining is that we do have the rights and laws for our rivers. Article 18(A) of the Constitution of Bangladesh, which clearly states that the state shall endeavour to protect and conserve rivers, wetlands, and forests.
Other laws such as the Bangladesh Water Act 2013, the National River Protection Commission Act 2013, and the Environment Conservation Act 1995 all have the provision for the protection of the environment and control and mitigation of environmental pollution.
Sadly, despite having many rules, the lack of implementation has caused the river conditions to be what they are right now. Municipal sewage or industrial discharges are not the only pollutants of rivers. There are other causes of environmental pollution such as unplanned solid waste management, excessive pesticide use in agriculture etc. It is high time to prevent the causes which are directly or indirectly polluting our river water. It is impossible to reduce river pollution through only government initiatives. People should support government initiatives and work together.
(Professor Dr. Ahmad KamruzzamanMajumder, Dean, Faculty of Science, Chairman, Department of Environmental Science, Stamford University Bangladesh).
