The latest survey from Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) on water pollution in Dhaka is nothing short of shocking: 424 outlets are dumping an estimated 330 tons of waste every single day into the Buriganga, Turag, Balu, and Shitalakkhya rivers around Dhaka.
To reduce this to mismanagement and oversight is no longer possible and must be called what it is -- environmental negligence on a staggering scale.
When a nation’s lifelines are treated as open sewers, the consequences are inevitable: Toxic water, collapsing ecosystems, public health crises, and a future that becomes harder to salvage with each passing year.
That out of the 424 identified discharge points, 244 are linked to privately owned factories and industrial establishments, tells us of the impunity enjoyed by industries in our country, where they have felt emboldened to continue polluting our rivers and affect millions of lives.
This feeble enforcement and non-existent accountability needs to be addressed with immediate effect.
Let it be reiterated: Dhaka’s rivers are dying because the authorities responsible for protecting them have failed to act. All the mandates, budgets, and legal powers mean nothing if there is no urgency to do what is right for the people of this country.
When 330 tons of waste enter the water system daily, “monitoring” and “future plans” are meaningless. Only decisive action matters.
The respected authorities must literally clean up their act. While the long term plan must include proper sewage treatment and enforcing effluent treatment requirements without exception, there is an immediate need to prosecute violators and ensure that sewer lines are not secretly connected to rivers.
Bangladesh cannot aspire to economic transformation while its rivers remain toxic drains. The numbers in this survey are a national embarrassment and must be treated as a call to action. The authorities must prove they are willing to act, not just talk.