Impacts of River Pollution:

The capital of Bangladesh, Dhaka, is situated on the bank of the river Buriganga. The water
of Buriganga is polluted by industrial waste and capital sewage which cause her to become
biologically dead.
Tannery waste is mainly contaminating the river. Around 20,000 cubic meters of untreated
highly toxic liquid waste flow in to the Buriganga through canals on a recent repor of the
Department of Environment (DoP). These tanneries are mainly situated in Hazaribag few
kilometres away from capital. Due to over pollution of surface water, ground water of
Hazaribug is getting polluted. The contamination of Buriganga is threatenning the existence
of three other rivers Turag, Balu & Shitalakhya.
Several environmental processes are involved with the Buriganga. Its pollution is harming
the surrounding agricultural and aquatic environment. The deteriorating condition of the
river is also having an impact on the people living in its banks and depending on it for a
living. The pressures on the river and their state and impacts are tabulated in the table
below:

Pressures State Impacts

Pollution :  Decreasing inland  Pressure on water
 Industrial effluent water quality in source
 Domestic sewage dry season  Fish mortality and
 Fecal pollution  Declining fish decline on quality
 Oil spill population of fish
 Encroachment  Decreasing  Degradation of fish
 Sand extraction vegetation habitat
 Increasing river  Yield reduction
unpredictability  Increase in risk
from water borne
diseases
 Marine aquatic life
affected
 River bank erosion,
changes of river
courses, navigable
channels.
Impacts stretching boundaries:

Industrial discharge and sewage disposal into Buriganga river are the two most polluting
sources of water pollution. The pollution is mostly due to wastewater discharge from the
tannery industries in the Hazaribagh area and Tejgaon chemical and paper mills into the
river. Pollutants from these industries are categorized into three parts:
Bio-degradable organic waste; non bio-degradable inorganic waste and toxic waste.
Disposal of such untreated industrial waste is gradually destroying aquatic environments of
the river and this in turn is affecting people’s health. Millions of cubic metres of toxic waste
from the Hazaribagh tanneries and thousands of other industries, topped with a huge
volume of untreated sewage from the city, now remain almost stagnant within the river
water. The situation is set to continue until a new flow of
water rushes in from the upstream.

Water use in question

Extremely hazardous air pollution is generated by the

highly toxic water as it releases a 'gas' that starts irritating
the nostrils and throat as soon as humans breathe it. Its
foul odours can be smelled from as far away as half a
kilometre. In summer the situation is worse. The river
becomes pitch black and releases noxious smell.

The fetid smell of the river water has made it unsuitable for drinking and other purposes. As
a result there is a shortage of water source. People living along the river are the worst
victims of the pollution.

The river water is no longer healthy to drink. Analysis of surface water shows that the level
of dissolved oxygen in the river water is too low or sometimes non-existent as the toxic
effluents are discharged into the river. The toxic quotient of the river exceeds tolerable
limits in the months of January and February. The seasonal variation of water quality in the
Buriganga is linked with seasonal variation of water flow and the operation of the tanneries.
The seasonality of flow in the watercourses from the river constitutes a significant
constraint to its ability to dilute and disperse effluent discharged into it. So as already
mentioned, the pollutants sometimes stay for a long time in the same place in the river in
concentrated form unless water from upstream does not flush them away thus harming the
overall water quality.

The river water hardly satisfies the quality parameter set by the Environmental Quality
Standards (EQS) thus showing the unsuitability of the water to be used for irrigation,
bathing, and washing of household items. The tube wells for drinking water is also
inappropriate to use due to groundwater pollution. Concentration of dissolved heavy metals
such as chromium and iron in the groundwater is forcing the inhabitants to rely on
expensive alternative water supply.

Thousands of water transport workers, working on

the passenger and cargo vessels in Sadarghat, are
forced to bring water from the river Meghna and
Dhaleswari for washing. Unable to take a bath or
wash clothes for days, many of them have even
begun to suffer from various diseases. The
washermen too have their share of problems
because of river pollution. Those living near the
Buriganga struggle to wash clothes in the river during the dry season as the water become
too filthy. Even so, some washermen have no choice but to wash the clothes in such dirty
water.

The scenario is even bleaker in the villages along the river, in the upstream of the Buriganga.
Hundreds of thousands of families living in Zinzira, Kholamora, Kamrangirchar, Jhaochar,
Modhyerchar, Wasspur, Basila and Looterchar face a severe water crisis for at least six
months a year. Dependent on the river for generations, this population has been cut off
from using the river water. They are now forced to travel miles to get water for their daily
chores. However, the slum inhabitants in the tanneries have to use the water from
Buriganga for bathing, washing and sometimes drinking. Nobody knows how much harm
and potential carcinogen diseases will occur to them. They are already the victims of several
water bred diseases like dysentery, diarrhoea, cholera, shigella food poisoning.

Owing to the direct disposal of city and industrial sewage into Buriganga, faecal pollution
has become prominent. Diseases like cholera and diarrhoea are transmitted by faecal
contamination of water. People living in slums around the city use these contaminated
water for all recreational purpose and this results in spreading of water-borne and skin
diseases.

The pollutants are stagnant in the river since the waterflow is low in the river except during
monsoons. This stagnancy accelerates the population of mosquitoes and thus expedite the
spread of vector borne diseases like malaria, dengue hemoragic fever and filariasis.

Impact on food chain

Pollution in the river has destroyed the
river water's ecosystem and also
rendered hundreds of acres of totally
barren agricultural land. To exacerbate
the pollution, the ferries spill oil into
the river. Fishes exposed to oil spill and
toxins in the water causes the fish and
other marine animals such as river
dolphins to get infected. Because oil
floats on top of water, less light
penetrates into the water, limiting the photosynthesis of marine plants and phytoplankton.
This endangers the flora and fauna of Buriganga and also affects the food chain in the
ecosystem.
Oil spills and toxins from pollutants have reduced the fish population in the river. There has
been degradation of the fish habitat and thus a decline in the quality of fish. Fishes are
found rotting in the river adding to the unbearable stench. This reduced yield of fish has
affected many fishermen, who live in the banks of Buriganga, economically. Also
consumption of the contaminated fish is causing dangerous diseases such as food poisoning
and other gastro intestinal diseases, especially among the poorer section.
Agricultural lands in the villages around the river have become barren. The river water used
for irrigation is responsible for this. The water has dissolved heavy metal and other toxins
that kills plantation. As a result when the poisonous water has been used for irrigation it
have destroyed vegetation and have made the land unproductive for further agricultural
activity. This has harmed the inhabitants socially as well as economically.

Lust ends nowhere

Another human intervention in the Buriganga river system

is the encroachment of the river by the influential.
Encroachment, of course, has always been a big threat to
the river. It is eating away the banks of Buriganga and is
narrowing it further. Politically backed influential land
encroachers have created illegal structures including
houses, bazaars, ports, brickfields etc. on the river that has
created obstacles on the flow the river. The river bed’s loss
of course means a narrower bed which exacerbates
flooding. In an effort to reduce flooding, the river is often
dredged. Ironically this results in the branching rivers and
canals drying up which are subjected to further land
grabbing.

One more recent problem is the officials allowing sand

traders to extract much more sand than the permitted
quantity from riverbeds in the capital, an act that is
threatening the channels and courses of the city's rivers
and the densely populated localities along their banks. The
sand traders are extracting with powerful dredgers in
massive amounts. Unscientific sand extraction from the riverbeds not only makes the rivers
extremely unpredictable but also destroys their courses, navigable channels and
environment. The unscrupulous removal of sand from the river bed is causing serious threat
of river bank erosion affecting the security of the inhabitants.