Staff ReporterSpeaker at a seminar in Dhaka city on Wednesday underscored the need for reducing to gap between waste and effluent generation and the facilities for their treatment before their discharge into rivers with the view to controlling pollution of water bodies in and around Dhaka city.
They said that government ministries and departments are primarily responsible for water governance in the country and their ineptness or neglect of duty is primarily to blame for pollution of the rivers around Dhaka city.These views were expressed at a knowledge sharing seminar on ‘Water and Waste’ jointly organised by The New Delhi-based research and advocacy body Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and Bangladesh Institute of Planners (BIP) at Planners’ Tower in the capital.
Prof Dr Golam Rahman, President of BIP, presided over the function, while Nitya Jacob, programme director of CSE (water programme) and Khondaker M Ansar Hossain, general secretary of BIP were present at the inaugural session.
Dr Shahjahan Mondal, professor of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), said the different ministries like Environment and Forests and Shipping, even the Prime Minister’s Office directly or indirectly influence the water governance.”
He was addressing a technical session on ‘Challenges of tackling river pollution, ensuring water quality monitoring and better sewerage management in India and Bangladesh.
Prof Dilip Kumar Dutta, a teacher of Khulna University, and general secretary of Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (Bapa) Dr Abdul Matin made separate presentations on river management and water pollution. Urban planner Prof Dr Sarwar Jahan presided over the technical session.
In a power-point presentation, Dr Shahjahan Mondal said there are more than 3,000 encroachments in the six rivers surrounding Dhaka City, including Turag, Buriganga and Shitalakshya. He said the water flows of these rivers have decreased over the years due to sedimentation and disposal of solid wastes.
Dr Shahjahan said natural resources, including fish and aquatic life, are at stake, and skin-diseases, diarrhea and dysentery are on the rise among the people living in the river basin due to unchecked water pollution. The institutional setup is not conducive to ensuring effective water governance, controlling water pollution and river grabbing, he added.
Dr Abdul Matin said the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (WASA) has the capacity of managing only 30 percent of toilet discharges and the rest goes to rivers around Dhaka City.
Side by side, he said, the Dhaka City Corporations (DCCs) has the capacity of disposing 45 percent of municipal waste and the rest remains in and around the roadside bins. Often those wastes are thrown into the roadside drains that end up in the rivers.
Referring to a government study, Dr Matin said about 60 percent of pollution in Turag, Buriganga, Shitalakshya, Bangshi, Dhaleswary and Tongi Khal are caused by industries, followed by WASA and DCCs 30 percent and the rest by others. “River pollution is violating the people’s right to safe water and livable environment. Rivers are not pipelines, these are our lifelines. We must protect the rivers,” the BAPA general secretary said.
Susmita Sengupta, Deputy Programme Manager of CSE, said the discharge of untreated wastewater and the resultant contamination of surface water bodies are rising steadily, as the gap between treatment infrastructure and sewage generation is increasing.
“We also want to focus on the massive water crisis that South Asian cities are facing and suggest possible solutions. Urban water bodies – marshlands, ponds, wetlands and lakes – play a vital role in ground water recharge, flood control and storm protection.
“We can explore ways to achieve groundwater security by protecting these water bodies, as well as scaling up city level rainwater harvesting,” she said.
Kazi Matin U Ahmed, Prof Dr. Ishrat Islam and Prof CS Jahan were also presented different key-note paper on the issues of water of rivers, water and sewage, groundwater, rain water harvesting.
