Unhygienic Lifestyle Leaves Bangladesh Capital A Toxic Dump .....
http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/03/04/d703042504133.htm
Daily Star, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Buriganga, Our Dying Lifeline
With over 5,000 tonnes of untreated and highly toxic liquid and solid
wastes contaminating its water everyday, the river Buriganga has
turned into a stagnant sewerage. The toxic wastes have wiped out all
aquatic lives from the river. The repeated toxic onslaught on the life
line of Dhaka has contaminated the ground water and the agricultural
land around it. Due to lack of flow in the water during the lean
period the wastes are ac***ulating at an alarming rate. The water is
thick and resembles discarded engine oil, emitting an unbearable
stench. During eight months of the year the Buriganga is cut off from
its source, the Jamuna river in the upstream near Manikganj. A project
to open up the Bang**** river to revive the four rivers around the city
is now gathering dust with the Water Development Board.
=====================================================================
"Sonar" Bangladesh's Capital Wallows In Toxic Dump .....
http://www.thedailystar.net/2005/03/16/d5031601033.htm
Daily Star, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Buriganga turns into a toxic dump
By Morshed Ali Khan and Rafiq Hasan
Severe pollution has reduced the river Buriganga into a 'dumping
drain' of toxic refuse, threatening millions of people living on its
banks with serious health hazards and a loss of their livelihoods.
That the river is dying is clearly evident from its stench. The highly
toxic waters release a 'gas' that starts irritating the nostrils and
throat as soon as humans breathe it. Its foul odors can be smelled
from as far away as half a kilometre.
"Sometimes we are unable to sit in our office due to the unbearable
stench from the river water," said an official at the Sadarghat river
****t. As the day rolls into the afternoon the heat of the sun turns
the stench even fouler, making the 'pitch black' Buriganga water
intolerable, he said.
Soon after the floodwater receded and the river wore its lean period
look, the pollution instantly increased due to a lack of dispersion.
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, beginning in perhaps another two
months.
In the meantime, people living along the river are the worst victims
of the pollution, which they say is worse than anything they've seen
in previous years. Thousands of water trans****t workers, working on
the passenger and cargo vessels in Sadraghat, are forced to bring
water from the river Meghna and Dhaleswari for wa****ng. Unable to take
a bath or wash clothes for days, many of them have even begun to
suffer from various diseases.
"We can not use the water of the Buriganga for bathing, wa****ng or
cooking," said Mohammad Uzzal, an employee of a launch. "For cooking,
we use the water collected from faraway places in our water tank,"
said Mohammad Jalil, a launch cook.
Farid, a ticket collector of MV Ma****ron Khan-1, said that even for
wa****ng the floor of the vessels they have to bring water from
relatively less polluted rivers such as the Meghna near Chandpur.
"Sometimes, when we require more water while anchored at the terminal,
we are forced to buy tap water at a high price," said a launch
operator. "If we wash the vessel with this water passengers complain
of a bad smell," he said.
At least two private companies supply 'pure water' to the launches in
the Sadarghat, charging about Tk 150 for filling a 400-liter capacity
water reservoir.
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 for over ten years.
Although almost every household has a tube-well, ninety percent of
them become dry during the lean period. Housewives are even forced to
travel miles for wa****ng and collecting water.
"There are people, particularly migrant day labourers, who are badly
suffering as they are unable to wash their clothes or take a bath for
days," said Lakhan, a former fisherman from Basila.
Pollution in the river has also rendered totally barren hundreds of
acres agricultural land and also destroyed the river water's
ecosystem. Once famous for its variety of local fishes, the Buriganga
now has virtually no aquatic life.
There are at least 200 sources from which polluted water pours into
the river Buriganga, chief among them sewage waste from the tanneries
at Rayer Bazar. The government now has a plan to relocate the
Hazaribagh tanneries to Savar with effluent treatment plants.
A top BIWTA official said that all the feeder rivers in the upstream,
such as the Jamuna and the Brahmaputra, remain cut off during most of
the year due to siltation in confluent areas.
"The river Buriganga becomes almost stagnant as the water flow from
upstream is almost totally cut off in the lean period," he said.
==================================================================
|
