Poisoning a river to death
The Old Brahmaputra river, which once was the lifeline of Narsingdi, has now turned into a life-threatening menace for the people of the district.
Excessive industrial pollution has made the waters of the river so toxic that even the underground water of the areas on its banks has become poisonous. As a result, people of the area are often suffering from different intestinal diseases.
There are 72 dyeing factories on the banks of the Old Brahmaputra river and these have been dumping untreated industrial waste into the river for the last 15 years, local people alleged.
Most of these factories, located on the 12-kilometre stretch between Panchdona and Madhabdi, do not have any clearance certificate from the Department of Enviornment (DoE), they claimed.
Local people narrated to this correspondent how the river morphed into a deadly one.
"When I was a child, I saw big boats plying on this river regularly and thousands of people, mainly traders from different parts of the country coming here using the river route. This river was a blessing for all of us here," said Abdul Bakir, chairman of Shilmandi union parishad of Narsingdi Sadar upazila.
"But now this river has become a curse. The water is discoloured and toxic," said the 43-year old UP chairman.
The toxic water of the river also slowly sips through the earth's layer into the groundwater.
As a result, water extracted through tube wells for drinking is often stinky and undrinkable.
"The water pumped through 105-feet deep tube wells stinks. So, I had to sink pipe until 250 feet down and spend Tk 18,000 extra for setting up my tube-well to get clean water," said Mozammel Haque, a resident of Gonergaon.
Nazmun Nahar Nargis, head teacher of Gonergaon Government Primary School, said the children of her school face health hazards as the water pumped through the school's tube-well is stinky.
"Nonetheless, around 350 students use it as they have no other choice," said Nargis, who too had suffered from bowel disorders when she first started drinking from the tube well four years back.
The pollution is so high that the level of dissolved oxygen in the waters of the Old Brahmaputra remains almost zero during the dry season, making it impossible for fish and other aquatic species to survive.
"The river used to be the main source of livelihood for us. I would earn around Tk 80,000 annually by fishing in the river which is impossible now," said Siraj Miyan, another resident of the area.
The toxicity of water is also severely affecting farming.
Hazi Said Uddin of Gonergaon village said compared to what he used to get 15 years back, the Irri harvest from his 420-decimal lands has come down to one-third in the recent years due to the toxicity both in the river-water and the groundwater.
"Besides, I no longer cultivate Aman paddy as it cannot tolerate the toxicity. As a result, I lose 15 maunds of paddy each season," he added.
During a visit to the banks of the Old Brahmaputra on Thursday, this reporter found the dyeing factories discharging untreated waste into the river.
Blaming the situation on the inaction of the DoE, the chairman of Shilmandi union parishad alleged that there is a nexus between the DoE officials and the factory owners.
When contacted, Mohammad Ataur Rahman, director of DoE, rejected the allegation.
"We have fined a number of dyeing factories around Tk 4 crore [for polluting waters] in the last one year. Twelve factories were fined Tk 1 crore in the last month alone," Ataur told The Daily Star.
He said though most of the factories have effluent treatment plants they hardly use those.
"We fail to monitor the factories properly as we have only seven officials in two districts -- Narsingdi and Kishoreganj -- for the job," he said.
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