Even if all the other toxic materials are treated, the salt will kill the biodiversity of the river, said Environmentalists. The country’s tannery industry uses around 40,000 tonnes of salt annually. Now it won’t be possible to add the desalinisation unit to the CETP, officials said as the setting up of the long-awaited plant at the industrial estate is almost complete.
As of last year, the tannery factories in Hazaribagh daily produced about 21,600 cubic metres of environmentally hazardous liquid containing chemicals such as chromium, sulphur, ammonium, salt and other chemicals. The Savar project took off in 2003. The plan was to complete it in 2005 at an approximate cost of Tk 175.75 crore. As it was rescheduled thrice, the cost went up to Tk 827.99 crore.
The Department of Environment recently tested the water of river and found the waste was not treated properly. Conducted on January 5, the test found more than 80 microgram of salt along with other pollutants in one litre of the river water.
It remains a mystery as to why no desalination capability was added to the plant as it is known that tanneries use a lot of salt. The Department of Environment’s tests have found that other pollutants also exist in the Dhaleshwari, leading one to question whether the water is being treated properly at all. There must be a way to find out whether the units are working properly by continually testing the water for other pollutants.
Different cement and textile factories which were established at Char Mukterpur of Munshiganj Sadar are also responsible for much of the pollution of the Dhaleshwari. The ash from the cement factories is polluting the air while dyes and other chemicals from the textile factories are directly dumped in the river, polluting the water seriously.
The river water across three-kilometre area from Mirkadim Port up to Char Kishoreganj has become extremely polluted due to the existing cement and textile factories which dont have proper effluent plants.
If the untreated effluent of the tanneries is added it will lead to the death of the river, just like the Meghna and Buriganga. This is yet another ecological disaster waiting to happen.The government must set up ETPs for all the industries in the area to save the Dhaleshwari.
