The rivers of Bangladesh: Pollution threatens the very existence

Bangladesh is a riverine country criss-crossed by one of the largest networks in the world with a total number of about 700 rivers including tributaries, which have a total length of about 24,140 km. They consist of tiny hilly streams, winding seasonal creeks, muddy canals (khals), some truly magnificent rivers and their tributaries and distributaries. Most of the rivers rise from the Himalayas and fall into the Bay of Bengal. The lives of people of Bangladesh, its economy, culture, rituals, eco-diversity – everything is heavily dependent on rivers in Bangladesh. So, it?s very important to have a pollution-free, uninterrupted flow of water in the river system of Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is a deltaic land created & flown over by numerous rivers the land is also consistently nourished by their water flows. Bangladesh had 1400 to 1500 rivers in the 11th Century but reduced to about 7 hundreds due to various natural anthropogenic factors. Out of these rivers, 25 are already dead or going to die. Dozens of other are drying up gradually. Only around 100 rivers have navigable depth round the year at the moment. Total river route in the country in 1971 was 24,140 Km now reduced to 3800 km only during the lean flow period. Flow reduction becomes critical in 97% of the rivers in dry season (Nov to March). Causes of flow reduction include flow diversion and water withdrawal in upstream region mainly by India in all 54 rivers & partly by Myanmar through damming or other obstructive or diversionary infrastructures. Prolonged silt deposition meanwhile killed 187 rivers. All the rivers of Bangladesh carry about 3.8 billion tons of silt every year & 40- 45 million tons get deposited on the river beds. Many rivers lost their depths and about 77% of the river-mouths are silted meanwhile. Moreover, 500 Flood Controlling drainage & irrigation projects taken in last 60 years have disconnected 35 million hectors of land from the rivers. Harmful & river killing structures were built on certain rivers causing immense negative impacts on them.

Nowadays illegal encroachment is going unabated choking the rivers in Bangladesh. 158 rivers lost their width from unauthorized encroachments. Land is developed for various purposes, mainly to build shops, construction yards, depot of sand, cement or lumber, homesteads, etc. Such processes of encroachment of the river are controlled mostly by the politically powerful. 

About 11% of the rivers in Bangladesh are polluted by Industry wastes. Further escalations are noted from agro-chemicals, marine vehicular discharges & wastes, municipal cum domestic wastes. As per various studies, rivers around Dhaka namely the Buriganga, Shitalakshya, Turag, Balu, Bangshi & Dhaleswary have earned notorious impression due to their huge pollutions from Industry wastes (60%), municipal house-hold & city drainage of toilet wastes (30%). Government looks like shy in executing the decision for mandatory fixation of ETPs in the industrial plants. Excreta & dead bodies also play a significant role in polluting the rivers in Bangladesh. In spite of prolonged national drives, the nation is yet to achieve a satisfactory Sanitation management. Rivers and canals are major disposal venues for much amount of human & animal excreta as well as dead animal bodies especially by the river side inhabitants. About 1.6 million tons of chemical fertilizers & 4-5 thousand tons of pesticides are used for agriculture every year. Though illegal, the notorious ?dirty dozen? group of illegally imported 9 out of 12 Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are also being used all over the country for agricultural & house hold purposes. These are: Eldrin, Dieldrin, Chlorden, DDT, Endrin, Heptochlor, Mirax & Toxafen. A huge portion of these dangerous items are carried by rain water & flood flushes causing huge contamination to the rivers, wetlands, ponds, soil and finally entering the food chains & human cum animal bodies as permanent pollutants causing numerous deadly diseases.

We can see clearly that 32 important rivers of Bangladesh are the victims of dangerously toxic industrial discharges namely: Mercury, Lead, Chromium, Cadmium, Arsenic, Potassium, Calcium, Manganese, Iron, Copper, Zinc, Bromine, Nickel, Strontium, Rubidium, Titanium, Ammonia, Calcium Chloride, Sodium Hydroxide, Sulfuric Acid, Chlorine, Carbon di Oxide, Sulfur di Oxide, Nitrogen, Persistent Organic & Inorganic compounds, Oil, Lubricants, Grease, Fish Poisons, Solid & Liquids wastes, Mixed Chemical Effluents & Hot Water. The magnitude of pollution from these items having potentials of inflicting chemical injuries to human health & environment is huge and potentially damaging. Untreated liquid industrial effluents are being discharged into rivers indiscriminately, especially around urban areas, leaving these rivers biologically dead as the level of dissolved oxygen a must for the survival of fish and other aquatic animals becomes very low.

Bangladesh boasts appropriate laws to safeguard the rivers and environment. Article 18(A) of our Constitution clearly states: ?The State shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and to preserve and safeguard the natural resources, bio-diversity, wetlands, forests and wild life for the present and future citizens.? The State has enacted a number of laws including Bangladesh Water Act 2013, National River Protection Commission Act, 2013, and The Environment Conservation Act, 1995 (upgraded in 2010) which have provisions for the protection of the environment, and control and mitigation of environmental pollution. In 1997, the State had produced the rules and regulations for environment conservation and promulgated the Environmental Quality Standard. Bangladesh is among the few countries that have a separate court on environment.

We have the appropriate constitutional provisions and necessary laws for taking action against encroachers and polluters. So it is possible to safeguard our rivers and environment if the administration is fully committed to do so. The governments of India and China are cleaning up their rivers they are using modern technology such as Remote Sensing and Satellite Monitoring to monitor the conditions of the rivers. So, we need to

Wage a war against river pollution and environment degradation. Students may play a major role in building up public opinion to this end and it is only students who work selflessly, regarded highly by the general mass and who have fresh minds to fight, achieve and safeguard the precious natural resources on this planet and make it green and habitable for all including human being and other lives.