Bone dry for 7 months
(Left) Toxic wastes pour into the river Buriganga from one of numerous outlets at Babubazar. Photo: Indrojit Ghosh, New Age. (Right) View from a sewerage line at Babubazar, under the second Buriganga bridge. Photo: Jibon Amir, Ittefaq
Morshed Ali Khan
All rivers and canals around the capital practically receive no flow from upstream for seven months from October to April, resulting in accumulation of millions of tons of liquid and solid wastes during the period.
During the lean period the city rivers are completely cut off at upstream areas in Jamalpur, Manikganj, and Tangail. The only flow observed in these rivers during the period is due to tidal flow from downstream from the Meghna river.
The Dhaleshwari, Buriganga, Turag, and the Bangshi rivers receive their shares of water from the Jamuna river through the rivers Old Brahmaputra and Pungli in Tangail, and Ghior canal in Manikganj. The Balu river's flow is generated mainly from the catchment runoff, and partly from the Turag river through Tongi canal. The Shitalakkhya river receives flow from the Old Brahmaputra, and from the Balu and its catchment.
Heavily silted, these upstream spill channels of the Jamuna and Old Brahmaputra are disconnected at their confluences with the Jamuna at the start of the lean period in September, and remain totally without flow till mid-May.
During this long period, every day approximately 1.3 million cubic metres of wastes from 7,000 industrial units, and an unspecified volume of human waste get dumped into the rivers, turning the water into a mass of toxins emanating unbearable stench into the air, and exposing millions to serious health hazards.
On May 22 during a visit to the mouth of Ghior canal in Charkatari under Daulatpur thana in Manikganj, this correspondent found scores of large motorboats from Rajshahi and other parts of northern districts waiting in the Jamuna river on their way to the capital. The entire Ghior canal was dry with miles of dried sand on its bed, while water in the nearby Jamuna was slowly rising with the advent of the flood season.
The boatmen said they would wait until the canal received enough water for navigation, which, they added, should not take more than a week.
Experts in Water Development Board (WDB), the Institute of Water Modelling (IWM), and in other government and non-government institutes insist that while installing effluent treatment plants (ETP) in polluting industries should be the highest priority, augmentation of water flow is also a 'must' for saving these rivers from extinction.
"All industries must treat their wastes before dumping them into our land and water, and meanwhile if we can rejuvenate the rivers with water round the year, the pollution problem is almost solved," said Md Sarafat Hossain Khan, executive engineer of WDB.
On papers the government has not been sitting idle either. In April 2003, WDB hired experts in IWM for Tk 94 lakh to conduct a feasibility study, exploring ways for rehabilitating the Buriganga-Turag-Shitalakkhya river system, and to augment their dry season flow.
The objectives were to divert a minimum of 245 cubic metres of water per second from the Jamuna into the city's river system to maintain flow in the dry season, which would automatically flush out pollutants, not only ensuring good water quality, but also helping improve navigation, irrigation, and economic and social conditions.
SM Mahbubur Rahman, head of the Water Resources Planning Division also principal specialist of IWM, said installing ETPs, and ensuring round the year flow, both are extremely important for the salvation of the city river system.
"If we really want to save the city rivers, we cannot ditch the ETP option and implement the other," said Rahman adding, "While we have to convince our industrialists to set up ETPs at every unit, the government could take up projects to ensure flow of the rivers round the year."
According to sources, following completion of the study in 2004, WDB in the fiscal 2006-'07 prepared a project proposal envisaging an estimated cost of US $90 million or Tk 630 crore for the project, and sent it to the Planning Commission.
But a highly placed source in the commission said such proposals hardly get any priority among policy makers, and are thus set aside.
"This particular project proposal has been shelved with a view to finding a donor, who would finance it. So far we have found none," said the source requesting anonymity.
