Rivers of Bangladesh
There are 230 rivers currently flowing but most of them dried out due to lack of attention and pollution. About 17 rivers are on the verge of extinction and the 54 rivers flow directly from India and 3 from Myanmar. Sangu and Halda are the only two internal rivers originated and finished within Bangladesh. Surma is the longest river and Karnafuli is the swiftest. Jamuna is the widest river. Most of the country's land is formed through silt brought by the rivers. Bangladesh geography and culture is influenced by the riverine delta system. Bangladesh lies in the biggest river flowing in BD delta of the world - the Ganges Delta system. Major rivers 1. Surma - Maghna passing Sylhet Cumilla Barisa - 359 miles 2. Padma (Ganges)Rajshahi , dhaka , Faridpur 222 miles 4. Old Brahmaputra in Mymensingh 150 miles Brahmaputra- Jessure, Khulna 94 miles Much of Bangladesh's geography is dominated by the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta .
. Where it flows out of India, the Ganges' main channel becomes the Padma River. Similarly, below its confluence with the Teesta River, the main channel of the Brahmaputra River is known as the Jamuna River 4.Kushiyara Sylhet 143 miles 5. Jamuna 56 miles Taking the Karatoya as the central dividing water-channel of the district, the other rivers may be classified into the eastern and the Western systems. The course of all the rivers is, with such allowances as must be made for beds and windings, nearly uniform north and south. All the western rivers are the tributaries of the Atrai which itself flows into the Jamuna (12 mi) north of the confluence of that river with the Ganges (Padma) at Goalunda.
Brahmaputra River in China Tibet, India and Bangladesh At that time the Brahmaputra used to flow to the east round the foot of the Garo Hills. The earliest evidence of the Brahmaputra river consists of a group of large Brahmaputra-size river scars which extend into the Sylhet basin flanking the southern edge of the Shillong plateau . The main river apparently extended east beyond this locality and then swung south into the Bay of Bengal. By the time of Rennell's mapping, this course had been abandoned in favor of a shorter route down what is still called the old Brahmaputra river past Mymensingh. Mymensingh District The Jamuna, nowhere less than 4 miles wide during rains, is running in the west and the equally important Meghna encloses the district on the east. They are connected by the old channel of the Brahmaputra running through the centre of the district in a south-easterly direction from above Bahadurabad up to Bhairab Bazar. 6.Bhairab 136 miles Rajshahi District Excepting the Ganges or the Padma, the Mahananda and the Atrai, the rivers of Rajshahi district are of little hydrographic importance. that is, they are not active flowing streams except during the rainy season.
Dying Rivers in Bangladesh Rivers don’t obey borders — they often traverse more than one country. If a certain country has granted rights to a river but a neighboring country hasn’t, that makes it difficult to legally protect the waterway from environmental harm.
Bangladeshi environmental activists are already talking about how they won’t be able to compel India to comply with the new law on rivers. The river is now considered by law, by code, a living entity, so you’ll have to face the consequence by law if you do anything that kills the river.” For one thing, once a river gets rights, what happens to all the people who live off it? In Bangladesh, millions — fishers, farmers, and their families — live in informal settlements or slums alongside the rivers and depend on the waters for their livelihoods. Now some are being evicted.
pic 1. Pure joy pic, 2. The animals having their daily bath in the Jamuna river, they are needed to be herded almost 2 miles from there the river bed 3. Alarming Plastic pollution, pic 3. Dying rivers in Bangladesh .
Bridges in the rivers of Bangladesh
Jamuna Bridge is a bridge opened in Bangladesh in June 1998. It connects Bhuapur on the Jamuna River's east bank to Sirajganj on its west bank. It was the 11th longest bridge in the world when constructed in 1998 and at present is the 6th longest bridge in South Asia. The Jamuna River, which it spans, is one of the three major rivers of Bangladesh. The river Jamuna (Brahmaputra), along with the lower stretch of the Padma (Ganges) divides Bangladesh into nearly two equal halves. Until now all road and rail communication between the two parts of the country had to rely on time-consuming ferry services that were often disrupted because of navigability problems. The need for a bridge over the Jamuna River was felt, especially by the people living in northwestern Bangladesh, for a long time.
