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Let the Dead River Flow

Dhaka is celebrating its 400th anniversary as the capital of Bengal proclaimed by the Mughalsin the early 17th century. It is a strategic decision by the Mughals considering the economicnavigation and security potentials of the perennial river Buriganga !hich surrounded parts of

Dhaka. "ince then the civilisation of Dhaka #ity has been developed by the bank of the Buriganga $iver. %he history livelihood culture and heritage of Dhaka #ity have been largely shaped by this small but important river. &our hundred years later the river continues to play a

very important role since according to officials an average of '0 000 people use the "adarghatlaunch terminal one of the largest river ports in the !orld for departure and arrival every day. But for hundreds of years the Buriganga has been continuously abused by unplannedurbanisation and unsupervised industrialisation. %he onslaught of the resultant pollution hasvirtually killed the Buriganga.

Ershad Kamol

Photos: zahedul i khan

In the present scenario, the river carries only wastewater during the seven months of the dryseason (November- ay!" #ven during the wet season no a$uatic animal can survive in the dead

river water" %hroughout the year, inhabitants near the river and thousands of people who travelthrough &adarghat suffer a lot because of the foul smelling water of the 'uriganga"

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Ironically the adverse impact of unplanned urbanisation was recognised even during the 'ritishrule" ddressing the issue the then 'ritish administration made a plan in )*)+" For almost ahundred years, successive governments and agencies have also made several plans and theintellectuals and civil society members have been demanding regenerating life into the deadriver" &adly, no plan has been e ecuted properly so far"

trip from abtali to &hyampur is a devastating e perience and gives a startling picture of thee tent of degradation" #veryone who has to travel through the 'uriganga has the similar

e perience being almost suffocated by the stench" 'aharul lam, who landed at &adarghat from'hola by a launch, says, .%he bad smell of pitch blac/ water begins near 0athtoli, unshigan1,where launches enter into the 'uriganga in their way to capital Dha/a" %ravelling through suchcontaminated water ma/es passengers nauseas".

%he ongoing environmental degradation on the 'uriganga River has forced the people, who usedto live by the river, to change their livelihood" 2ollution and loss of navigability in the 'urigangais forcing thousands of people to become street vendors" any of the fishermen and dhopa(washermen! who once were totally depended on the river for a living, have switched to other

professions as the rivers have become biologically dead"

0eranigan1 3pa4ila, under Dha/a district, was once home to nearly 566 fishing families, itcurrently has only a handful of families who continue fishing as a source of income" %he'uriganga at 0aligan1 of 0eranigan1 has become so contaminated that the locals have longstopped bathing in its water" %hose who have no choice but to ta/e a dip in the river aredangerously e posed to water-borne diseases" .I have long been suffering from s/in rashes,7 says/htar 8ossain, a boatman of 0aligan1 ghat"

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in the city, water pollution has ta/en such a devastating shape that the river, mother of thecivilisation, has been /illed by the ;civilised; people".

.I first wrote a cover story in the wee/ly 'ichitra in )*+> with some comprehensive suggestionsto save 'uriganga River., says 2rofessor amoon" .Later, many others have also written on the

issue and many movements have been initiated with the aim to save the river, however, nothinghappened,. says the frustrated historian"

&everal studies on the 'uriganga River have identified many causes for the river;s pollution suchas sedimentation at the upstream, encroachment, and disposal of solid wastes, sewage andindustrial wastes in the river"

In the present scenario the river carries only wastewater"

'ecause of the sedimentation on the upstream, the flow of 'uriganga-%urag system gets cut off,especially during the dry season" 9hich is why not a single drop water flows into the riversystem at that time, informs the hydrologists and engineers of 'angladesh 9ater Development'oard ('9D'!" During this period of time the system basically carries sewage and industrialeffluents" nd because of high tide a little water comes from downstream"

#ncroachment, of course, has always been a big threat to rivers eating away the ban/s andnarrowing them further and further" 2olitically bac/ed influential land encroachers have createdillegal structures including houses, ba4aars, ghats (port!, bric/fields etc" on the river that hascreated obstacles on the flow of the river" eanwhile, the dumping of wastes into the riversystem has virtually /illed it"

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Dha/a

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oreover, ignoring any laws of Dha/a

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2ointing out the very low levels of dissolved o ygen along the %urag-'uriganga river system,which indicates the poor $uality of water & ahbubur Rahman, principal specialist and 8eadof 9ater Resource 2lanning Division of I9 , says, .'io-degradable organic pollutant,e pressed as 'BD5, load in the system is )+ times higher than the allowable limit of >milligrams per litre" part from high levels of 'BD, other water $uality parameters li/e

mmonia, heavy metals such as luminum ( l!, 566 cumec" %his will not only improve the water $uality of the peripheralrivers of Dha/a but also will benefit water supply, agriculture irrigation, fisheries and navigation"%his is an ideal case of integrated water resources management" feasibility study on this optionwas carried out in ?66C by the 'angladesh 9ater Development 'oard ('9D'! in ?66C"

'oth domestic and industrial wastes carried through such canals are polluting the river"

'9D', under inistry of 9ater Resources, has already submitted a pro1ect titled. ugmentation of 'uriganga flow by restoring silted up lin/s with amuna River; for theconsideration of the government" high official of '9D' informs that the ta/a =)6 crore

pro1ect will maintain minimum acceptable flow during the dry season through 'uriganga-%urag-&hitala/hya river system" Implementation of the pro1ect will improve water $uality significantly

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as well as the overall environment, economic and social condition" It will also e plore the possibility of improving agricultural and navigational re$uirement"

%he high official of '9D' plans the )@6 /ilometre long augmentation route should be NewDhaleswari offta/e-2ungli-'angshi-%urag-'uriganga" 8e informs that the pro1ect for

augmentation has been formulated based on the results obtained from the mathematical models"%he pro1ect will bring additional flow to %urag, 'uriganga, %ongi, 0hal and will provide enoughwater for irrigation in the government;s agricultural pro1ect"

.%his additional flow ()C)cubic metre per second! in 'uriganga and %urag River system willimprove the dissolved o ygen level of C milligrams per litre,which is $uite satisfactory for the survival of a$uatic animals.,continues the high official, . t the same time the pro1ect willhelp the agriculture sector of the surrounding areas" oreover,the dredging during the augmentation will /eep the 8igh FloodLevel (8FL! lower than the present condition, which will help

the Dha/a

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routine dredging of the riverbed for smooth navigation" %o control the discharge of untreatedindustrial effluents, Department of #nvironment and other government agencies must ensure thatthe industrial 4ones follow #nvironment