bdenvironment.com

Tag: River

  • Bangabandhu Nodi Padak

    Bangabandhu Nodi Padak

    Tahjeeb Hossain Chowdhury: The introduction of the ‘Bangabandhu Nodi Padak’ has been undertaken. As a part of the efforts of restoring rivers and safeguarding the future of the riverine environment, the award will be given to people and organizations that come forward to take steps to save the rivers in our country.

    The rivers that have governed our way of life for centuries have been under threat because of rising pollution. Many rivers in our country have dried up. If rivers do not function in the proper way, a huge dent is expected in our agriculture and our economy. So the government has been playing an active role in saving rivers and the environment that depends so much on the rivers.

    A total of four awards is planned. One in the district levels, while the other three at the national level. The district-level award will consist of a certificate, a gold medal, and a cash prize of BDT 30000. At the national level, the difference would be in the prize money with BDT 50000 as a part of those awards. 

    The awarding committee will be on Upazilla, district, and National levels. Each will have its own awarding committee who will judge the efforts of river protection. The award is being conducted and drafted by the Shipping ministry. The tentative date for the award is likely to be in September. This is because the ministry wants the award ceremony to coincide with the ‘World Rivers Day’. It might also be awarded on any date of the Prime Minister’s availability. Dates, number of awards, the prizes, and other facets are subject to change as per the Shipping ministry. 

    The rivers in our country have played a vital role in our way of life. Yet, they are subject to pollution, illegal establishments on the banks, and have seen a lack of effort in saving the rivers in general. The shipping ministry wants to encourage and make sure that saving rivers is a priority on an individual as well as personal levels. The ‘Bangabandhu Nodi Padak’ will be a sign of incentive and promotion of the notion to award acts of riverine restorations.

    (The writer is a marketing graduate, content writer, and data science enthusiast from Dhaka, reach him at [email protected])

  • Shibsha River Erosion threatens for Sundarbans

    Shibsha River Erosion threatens for Sundarbans

    Tahjeeb Hossain Chowdhury: The Shibsha River is threatening to consume the various vegetation found in the West Sundarbans. The World’s Largest Mangrove Forest, the western part, in particular, is facing a situation where even the Iconic and Namesake of the forest, The Sundari tree is also under immense threat.

    The bank of Shibsha River has faced a damning case of erosion in recent times. The state is so dire that the erosion is threatening a land that expands to 15-20 kilometers in length. The Catastrophic erosion is causing the world-famous flora of the Western side of Sundarbans in a significant way.

    Correspondents of different media have reported and published on newspaper that the erosion originally started from the eastern bank of the River. Inhabitants and fishermen of the area have lamented that erosion has intensified a lot during recent times and has made life quite difficult for humans and nature alike. They have also opined that the forest department should shoulder the blame for the spread as they played no significant part in stopping the whole spread to the western shores.

    Many big trees and vegetation in the area were washed away and consumed deep beneath the riverbed. Two landmasses that develop because of silt, also known as Chars have appeared in the area. Professor Abdullah Harun Chowdhury of the Khulna University has opined that the salt portion in water and soil in the Noilan, Khulna, and Satkhira has risen and continues to rise.

    He also added that the Salt and soil level increasing has lead to the soil losing the bond. Thus, as a result, has led to this terrible degree of soil erosion in the area. The forest officer in the region, Md Basir Al Mamun, said to the media that they have not yet been able to do a survey of the damage caused by the ongoing erosion. The last survey from the 2201-2014 period shows a 1 percent increase in the forest.

    The forest conservator in the Khulna Area, Md Moinuddin Khan has said to media that the erosion is a natural occurrence in the Mangrove area. He has also said that they are ready to take necessary measures to stop the erosion.

    (The writer is a marketing graduate, content writer, and data science enthusiast from Dhaka, reach him at [email protected])

    Featured Image Courtesy: Wikipedia

  • Teesta River Drying up, Ecosystem under Threat

    Teesta River Drying up, Ecosystem under Threat

    Lalmonirhat’s Patgram Upazilla is the entry point of the Teesta River into Bangladesh. But India has built an irrigation Barrage at the Indian side of Teesta, specifically the Malbazar Town in Jalpaiguri which caused Teesta River Drying up. The barrage, unfortunately, is working as a blockade and diverting the water. As a result, the Bangladeshi portion of the Teesta River is Drying up.