Padma bridge The Padma Bridge , is a two-level road-rail bridge across the Padma River, the main distributary of the Ganges in Bangladesh.[5][6] It connects Louhajang Upazila of Munshiganj and Zazira Upazila of Shariatpur and a small part of Shibchar Upazila of Madaripur, linking the less developed southwest of the country to the northern and eastern regions. The bridge was inaugurated on 25 June 2022 .The bridge is considered to be the most challenging construction project in the history of Bangladesh, the steel truss bridge carries a four-lane highway on the upper level and a single track railway on the lower level. It is the longest bridge in Bangladesh, the longest bridge over the river Ganges The construction of the bridge was considered to be especially challenging as the Padma River is among the most ferocious rivers in the world.
Other bridges are : 1. Asmat Ali Khan Bridge in Madaripur crosses Arial Khan River 2.Bangladesh-China Friendship Bridge or 1st Buriganga Bridge 3.Bhairab Bridge Bhairab Upazila, Kishoreganj Districtin 2002 crosses Meghna River 4. Bhairab Railway Bridge Bhairab Upazila, Kishoreganj Districtin 2017 Crosses Meghna River 5. Hardinge Bridge in Paksheyi 1912 crosses padma river 6.Keane bridge in 1936 in Shurma river in Sylhet 7. Rupsha bridge in Khulna in 2005 in Rupsha river 8. Daudkandi Gomoti Bridge9Hazrat Shah Poran Bridge or Sylhet Jaflong Bypass Bridge. in Shurma river Sylhet
Pic 1 . Jamuna bridge (left), pic 2. toll booth in Jamuna river(right) , pic 3. Padma bridge ( below), pic 4. Shurma bridge in Sylhet (left)
Drinking water source in Bangladesh
The Himalayan River Basins that feed Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan are seriously threatened by water stress, and this carries implications for internal and cross-boundary development and security. In rural areas, more than 97% of the population relies on groundwater for its drinking water supply. In Dhaka, 82% of the water supply is extracted from groundwater through 577 deep tube wells, that is free of arsenic, Drinking arsenic-laden water over a long period of time can lead to poisoning. There is no way to know the arsenic level in water before a well is drilled. Arsenic levels can vary between wells, even within a small area. You cannot taste, see, or smell arsenic in your water. while three surface water treatment plants provide the remaining 18%.the best way to remove arsenic from well water. Symptoms of arsenic poisoning .
The most cost effective method for removing arsenic from a domestic water supply appears to be reverse osmosis (RO). RO can be thought of as atomic scale filtration. It works by squeezing water through a special membrane. Bangladesh is a land of many rivers, and as a result it is very prone to flooding due to being situated on the Brahmaputra River Delta (also known as the Ganges Delta) and the many distributaries flowing into the Bay of Bengal. Is it safe to shower in arsenic water ?Arsenic does not easily enter the body through the skin. Bathing, swimming, and showering with water that has levels as high as 500 ppb (0.500 ppm) is safe if you avoid swallowing the water. Supervise small children when they are bathing and brushing teeth to ensure they do not swallow the water.
