Filling of ponds, waterbodies continues unabated

Jora Dighi of Bangladesh Railway at Pahartali, top, is one of the few existing waterbodies. Bottom left, A community centre now stands on what was once a waterbody near the Chawk Bazar intersection in the city and Moulavi Pukur, right, at Chandgaon is gradually shrinking.. PHOTO: Zobaer Hossain Sikder

Chittagong once had around 16,000 ponds and waterbodies even 25 years ago. But rampant filling of waterbodies for commercial and residential purposes has reduced the figure to a shocking 1,000 now, according to the researchers.

Conscious citizens, environmentalists and researchers said the negative impact of continuous filling of the ponds and natural waterbodies is grave and many.

"Non-existence of sufficient ponds or waterbodies will not only pose threat to the overall environment or geographical setting of the city and district but also cause ecological imbalance," they said.

Dr Shahidul Islam, professor of Chittagong University Geography Department, conducted a survey in 1981 in this regard. In his survey he found existence of 15,941 ponds and waterbodies in Chittagong and Greater Chittagong districts.

He made a follow-up after ten years in 1991 and this time found to his wonder that more than 13,000 ponds and waterbodies, of 15,941, disappeared.

"I'm disheartened at the gradual extinction of these natural assets from this beautiful city and district," he said.

The environmentalists believe that the total figure of ponds and waterbodies now will be more or less 1,000.

"The on-going filling has been causing ecological imbalance to the city to a large extent," said Mosharraf Hossain, director of the Department of Environment (DoE) in Chittagong.

He said fast urbanisation and demand of land due to growing real estate business for building commercial structures or residential houses might have been the reasons behind such filling of ponds and waterbodies.

Mosharraf said an urban city requires 25 percent of open space, including vegetation and water to keep the city geographically and environmentally in order for a good living of its dwellers.

Waterbodies are also very important to keep the hydrological circle okay, face fire disaster and attract tourists, he said.

Chittagong once had many well-known water bodies such as Dewan Gouri Shankar Dighi, Lal Dighi, Hamzar Dighi, Tekchander Dighi, Amir Khar Dighi, Shib Khar Dighi, Hazarir Dighi, Atim Shahar Dighi, Khanjar Dighi, Ranir Dighi, Asker Dighi, Nunu Khar Dighi, Shiblaler Dighi, Mazzabir Dighi, Moulvipukur, Agabad Dheba, Bheluar Dighi, Zora Dighi and Kamaldah Dighi.

Of these, Zora Dighi, Asker Dighi, Agrabad Dheba, Bheluar Dighi, Ranir Dighi and Mohammedpur Pukur are still surviving with their beauty and majesty.

The 1961 Master Plan of Chittagong Development Authority (CDA) mentioned a good number of ponds and waterbodies in the city. The CDA included those in its structure plan, urban plan and detail area plan in 1996 also and emphasised the need for these ponds and water bodies.

Rampant filling of ponds and waterbodies is also causing sewerage problem in the port city, said a CDA official.

The water bodies could contain a good quantity of water during heavy monsoon to help reduce the waterlogging and inundation, the official added.

Fire fighters also face trouble in extinguishing fire in absence of ponds or waterbodies in the areas where incident of fire take place.

"Shortage of water is a major problem for us in case of an incident of fire," said Rashedul Islam Majumder, Assistant Director of Fire Service and Civil Defence.

He said in most of the cases, especially at city's densely populated areas, we have to depend entirely on our own reserve for water to control the fire.

He urged the conscious people not to fill up the water bodies or ponds insensibly in future.