Buriganga River
Buriganga is a river in Bangladesh which flows past the southwest outskirts of the capital city, Dhaka. It ranks among the most polluted rivers in the country.
Importance
The Buriganga is economically very important to Dhaka. Launches and country boats provide connection to other parts of Bangladesh, a largely riverine country.Pollution
In the 20th century the water table and river became polluted by polyethylene waste and other hazardous substances from demolished buildings near the river banks.The Buriganga river ranks among the most polluted rivers in the country. The chemical waste of mills and factories, household waste, medical waste, sewage, dead animals, plastics, and oil are some of the Buriganga's many pollutants. The city of Dhaka discharges about 4,500 tons of solid waste every day, and most of it is released into the Buriganga. According to the Bangladesh Department of Environment, of toxic waste are released into the river by the tanneries every day. Experts identified nine industrial areas in and around the capital city as the primary sources of river pollution: Tongi, Tejgaon, Hazaribagh, Tarabo, Narayanganj, Savar, Gazipur, Dhaka Export Processing Zone and Ghorashal. Most of the industrial units of these areas have no industrial wastewater treatment plants of their own.
According to the Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority, about of untreated wastewater are released into the lake from Tejgaon, Badda and Mohakhali industrial areas every day. The wastewater mostly comes from garment washing and dyeing plants. Textile industries annually discharge as much as 56 million tonnes of waste and 0.5 million tonnes of sludge. Sewage is also released into the Buriganga.
Because of Dhaka's heavy reliance on river transport for goods, including food, the Buriganga receives especially high amounts of food waste since unusable or rotting portions of fruits, vegetables, and fish are thrown into the river.
History
According to R. C. Majumdar, in the distant past, a course of the Ganges river probably used to reach the Bay of Bengal through the Dhaleshwari River. The Buriganga originated from the Dhaleshwari in the south of Savar, near DhakaWhen the Mughals made Dhaka their capital in 1610, the banks of the Buriganga were already a prime location for trade. The river was also the city's main source of drinking water.