Effect of arsenic poisoning in the community
Today, 98 percent of Bangladesh's population have access to water from technologically improved water sources. The water quality is poor. E. coli bacteria was present in 80 percent of private piped-water taps sampled across the country, a similar rate to water retrieved from ponds. Seventy-five million Bangladeshis are at risk of contracting the most serious diseases because they are drinking unsafe water i.e. tap water, where 13 percent of the populace is exposed to arsenic-poisoning. Bangladesh water so polluted by World Bank Anthropogenic sources: such as untreated industrial effluents, improper disposal of domestic waste, agricultural runoffs are the main contributors regarding water pollution. Bangladesh's water sanitation crisis More than 1.8 million people in Bangladesh lack access to an improved water source and 36 million lack improved sanitation that includes female menstrual hygiene when bathing in the pond at the same time it is also source of drinking water. when millions are navigating the COVID-19 pandemic with the added challenge of living without access to safe water. However, the permissible limits for iron, manganese and total hardness are 0.3 - 1 ppm, 0.1 ppm and 200-500 ppm, respectively in the Bangladesh standard. Water having hardness above 300 ppm is considered very hard. The managing director of Dhaka WASA has advised the residents against drinking tap water without boiling it .Possible sources of water that could be made safe by treatment include: Rainwater, streams, rivers, ponds and lakes , natural spring Dhaka's unsafe water source Municipal. Ground water (well) Surface water. Lake. River. Stream (creek) Shallow well. Rainwater. Seawater. Natural water means all forms of water, including any river, stream, dam, lake, pond, swamp, marsh, canal, whether natural or artificial or other body of water forming part of that water course. Rocks on land are the major source of salts dissolved in seawater. Rainwater that falls on land is slightly acidic, so it erodes rocks. This releases ions that are carried away to streams and rivers that eventually feed into the ocean The crisis of safe water in the sprawling 400-year-old Bangladesh capital is so acute that the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (DWASA) itself encourages people to boil tap water before drink How fast is Bangladesh sinking? Mean while, sea level is projected to rise 0.4 to 1.5 meters on the Bangladesh coast by 2100 . It has been estimated that by 2050, one in every seven people in Bangladesh will be displaced by climate change. Specifically, with a projected 19.6 inch (50 cm) rise in sea level, Bangladesh may lose approximately 11% of its land by then, and up to 18 million people may have to migrate because of sea-level rise alone In this low-lying, coastal nation inundated by flood after flood, a rural exodus to the cities is reshaping life everywhere
Being one of the most vulnerable nations to global climate change, it is frequently visited by natural catastrophes such as tropical cyclones, storm rushes, downpours, droughts, hurricanes, and so on. Superimposed on these disastrous events, climate change is likely to add fuel to the fire. More frequent storm rushes and tougher cyclones often drive a body of water 50 to 60 miles up the delta’s rivers. The latest devastating flood of 2016 that washed away nearly the whole country was caused by heavy rainfalls as well as water flow from the upstream hills in India, and has led to the inundation of the river basin areas, especially in the northern parts of Bangladesh, leaving a large number of people helpless, homeless, and dead. With these natural calamities also come increased health hazards. Heat waves are increasing the suffering of many more vulnerable people, spreading diseases such as malaria and dengue fever. Air pollution from fossil fuel burning is also producing millions of early deaths each year, while destruction of harvests from extreme weather threatens hunger for millions of children. A World Food Program (WFP) report says that by 2050, climate change is expected to increase the number of hungry people by 10% to 20%, and the number of malnourished children is expected to increase by 24 million -- 21% more than without the effects of climate change., in recent years, has yearly displaced between 50,000 and 200,000 people. The population of “immediately threatened” islands, previously called “chars,” exceeds four million. As soon as chars wash away, the process of deposition creates new chars downstream because of the dynamic nature of riverine Bangladesh. Land is so unstable and the population so condensed, that displaced people often try to settle on these new, irregular, highly unstable sand bars. A report prepared for the World Bank by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Climate Analytics and peer reviewed by 25 scientists worldwide says that in Bangladesh, 40% of productive land is projected to be lost in the southern region for a 65cm sea level rise by the 2080s. About 20 million people in the coastal areas of Bangladesh are already affected by salinity in drinking water.
