IN a move to save the major rivers around the capital city, the government has made Effluent Treatment Plants (ETP) mandatory for all factories, as reported in media outlets on Thursday. After an inter-ministerial meeting, Shipping Minister on Wednesday said firmly that if the existing ETPs are not made functional immediately, the factories along the Shitalakkhya, Balu, Turag and Buriganga rivers would be shut down. Without mentioning any deadline, the tough stance of the Minister to protect the rivers from pollution seems vague to many environmentalists but we hope that the Minister is sincere in his efforts to make the dying rivers pollution free.
The once mighty Buriganga at present is virtually devoid of any biological life while the three other rivers are also endangered. Soft attitude of the government towards polluters and lack of awareness among city dwellers have literally left dead all the rivers and other surface waters in and around the capital. Over the years the government agencies conducted small-scale drives against the polluters without yielding any major success. The polluters have meanwhile continued polluting the rivers side by side with city dwellers linking excreta discharge to the storm sewerage that ultimately falls into the rivers. It has been around six years since the High Court ordered industries not to discharge waste into water and to install ETPs within a year.
Despite the directive, industrial waste is solely responsible for pollution of the rivers while sewer, medical, household and other wastes are responsible for rest of the pollution. And tannery waste and household waste are responsible for 30 percent and 15 percent pollution of the rivers respectively. Out of 7,000 industries, only 102 have installed ETP while the rest are still discharging waste water into the rivers. However, the environmental law enacted in 1997 bars such ‘untreated’ filthy water discharge in water bodies.
Just show responsibility and competence to save the dying rivers. Claiming success and showing success are not the same.
The once mighty Buriganga at present is virtually devoid of any biological life while the three other rivers are also endangered. Soft attitude of the government towards polluters and lack of awareness among city dwellers have literally left dead all the rivers and other surface waters in and around the capital. Over the years the government agencies conducted small-scale drives against the polluters without yielding any major success. The polluters have meanwhile continued polluting the rivers side by side with city dwellers linking excreta discharge to the storm sewerage that ultimately falls into the rivers. It has been around six years since the High Court ordered industries not to discharge waste into water and to install ETPs within a year.
Despite the directive, industrial waste is solely responsible for pollution of the rivers while sewer, medical, household and other wastes are responsible for rest of the pollution. And tannery waste and household waste are responsible for 30 percent and 15 percent pollution of the rivers respectively. Out of 7,000 industries, only 102 have installed ETP while the rest are still discharging waste water into the rivers. However, the environmental law enacted in 1997 bars such ‘untreated’ filthy water discharge in water bodies.
Just show responsibility and competence to save the dying rivers. Claiming success and showing success are not the same.
