While the water bodies can be a blessing, the ones in Narayangaj have become a dumping ground for household and industrial waste, leading to all the 58 small rivers and canals being severely polluted.
The Shitalakshya River flows through the middle of Narayanganj, a city surrounded by six more large rivers.
It’s the Meghna River on the eastern border of the district, while the Buriganga on the west and the Dhaleshwari River on the southwest. About 20 kilometres southeast of Dhaka, the Brahmaputra flows through Langalband and the Balu River on the northwest of Rupganj.
The small water bodies in Narayanganj including the canals have originated from these six rivers.
According to a 2019 district administration report, there are at least eight small rivers and 50 canals in Narayanganj. In a bid to protect them, the authorities have undertaken re-excavation projects.
Environmentalist group Bangladesh Poribesh Andolan (Bapa) suggests that, for a permanent solution, a permanent waste management system must be in place.
The management of some 1,000 tons of waste produced every day has been a long-standing issue.
Apart from the rivers and canals, many residential areas have been turned into dumping zones, with many locals complaining that the odour forced them to move into rented houses despite owning a home.
The current scenario
There is a government-owned canal in Fatullah, near the Upazila Parishad NR-2 office.
During a spot visit, there was no way to figure out that there is a canal since it has been packed with plastic, household and industrial waste in it. Over 100 dying factories that have popped up around the canal are discharging their untreated wastewater into the canal every day.
“We do as the owners tell us,” a labour at one of the dying factories told Dhaka Tribune, wishing to remain anonymous. “We continue to do this even when the magistrates visit the factory.”
Locals said that the water of the canal, originating from the Buriganga, used to be crystal clear only 20 years ago and its water was used for drinking and cooking.
Reminiscing about those times, Kamal Hossain, a staffer at Komor Ali School in his sixties, said: “There was a time when we used to swim in the canal and fished during monsoon. It was bigger and its water crystal clear.”
Sometimes the authorities pull out garbage from the canal using excavators, but it “goes back to square one in a few days,” he added.
According to the locals familiar with the matter, no one listens to the restrictions regarding throwing trash in the canal.
“Where shall we dump the trash? There is no designated place for it,” said Saleha Khatun, a housewife.
According to the Water Development Board, the NR-2 canal is 1.41km long and 3.5m wide. The government is currently trying to restore the canal for the development of the Dhaka-Narayanganj-Demra (DND) area.
The 90-foot canal in Fatullah’s Kashipur Union has turned into a four-foot sewerage.
The odour from the canal and its chemical-induced water stink up the whole area when it rains, much to the inconvenience of the residents nearby.
According to Hossain Khokon, a resident of the area, at least 25-30 dying factories and many houses have been set up around the canal that once saw jute-laden large boats plying through it from the big rivers.
“Household waste and hundreds of illegal establishments have destroyed everything,” he lamented while talking to this correspondent.
He added that, once used for bathing, the water now gives everyone allergies and itches.
Mohammad Shamim and Shahin have built a house on a piece of land in the area that they bought four years ago.
Shahin’s wife told Dhaka Tribune that they had bought the land from a local and recently surveyors marked a portion of their land as government property.
She also said that she dumps her household wastes into the canal and admitted that there is an unusual amount of mosquitoes in the locality.
The authorities are currently working to connect the Baburail Canal with the Shitalakshya River. Local people think it will be difficult to evict all the illegal occupants of the canal.
According to the Department of Environment (DoE), some 118 knitting and dyeing mills, printing and chemical factories that do not have an ETP are behind the pollution of the canals and rivers of the district to a large extent.
A DoE official told Dhaka Tribune that the factory owners were reluctant to establish ETPs as it requires a huge budget.
Muhammad Abdullah AL Mamun, deputy director of DoE in Narayanganj, said that the authorities were continuously carrying out raids to reduce water pollution in the area but to no avail.
“However, there is a plan to set up a central ETP in the area,” he added.
The Narayanganj City Corporation has undertaken a project to produce power from waste, which will help reduce pollution, and also plans to buy land in the Bandar area to set up a permanent garbage ground under a development project.
The NCC, at different times, took different initiatives in this regard. In 2017-18 fiscal year, the corporation took on a project to produce diesel from the trash. The project was later suspended.
Of the 1,000 tons of waste produced every day, 600 tons will be separated for energy production. The rest of the waste will be processed and reused by the recyclable and medical waste machines.
NCC officials say the entire work will be done in the next 18 months. Such a large-scale waste-to-energy project is the first of its kind in Bangladesh. Even though some small projects were initiated, those were not cost-effective and eventually shut down.
Tarik Babu, district general secretary of Poribesh Bachao Andolon (Poba), said that a coordinated waste management system was a must for the district.
The government must take one particular program aiming to solve the age-old problem, he suggested.
He also stressed reducing the usage of polythene to bring down the level of pollution for the time being.
Water level is going down
Uninterrupted water pollution has pushed the level of groundwater further down. The authorities are finding it difficult to meet the water demand even after purifying water from adjacent rivers.
According to the Department of Public Health Engineering, several areas in Narayganganj including Gogongor, Boktaboli, Kutubail and Shibumarket are currently at risk due to the depletion of groundwater.
In 2010, the level of water in Gogongor area was found within 51 feet, which went below 91 feet in 10 years and was found to be under 142 feet in 2021.
The picture is quite similar for areas in Fatullah, Roopganj and Sonargaon.