Riverbank erosion
Riverbank erosion is such an environmental catastrophe which cannot be compared to other environmental disasters. In every disaster, other than earthquake, people lose their household structure at best but due to riverbank erosion people lose their land and become homeless. Only the difference is, death counts less in number. Riverbank erosion displaces’ losses are unbound. . Being homeless, they become asset less too. People of the study area have lost their agricultural and homestead land in one hand and on the other hand they became rootless, ousted from their community, broken down their family ties and social bondage With the loss of land, a significant number of the riparian inhabitants lost their standing crops also. Rich landowners suffered more loss of crops than relatively smaller landowners. Crop was their main source of income and when they failed to harvest their crop in time, they suffered from shortage of money following unavoidable misery. They had to wait for next harvest, which was far away from present time. In the meantime, to meet daily expenditure they had nothing to do but to borrow money, in most of the cases, by lending their land to money-owners. At the time of river bank erosion, if there were standing crop in the field, sometimes farmers harvest those knowing that they will not get food grain but may be used for fuel or animal food. Loss of crop had direct impact on local as well as national production of crops. Generally poor people suffer greatly during the disaster time. In Sanskrit, Padma is a name for the sacred lotus flower, a symbol of beauty, purity, and growth. The meaning is well-suited for the river bearing the same name, which seems to be constantly evolving and changing in beautiful ways. That is a mixed blessing for the people who live nearby. The Padma is one of the major rivers of Bangladesh, and satellite imagery shows that it has been growing in size, transforming in shape, and changing in location for at least the past 30 years. It forms in India at the junction of the Ganges and Jamuna Rivers, then merges with the Meghna River and ultimately empties into the Bay of Bengal. Thousands of people rely on the Padma for transportation and for farm irrigation, which means they must regularly adapt to changes in the river’s 75-mile shoreline. Numerous farms, houses, and lives have been lost or displaced in recent decades because of riverbank erosion that can swallow large chunks of the shore. Every year, hundreds (sometimes thousands) of hectares of land erode and fall into the Padma River. Since 1967, more than 66,000 hectares (256 square miles) have been lost—roughly the area of Chicago. The extreme erosion patterns have two main causes. First, the Padma is a natural, free-flowing river with little bank protection, other than some occasional sandbags to protect buildings. Second, the bank sits on a large sand bed that can be eroded quickly. Scientists measure erosion on the Padma River by noting differences in its width, depth, shape, and overall appearance. These natural-color satellite images show the changes to the shape and width of the Padma since 1988, and each twist and zigzag tells a different geologic story about the river. They include a combination of shortwave infrared, near infrared, and visible light to highlight differences between land and water. All images were acquired in January and February, during the dry season. Over the years, researchers have observed an increase in the river’s sinuosity and braiding. Sinuosity is the tendency of the river to snake back and forth in an S-shape across its plain. Rivers with high sinuosity are labeled “meandering.” Such rivers evolve as the flow wears away the outer edges, widening the channel. The flow on the inner edge has less energy, allowing more sediment to be deposited there. Sometimes meandering rivers leave scars where the water once flowed, as you can see in the 2014 image of the Harirampur region. Meandering rivers can turn into braided rivers, which have numerous channels that split and combine again. Whether a river is braided or meandering has a lot to do with the amount of sediment it carries. If there is a lot of sediment, they tend to pile up in places and divert the water flow, creating a braided river. The