Present status of the Buriganga River
Md. Salman Rahman
and
Md. Tafiqul Islam
For several decades,
river pollution and fresh water depletion are viewed as one of the top
environment problems in Asian region. The Buriganga River in Bangladesh is
subject to severe pollution and considered as one of the worst polluted rivers in
the World. Especially, the development of tannery industry at Hazaribagh that
has contributed to Bangladesh economy is causing pollution and the disruption of
the ecosystem. As a result, the environmental
problems are getting worse.
According to the Export promotion Bureau (EPB) of Bangladesh, export earnings
from leather industry were US$401.64 million
in 2009-2010. But Hazaribagh tannery city consisting of 196 tanneries is
discharging hazardous effluents everyday directly to the to the Buriganga
without any treatment. This is responsible for the high Biochemical Oxygen
Demand (BOD) and low Dissolved Oxygen (DO) values in Buriganga water.
Low DO value in Buriganga water and such relation is a crucial problem in
any developing country that stresses on economic growth compromising
environmental pollution. Inadequate waste water management systems, lack of
sewerage and infrastructure facilities in on hand and lack effective pollution
control measure and their strict enforcements may be largely responsible for
this alarming problem and grave situation. When at the same time several dying
industries at the river bank as well as the medical and dispensary wastes and
solid wastes also produce irreversible hazards to Buriganga and surrounding
environment. The pollution by the tanneries and health hazards caused by the
pollution has also been investigated. Several government decisions has been made
to revive the tolerant condition of Buriganga among which the shifting Tanneries
from Hazaribagh to Saver area and subsidies to the toxic industries for
establishing Effluent Treatment Plant(ETP) can be mentioned, but none of these
projects have been implemented yet. That’s why, Buriganga, the glory of Dhaka is
under the threat of demolition and wiping out effect. The adjacent areas of
Buriganga river like Keranigang and Kamrangirchar are also severely affected. At
the end of this thesis, several proposals regarding the improvement of water
quality of Buriganga River are highlighted.