<i>When a river breathes fire </i>
The dark water is just a chemical compound of various toxic waste
OGO nodi aapon bege paagol paaraa… (O' river thou run boundless in thy speed…) Tagore hailed the river. But for the river Norai running through Khilgaon thana, it is only a tale of tethers tethers of pollution and neglect. Once a free river, the Norai now groans under the weight of waste. Drooping Heejol trees on the river bank pensively peering down at their reflections, lush fields, quaint houses, shrubs and thickets of reeds running along the river course remind of a serene natural beauty now marred by stinking, thick, oily, black solution of waste and water that flows through the Norai river. The Norai is now a case of acute environmental catastrophe a river that breathes fire! A timid tributary of the Burigonga, the Norai runs a meandering course across the plains of Trimohoni, Madartek and surrounding villages in the Khilgaon thana. “The water…look[s] like discarded engine oil it is black and thick with untreated waste dumped by WASA and numerous other industries at Tejgaon. Toxic wastes continue to flow into [the river]…day and night, exposing thousands of men, women and children of several villages under Khilgaon thana to serious health hazards. The [river]…now release[s] poisonous gas into the air. Boatmen, traders, farmers and others have no alternative but to live with these manmade hazards” (J. Hasan, 2002 cited in SOS-arsenic.net). The situation has deteriorated with the passing of years. The water is still of the colour of “discarded engine oil”. On a clear day one can make out the haze formed by the poisonous gas bubbling out of the river. The dreadful stench that accompanies almost numbs the brain. In some places on the Norai the concentration of gas is now so high that a lit match-stick or cigarette butt thrown in the water can cause flames to spring up, according to a number of boatmen. There are virtually no fish in Norai. The dwindling number of fishermen who still dare casting fishing nets in the so called water finds only solid black waste. Pollution lessens a bit in the monsoon, though the stink and gas remains somewhat at a lesser degree. Pollution of the river and its small tributary the Gojaria Khaal, only ways of transport and sources of irrigation of the nearby villages, is adversely and critically affecting the local livelihood. Apart from the daily hazard of plying a river that resembles an overflowing drain of toxic waste, the locality is facing loss of fertility of arable land. Acute shortage of potable water is turning life near unbearable. The water is almost impossible to use for cooking, bathing and washing. Adding to the indiscriminate disposal of waste from WASA sewer pipes, are open pit latrines along the river bank and household waste disposed from the locality. The farmers are forced to use the contaminated water for irrigation with no source of safe water available. As a result, vegetation grown using the water is getting contaminated (ibid.). Sediment deposition on the river bank is nothing but a black mixture of mud and waste and stinks of rot and toxic. The grin of irony turns wider as chemical insecticide used in the fields washes out to the river and further contaminates it. The Norai pollution can issue an outbreak of severe health hazard in the locality. Thousands of people depending on the river are everyday turning more vulnerable to a horrendous environmental catastrophe. People travelling along the river are regularly inhaling noxious gas which can lead to immediate nausea and long term health problems. Boatmen, crew working in sand-hauling motor-boats, farmers and occasional fishermen exposed to direct contact to the water are in dire risk of skin and intestinal diseases. The scenario worsens with an obvious onset of encroachment along the river bank. The environmental damage of the Norai, now to a degree near-unalterable, is ensnaring ecology aquatic life, habitat, insects, domestic animals, birds, soil fertility and nutrients, vegetation and all aspects of human living condition. It is a case of utter and absolute destruction of aquatic ecological balance. Yet again pollution of the Norai is only a part of the river pollution process which encompasses the Buriganga, the Balu and the Shitolokhya rivers and their tributaries and canals. These are the rivers that nourished and watered and quenched the thirst of millions of city-dwellers and are now choked with city sewer, industrial waste and toxic runoff. “The lone Sewerage Treatment Plant (SWP) situated in Pagla of Narayanganj can treat only 10 percent of the industrial waste” (“Pollution of rivers around Dhaka: Increasing threats to life”, Mohammad Tareq Hasan, The Daily Star, September 10, 2011), which is certainly not enough. There have been regular reports, studies, talks, promises and activities against river pollution. There have been numerous citing of the fabled Section 9 of the Environment Conservation Act 1995 stating the polluters' responsibility to “prevent or mitigate” discharge causing pollution. Rallies and meetings demanding the end of pollution have been held before in the Trimohoni village of Khilgaon thana. Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (BAPA) demanded stoppage of dumping sewage in Norai in the recent past (“Stop dumping sewage into Norai, Debdholai canals in city: Demands Bapa”, The Daily Star, July 5, 2008). Columns and opinion sections and leads have run thick with grievances of people and sometimes mere consoling yet empty promises of the authorities. Now the question arises, why despite scores of studies and reports depicting the destruction of river ecology no action has effectively been taken against it? The situation has only continued to worsen at an ever increasing rate. Is it inefficiency of the system? Is it the system's inherent incapability to resolve problems borne of its own incapability? Is it the manifestation of the system's persistent plethora of self-destructive attitude? Or is it an amalgamated result of all of these? We do not know. But we do know that Dhaka has turned into a self-annihilating metropolis desecrating and destroying its own resources of survival. But we need the Norai as well as other rivers and canals. With the population of Dhaka growing beyond control safe sources of water must be ensured. Unless swift prevention policies are passed human condition in the city is going to degrade by a devastating degree. The masses should be made aware and organised against the threat which can in turn induce a driving initiative from the part of authority. We must free the Norai of her chains and the masses bound to her fate.
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