sediments can come from a variety of sources. One theory suggests that some of the sediments are remnants from a landslide triggered by an earthquake in 1950. Researchers think the coarser material (like sand) took half a century to pass through the river. Over the past three decades, the river has changed from a relatively narrow, straight line to meandering to braided and, most recently, back to straight. In the image sequence, the most noticeable change occurs upstream near the Harirampur upazila region, which experienced the most erosion. A large flood rose over these banks in 1998, exacerbated by the opening of the Farakka barrage (dam) in India, which released more water into Bangladesh. Further downstream, meandering bends eroded the land near Char Janajat. The river’s curves became most extreme from 1995-1996. The curve started to develop in 1992, began to decline in 2002, and has since disappeared. Researchers are particularly interested in the Char Janajat area, the site of a new bridge crossing. As one of Bangladesh’s biggest construction projects, the Padma River Bridge will connect the eastern and western parts of the country and shorten travel times between some locations from thirteen hours to three. There are some concerns that erosion could threaten the construction of the bridge, although some researchers believe it could actually stabilize the land and reduce erosion once it is finished. The bridge is scheduled to open by the end of 2018.In recent years, Padma’s erosion rates, sinuosity, and braiding have decreased. Erosion slowed as the meandering bends disappeared due to sedimentation and chute cutoff when the water flows across the land instead of following the curve of the river. But that does not mean the area is free from erosion
Haripur gas field - 22 kilometers from Sylhet town is the gas field & at 35 km point is the Jaintiapur's Rajbari. Only 5 km from from Jaintiapur is Jaflong , a scenic spot amidst tea gardens . At about 35km north- west of Sylhet town linked by railroad & river is Chatak , the seat of Assam Bengal cement factory orange garden. In quest of natural gas, the then Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) in 1955 commenced drilling activities at Haripur, a small village of Jaintapur police station in Sylhet district of the former East Pakistan. As drilling of a well in the structure was progressing, the first discovery of gas in the country took place in the same year. Unfortunately their effort did not succeed as blow out occurred in the very first well of the country because of abnormal high pressure. Before the independence of Bangladesh , 6 wells were drilled in Haripur. . Of the six wells, only two wells became operative and the rest were abandoned for various technical reasons. Haripur structure consists of four layers. These are Tipam, upper Boka Bil, second Boka Bil and lower Boka Bil. After the liberation war, Sylhet-7 well, the much discussed well in the history of Bangladesh as this was the single oil producing well of the country, was drilled at Haripur in 1986. However, with time a gradual production declining trend had become apparent. After 07 years of uninterrupted production of total 560869 barrels of crude oil, the well ceased its production on 1994 . The well head pressure was zero at that time. In 2005 the work over was done on the well and was completed as a gas producer with an initial production capacity of 15 MMCFD. The last well, which was drilled in Haripur gas field by Scimitar Exploration Ltd. in 1989, is Surma well but oil not found well is gas producer. Recently 3D Seismic Survey has been completed in the field.
Earth quake risk in Bangladesh
Earthquake trembling or shaking movement of the earth's surface. Most earthquakes are minor tremors, while larger earthquakes usually begin with slight tremors, rapidly take the form of one or more violent shocks, and end in vibrations of gradually diminishing force called aftershocks. Earthquake is a form of energy of wave motion, which originates in a limited region and then spreads out in all directions from the source of disturbance. It usually lasts for a few seconds to a minute. The point within the earth where earthquake waves originate is called the focus, from where the vibrations spread in all directions.
