Govt takes move to save Buriganga
Courtesy New Age 26/4/08
The interim administration has taken a move to save the dying River Buriganga, whose pollution is posing serious threat to the health of 16 million people living in and around the
It formed a committee last month to find ways to reduce the level of pollution in the rivers around the capital, including Buriganga, and reclaim their banks from encroachers.
Passing through the southern side of the capital, the river contains water intoxicated with frequent dumping of industrial and solid wastes, sewage and oil spillage from vessels, according to experts.
The situation of the river, once known as the lifeline of the capital, has by now become worst with its water turning pitch black and toxic in many portions in and near the capital, they said, adding that the situation will continue to deteriorate if the present level of pollution continues. No plant or animal can survive in such water, they said.
A recent study conducted by the Department of Environment found the level of dissolved oxygen in the river water is almost zero while fresh water contains dissolved oxygen level from six to seven milligram in per litre.
The department collected sample of water from five points in Buriganga and found the degree of dissolved oxygen at 0.10 milligram per litre only in one place and.
Water sample of four other points produced the level of dissolved oxygen at nil, said a report of the DoE referring to the investigation conducted early this month.
‘According to the results of the tests, water pollution has reached to a dangerous level in the river,’ said Abdus Salam, one of the directors of the department and also a member of the committee formed last month.
The 22-member committee, formed comprising members from organisations including the Local Government Division, Dhaka City Corporation, Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha, energy and mineral resources division, Petrobangla, environment ministry, institute of water modelling, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority, Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Dhaka Export Processing Zones, district administration and the army-led joint forces.
Two technical committees are working now to identify the sources of pollution and review of the previous steps taken by different agencies and related laws and rules to help future actions.
SM Mahbubur Rahma, the head of water resource planning at the
He said pollution-free water usually contains dissolved oxygen more or less seven milligram per litre.
‘If the level comes below four milligram per litre, then we say the water is highly polluted and it poses threat to the ecosystem,’ said the water expert adding that living plants or animals in such water must face extinction.
The expert identified nine industrial areas in and around the capital city – Tongi, Tejgaon, Hazaribagh, Tarabo, Narayangang, Savar, Gazipur, Dhaka Export Processing Zone and Ghorashal — as the prime sources of river pollution. Most of the industrial units in these areas have no effluent treatment plants.
More than 60,000 cubic metres of toxic waste (textile dying, printing, washing and pharmaceuticals) enters into the
Besides,
Industrial waste accounts for 60 per cent of the total river pollution followed by municipal wastes and improper handling of other wastes, Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury, the director general of the department of social welfare, who is now heading the committee to launch action to arrest river pollution initially of the rivers around the capital city, said referring to a number of recent studies conducted on pollution.
There are few other factors responsible for pollution, which he told New Age, would be taken into consideration while the government would draw comprehensive programme to prevent pollution of river water.
The committee, he said, would suggest few immediate measures, and draw short-term and long-term programmes to this direction.
‘We will sit with the members of the civil society, eminent persons, experts and environmentalists before we draw the final plans,’ Kamal said.
The committee said in a preliminary observation that a central effluent treatment plant was being set up at the Dhaka Export Processing Zone, but the most of the industrial units outside are not complying with standard effluent plants.
It suggested that treatment plants could be set up at the industrial zones where the plants were yet to be established on partnership basis.
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