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Download PDF Casting a grim look at the black and stinky liquid waste flow in the narrow Devdholai river, Afazuddin Mia, a resident of Nasirabad village by the river in Trimohini area on the outskirts of the capital, said the water is so toxic that even a snake would not dare to cross it.
“You would not find anything alive in the river water except mosquitoes using it as an ideal breeding place. Sometimes we have to stay inside mosquito net even in daytime,” Afazuddin said.
The septuagenarian was narrating the miserable condition of the river and people of the villages along its bank sitting at his small shop beside the river.
Another villager, Yusuf Ali, said, “We used to drink the river water and do other household work with it just two decades ago. But now we have to buy drinking water from Wasa (Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority.)”
Some others present there echoed what they said.
And their views reflected the sufferings of around 2.5 lakh people of 12 villages situated along the dying Devdholai river and equally polluted Narai canal that flows into it at Trimohini ghat. The area is hardly six kilometres from the capital’s zero point.
Domestic, industrial and various other wastes from different parts of the burgeoning city having a population of around 12 million flow into Narai canal at Rampura bridge point. The polluted Devdholai joins the Balu river, which flows into the Shitalakhya, contaminating their waters too. And no one bothers.
People of the villages along the banks of the Devdholai and the canal hesitate even to touch their pitch-black water emitting extremely foul odour. They have to depend on the Wasa water for drinking and other domestic uses.
Dhaka Wasa had set up two pumps at nearby Nandipara and Meradia in the face of repeated demonstrations by the local people demanding drinking water. People of the 12 affected villages including Nasirabad, Daserkanda, Barogram and Kayetpara clamoured for Wasa-supplied water as their tubewells dried up with the Devdholai gradually dying.
Wastes from Malibagh, Basabo, Goran, Kamalapur, Motijheel and other areas flow into Narai canal. Besides, untreated wastes from Tejgaon industrial area, Gulshan, Banani, Rampura and Karwan Bazar find their way into the canal and Balu river.
“Wasa has installed deep tubewells for people of Madertek and Nandipara areas. It is pumping out ground water, leaving our tubewells dry,” said Abul Hashem at Trimohini ghat.
Residents of the 12 villages first protested at the growing pollution of the river and canal about five years ago. The city mayor attended a protest rally in the area in 2003 and assured the locals of necessary steps. But nothing has been done so far.
BURIGANGA, TURAG
Besides the Shitalakhya and Balu rivers that encompass the city’s eastern and north-eastern parts, the Buriganga and the Turag rivers on its south and south-west have also virtually turned into flows of household and industrial wastes. Their waters are now highly toxic and stinky.
The Buriganga once was the main source of drinking water for Dhaka residents, and in the upstream not that from the capital, its water is still crystal clear. Many people living in this city still recall with pride that considering the strategic location of this river the Mughals had made Dhaka the capital of the then Bengal in 1610.
According to the Department of Environment (DoE), more than 21, 000 tonnes of tannery waste flows into the Buriganga alone daily. Illegal structures and encroachments along the banks have narrowed the Buriganga and Turag, adding to the dirt while various watercraft release burnt oil into their waters.
A Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) report on ‘Study on Waste Management in Dhaka City’, there are 6,919 factories around the city, many of those situated just by the rivers around it. These include textile, leather, wood product, chemical, paper, metal and other factories. Many of these discharge their liquid waste directly into the rivers. Moreover, hospitals and private clinics also dump their waste into the rivers.
The level of pollution of their water is so high that aquatic species cannot survive in it. And the situation is getting worse day by day.
A recent World Bank (WB) report contained results of a study by the Institute of Water Modelling (IWM) which says dissolved oxygen (DO) level in these rivers fall far below the accepted level during the seven dry months.
The DoE in a report in January said there was no oxygen in the Buriganga water at many points.
It conducted tests at nine points of the river and found level of oxygen 1.8 percent at five points and zero at the other points. The level of oxygen should be at least more than six percent for the survival of aquatic lives.
At the three points of the Balu river, the level of oxygen was 3.8 to 4.1 percent.
Moreover, Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), that means acidity, was much higher than the accepted level, the report mentioned.
When contacted, a high official from the DoE said they could not take necessary measures in this regard due to shortage of staffs. Only three of the 207 staffs are entitled to inspect polluter industries.
Back in November 2003, the government had formed a task force to recommend steps to save the rivers around the capital as part of a Tk 4,000 crore project. The task force comprising officials from four ministries, two directorates and civil society representatives submitted a report. But the matter seems to have ended there.
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