Any disturbance in the ecosystem, such as floods, landslides, or construction, could influence the morphology of the river. . The earthquake record suggests that since 1900 more than 100 moderate to large earthquakes occurred in Bangladesh, out of which more than 65 events occurred after 1960. This brings to light an increased frequency of earthquakes in the last 30 years. Before the coming of the Europeans, there was no definite record of earthquakes. Following is a chronology of important earthquakes from 1548. The world’s largest delta, rivers, sedimentation, and floods also shapes the landscape. Rivers change course over time. In deltas, rivers can shift back and forth as they drop sediment, and then naturally flow into lower ground. Earthquakes can also steer a river. As plates shift, some parts of the landscape may drop and others uplift. This can send rivers on a new path. As rivers shift, they bring new sediments to an area. Over time, layers of sediment build up across the delta. These layers of sediment record the history of the rivers, including how rivers have changed course. Using a local technique, they have dug over 150 wells. As they drill, they collect sediment samples every few meters. Back in the lab, they analyze the sediments to learn how the landscape has changed. Sediment from the Brahmaputra River carries traces of strontium – an element found in much smaller amounts in the Ganges River sediment. Brahmaputra River flows from the Tibetan Plateau, where strontium is in the rocks. Sediments also hold evidence of past tectonic activity: About 200 years ago, the Brahmaputra River changed its path in the decades after an epic earthquake along the Dauki fault. An earthquake could cause the Brahmaputra to shift again. The river’s current path is actually higher than the Sylhet Basin, which is being pushed down by the weight of the Shillong Plateau. Earth is constantly in motion. The 1762 Arakan earthquake occurred at about 17:00 local time on 2 April, somewhere on the coast from Chittagong to Arakan now Burma It had an estimated magnitude of as high as 8.8 on the moment of magnitude scale and It triggered a local tsunami in the Bay of Bengal and caused at least 200 deaths. The earthquake was associated with major areas of both uplift and subsidence. It is also associated with a change in course of the Brahmaputra River to from east of Dhaka (Old Brahmaputra River) to 150 km (93 mi) to the west via the Jamuna river.
44m road washed away by Kushiyara river in Sylhet
Local officials say the road broke down because it was built on the river dam 44 metres of the Balaganj-Fenchuganj-Sylhet GC Road in Amjur area has been washed away by the Kushiyara River. “The road was damaged due to natural causes “It was built over the Kushiyara dam. The dam is under the supervision of Bangladesh Water Development Board, built by the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) the Balaganj-Fenchuganj road had been built over the river dam. “From the evening till night on Tuesday, 44 metres of the road has gone into the river. Because of this, the traffic has been disrupted, “The matter has been brought to the notice of higher authorities, and they are working on plans to build alternative flood control dams there. about six feet of the road has been completely submerged in the river. However, the total damage was about 44 meters. But the entire road is at risk as a result of the construction of the dam. The Water Development Board is working on a development project proposal in this regard.”
Increase rise in sea water in the coastal area
1.In crease in rise sea water in the coastal areas of Bangladesh2, salinity of sea water affecting the the fresh water of the rivers 3. homeless destitute women & children Increasing rates of sea level rise caused by global warming are expected to lead to permanent inundation, drainage congestion, salinity intrusion and frequent storm surge inundation. Sea level rise is a growing threat for the coastal regions of Bangladesh. Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries of the world where 28% of the population living in the coastal area. Natural disasters have their roots in the nature of its terrain, the physical geographic features, its long coastline and the tropical climate. This study presents an assessment of the expected impacts on inundation, salinity intrusion, cyclone induced storm surge inundation due to sea level rise. The study projects the future sea level rise based on global scenarios and apply them to well proven numerical model to delineate the extent to which Bangladesh coast is vulnerable. The study estimates that about 11% more land will be permanently inundated over the next century. Sundarbans, the Ramsar site will be lost due to high salinity and permanent inundation from projected sea level rise by 2100. An increase of wind speed over 10% of the 1991 severe cyclone will increase the storm surge level by 1.7 m along the eastern coast of Bangladesh.
Fisheries in Bangladesh
Pic 1. women working on dried fish pic 2. exportable fish ,pic 3 fish market in Sylhet
Hilsas migrate to estuarine and fresh waters for spawning purposes. Peak upstream migration of Hilsa in the rivers of Bangladesh mostly starts with the onset of southwest monsoon
pic 1. Dead fish in Bangladesh , pic 2. Dried fish
Dead fish Tens of thousands of fish have been found dead in small dam of Mohmand tribal district under mysterious circumstances. The Fisheries Department has sent the samples of dead fish and water of the dam to Peshawar for tests . The Fisheries Department believes that the fish were dead due to some chemical, shortage of oxygen or electric current.
