Waleed Syed
Notes on Buriganga River
The Buriganga (Old Ganges) River is the primary river running alongside the Bangladeshi Capital city of Dhaka. In the early 1600’s when the Mughals made Dhaka the capital, the river was the primary source of water for the population, and its banks were the prime spot for trade. Since then, major pollution has rendered the river virtually unusable. The river is very important economically to Dhaka. Since Bangladesh is a riverine country, various boats use the river to connect Dhaka to other parts of the country, but siltation prevents these boats from accessing the Buringanga in the dry season. Considering the looming freshwater crisis the world faces, this project aims to analyze the pollution of the Buriganga River and present an initial proposal as to what can be done to revive the dying river.
Most of the pollution of the Buriganga River is due to Tanneries, textile mills and other industrial sites dumping their waste in the river. The Hazaribagh Tannery is the major source of pollutants. The Tannery is over 50 years old but no treatment plant has been introduced yet to neutralize the noxious materials it produces. That’s why it continuously pollutes the water of Buriganga. The toxic chemicals that are unabsorbed by the hides are dumped as waste into the river. The river is biologically dead, as the measured dissolved oxygen level in the river varies between zero and 1.8 depending on the location.
Considering the looming freshwater