Dhaka’s dying rivers

The rivers around Dhaka are in dire straits. And this has been the case for decades.

A recent report published in this newspaper, quoting Local Government and Rural Development Minister Md Tajul Islam states that to prevent water pollution and to free the river banks from encroachment, the government has taken up a master plan to prevent water pollution of six rivers in Dhaka and its adjacent areas. This indeed is a step in the right direction.

The minister while speaking at a programme on ‘Master plan on Meghna River’ at a hotel in the city on Sunday emphasized the necessity of coordinated efforts to prevent pollution of resources like water and air.

The concern is growing over Dhaka’s surrounding rivers’ water quality. An alarming note is being sounded, for pretty long now, none of the rivers around Dhaka does contain the minimum level of dissolved oxygen (DO) required for life forms to survive. In other words, they are turning dead. In the death throes are Buriganga Turag, Shitalakkhya, Balu, Dhaleshwari and Bangshi. The first four are considered lifelines of the capital city. Without oxygen, water is not possible and without water life gets extinct – the exactitude is evident now in many planets, including the moon.

The anatomy of the aquatic environs of the city indicates that the water on which life and livelihood here sustain itself is passing through a vicious transformation, turning it into a veritable liquid-like gel. Living beings cannot sustain in this zero-oxygen water and the city-dwellers cannot drink it safely even after treatment. Because of the excessive presence of harmful Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) in the Buriganga River, authorities at the water treatment plants are forced to increase the use of chlorine every day to make the water drinkable. However, as yet, the city residents cannot drink water directly from WASA pipelines.

Unabated encroachment that prevents the free flow of water, the dumping of medicinal waste and the waste of river passengers has compounded the problem, making the water unusable for not only humans but also livestock. What is most unfortunate is the fact that all these bad things – encroachment, dumping of industrial waste and other abuses – occur with full knowledge of the authorities.

The water of rivers in and around Dhaka are now so polluted that all of its fishes have died, and increasing filth and human waste have turned some parts into noxious stretches of dark gel. Even rowing across the river is now difficult for it smells so bad.

It reminds us of the fate of Dolai Khal of the 1950s that eventually later on was converted into an underground drain. The pollutants have eaten up all oxygen in the Buriganga and we call it biologically dead. It is like a septic tank. It is also stated that there is no fish or aquatic life in this river apart from zero-oxygen-survival kind of organisms. This is the scene on the surface-water front of the river.

Groundwater is also being contaminated with seeping toxic substances, such as chemicals like cadmium and chromium and other elements such as mercury carried by the industrial waste. Such contamination of both surface and groundwater is posing a serious health crisis for city dwellers. Serious diseases are on the rise. Water creates and sustains life. Scientists say that life perished on many planets as sources of water over there dried up over millions of years. So it is necessary to be alert so that our cities in particular and the country in general if not the planet at large because of our fault become devoid of living species.