Bangladeshi char (123) , Karnafuli dam ,(4) , Haor during the flood ( 5th, 6th 7th )
Sinking city
Bangladesh sewage system
A sewerage system, or wastewater collection system, is a network of pipes, pumping stations, and other items that convey sewage from its points of origin to a point of treatment and disposal. Waste matter that was flush down the toilet that gets carried away in the sewer is an example of sewage. The waste matter carried as sewers. A suspension of water and solid waste, transported by sewers to be disposed of or processed.
Sewer systems have a unique purpose for catching waste and wastewater Three types of sewers are sanitary sewers, storm sewers, and combined sewers. A sanitary sewer is an underground pipe or tunnel system for transporting sewage from houses and commercial buildings (but not stormwater) to a sewage treatment plant or disposal. Sanitary sewers are a type of gravity sewer and are part of an overall system called a "sewage system" or sewerage. Swage is pumped from buildings and homes through pipes that transfer the waste to filters that separate large objects from the sewage water. The common causes of wastewater are the liquid and sewer impurities that come from homes, hospitals, factory units, and any other institution that require water in their facilities. Other wastewater would also come from industrial, agricultural, and commercial activities, as well as stormwater or surface runoff. In urban areas of Bangladesh, piped water supply reaches only about one-third of the population, and there is no systematic sewer disposal and treatment system. Only Dhaka, Bangladesh's capital city, has a sewer system, and it serves just 18 percent of the city. About 30% of the served population of the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (DWASA) is covered by a sewerage system, the only one in the entire country. There is one sewage treatment plant with a capacity of 120,000 m³ per day.
Pic 1. sewers of Bangladesh is unblocking the drain pic 2. Bangladesh Dhaka sewage treatment plant
The main causes of pollution in Bangladesh are vehicular emissions, fumes from factories and brick kilns, as well as dust accumulations from various source .The sewerage system of Dhaka city was initiated in 1923 with about 50 km sewer lines and an imhoff tank type treatment plant. Till to date about 531 km sewerage network, 20 sewage lift stations have been developed in different phases at different times to keep pace with the expansion of the city. Buriganga river pollution According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Buriganga is one of the most polluted rivers in the world. This is caused by the over 60,000 cubic meters of toxic waste dumped by the city into its waters every day.
Buriganga river cleaning
Bangladesh began cleaning one of the dirtiest rivers in the world, the Buriganga. But while the government congratulates itself on this initiative, the local residents continue... to pollute. Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, with a population of almost 10 million, is built on the banks of the Buriganga. Since most of the waste is not collected by the city, it ends up in the river water, where a good many factories also discharge their chemical waste. Result: the water is so polluted that no fish can survive . The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) began to clean a 3km stretch of the river. It estimates that 300,000 cubic meters of rubbish need to be removed from the water. Five bulldozers are currently at work to get rid of the three-meter layer of plastic bags and food remains which lines the bottom of the river, while over a hundred people clean the rubbish-strewn banks by hand. The cost of this program, financed by the environment ministry, comes to over 2.5 million euros. Meanwhile, a new law should soon encourage Dhaka inhabitants to report those behaving in a way that is disrespectful of the environment .
Municipal sewage disposal contamination
The gradual narrowing of the Dhaka rivers - Buriganga Shitalakha & Balu rivers flushing the industrial filth into the river bed dead tree chopped tree barren tree with no fruit - it's hard to get pure drinking water Rivers come to increased flow in rainy season which completely disappear in dry season . Water is also affected by Industrial effluents waste water, municipal sewage disposal contamination Argo chemical , & large amount of suspended chemical carried by upstream .
Water sharing agreement with India draw criticism in Bangladesh
In 1996, the two countries signed a deal to share water from the Ganges, which is an important source of water for rivers in Bangladesh's north and northwestern regions. But Bangladesh claims that its neighbor has been breaching the terms of the treaty. Dhaka has also been trying to strike a deal on fair water share of the Teesta, which, like the Ganges, supplies water to smaller rivers downstream. "In the decades after the independence of Bangladesh, India used its dominant power to enforce its own interests in its relations with Bangladesh. The Farakka Barrage, an Indian dam very near to the Bangladesh border, is a symbol of this power policy. The Farakka dam diverted water to Kolkata and that without this barrier, all the water would flow into Bangladesh. The dam has been the main reason for water scarcity in northwestern Bangladesh, he added.
Deadly launch disaster in Bangladesh
People were drowned and many were missing when a ferry carrying over 100 passengers capsized in Buriganga river after it was hit by a bigger vessel , appeared to be an accident caused by the negligence of the drivers .Rescuers feared several passengers were trapped inside the ferry, which sank 100 passengers on board in the Buriganga river of Old Dhaka. bodies have been retrieved so far. Search is on for the missing ones. Most of the dead bodies have been identified and handed over to their families. Poor safety standards of vessels and their reckless driving have been repeatedly blamed for frequent ferry accidents in riverine Bangladesh In most of the cases, the ferries carry passengers beyond their capacity.
Ganges river spirituality -
For Hindus, spirituality is an integral part of everyday life; it permeates every level of culture. Thus, Ganga figures into numerous everyday rituals Hindus perform, and for many her presence is a most auspicious and sacred blessing. Due to this reverence for Mother Ganga, one can find hundred of temples line the entire length of Ma Ganga. Ganga is not just interwoven into all stages of Hindu culture, but it is even believed that by worshipping Ganga alone can elevate the soul to attain the highest merit.
1. Spiritual & spiritual heritage -also ganga river water pollution 2. washing cloths 3. worshiping 4. bathing the cows with gang water & ganga sand 5 Hindu religion mourning rituals, holy ghat & temples , dead body in the ganga ( Hindu way
The Ganges is famous for such ceremonies or pujas, especially in the spiritual city of Varanasi, where funeral pyres and cremations are common. Hindus believe depositing a loved one's ashes in the Ganges helps the deceased reach moksha — a term for freeing the soul from the cycle of reincarnation
Bay of Bengal
The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line between Sangaman Kanda, Sri Lanka and the north westernmost point of Sumatra (Indonesia). It is the largest water region called a bay in the world. Cox's Bazar, the longest sea beach in the world billions people live along the Bay of Bengal’s coasts dependent on its fisheries. In southern India drought and water scarcity have already induced tens of thousands of farmers to join the fishing fleet3. Rising sea levels are also likely to drive many displaced people into the fishing industry. Mesh nets also scooped up vulnerable species like turtles, dolphins, sea snakes, rays huge-dead-zone-found-bay. Apart from Sulphur -oxidizing bacteria and marine worms, few creatures can live in these oxygen-depleted waters15. This zone already spans some 60,000 sq km and appears to be growing 500 million people live on the coastal rim also the site of the majority of the deadliest tropical cyclones in world history. 26 of the 35 deadliest tropical cyclones in recorded have occurred here. Bangladesh, India and Myanmar have agreed their borders in the Bay of Bengal, but neither fish nor fishers are bound by the lines on the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) map. Fishers based in Cox’s Bazar and Patuakhali harbors in Bangladesh say they used to fish alongside vessels from other countries in the deep sea. Now, as it is becoming harder to find fish, foreign fishers are unwelcome competitors. Authorities have seized vessels from Sri Lanka and arrested fishers off the shores of Bangladesh. Sometimes the conflicts are dealt with more directly. The sinking of smaller vessels sometimes goes unreported, said several trawler skippers from Chittagong on condition of anonymity.
Currents of river Ganges: Life flows on like a river
That homes to the sea:
One hour bounding through mountain vales,
One hour winding through a lea. None may linger on the way:
None may coax time to stay!
Fleeting scenes move by us like a dream.
Cling not: none will be your own. Never grieve to be alone.
Go within you: There’s your home.
Pictures & content of this blog I've collected from the library & internet