    The Teesta entrance to the Hatibandha Teesta Barrage sees a water flow of around 800-900 cusecs. But the same cannot be said for the area of the barrage to the Lalmonirhat-Kauna area. The water flow recorded there are 300-400 Cusescs.

    Authorities from both India and Bangladesh have held talks about the river situation with practically no Results. The natural biodiversity and the ecosystem of the area are at risk. The drying up is in such a dire level that farmers are cultivating pumpkins in the dried-up land. The Hartibandha Barrage area is totally dried up.

    With the total length of Teesta being 315 km, it covers a 115 km of critical areas within Bangladesh. The natural balance of the surrounding areas depend heavily on the wellbeing of the river.

    With possibilities of talks coming up again in the near future, the welfare of the Teesta River will be of utmost importance. The talks regarding this is not a new occurrence. There has been discussion and debate regarding the river since 1983. A decisive point was reached back in 2007. The Joint river commission of Bangladesh and India decided to divide 4/5th of the river among themselves while the remaining portion would be free to let the river flow properly.

    In 2011, a division with 42.5% in favor of India and 37.5% to Bangladesh was also discussed which like the previous settlement remains unsigned. Bangladeshi officials have to eke out a deal as soon as possible to save the waning ecosystem of the Teesta and the areas around it.

    (The writer is a marketing graduate, content writer, and data science enthusiast from Dhaka, reach him at [email protected])

  • Karatoa River Occupied by Land grabbers

    Karatoa River Occupied by Land grabbers

    Preparing fake documents by land grabbers to occupy a part of the Karatoa River and constructing establishments.

    Powerful people of those are have occupied large areas of land on both sides of the river in the two districts. Their aims of those people build multi-story buildings there. The environment department identified grasped river land where some people including Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) even included Thangamara Mohila Shabuj Shango and Diabetic Hospital in Bogra.

    WDB Bogra district Sub-Assistant Engineer AKM Najmul Hassain said that already has been occupied for farming and other purposes by encroachers about 57 kilometers of the 86.75 kilometers channel from Khalisha to Khanpur.

    The river lost Khalisha in Gaibandha to Khanpur channel in Bogra which is considering as the main channel of the river before about 23 years ago, said WDB officials.

    To run the water flow of the river, WDB in Khalisha area constructed a three-vent control device in 1989. Farmers on both riverbanks started the cultivation of Boro (One kind of crop) and other kinds of seasonal crops from Khalisha to Khanpur from the beginning of the winter period. And policy needs to implement here.

    The environment department has been taken an initiative to restore the flow of the river from Khalisha of Gobindaganj upazila in Gaibandha to Khanpur of Sherpur Upazila in Bogra district. WDB sources said that the department prepares to make gabbers’ list to expel them and restore the river channel.

    M Inamul Haque mentioned in his book ‘Water Resources Management in Bangladesh’ that from the Rennell’s Map of 1779 it comes into sights that the Karatoa began from the foothills of the Himalayas in Darjeeling of West Bengal (India) and joined the Atrai River in the plains. According to the DoE Bogra officials, the river is dangerously polluted by chemical, household and industrial waste presently.

  • The Teesta River desiccated

    The Teesta River desiccated

    Ashik Rahman: Already majority part of The Teesta River has dried up due to extreme fall in water levels in the summer season. It’s fall due to a barrage in India, upstream of the Teesta Irrigation Project at Dalia, Lalmonirhat. Experts think that barrage is the main hinder the natural flow of the river.

    Officials of Bangladesh Water Development Board (WDB) said cute to creating several sandy shoals on the Teesta River had been fall which effect hampers on agriculture, environment, communication, and livelihoods. At least 5,000 people at shoal villages in Sundarganj Upazila, Rangpur is a sufferer and a long area is desiccated in Rangpur.

    Chandipur Union Parishad of the Upazila Golam Mostafa Ahmed chairman said to media that at least a thousand people become unemployed. And they will be employed for a season for a lack of fertility due to vast tracts of land along the riverbank remains unplanted.

  • Rivers in Bangladesh ‘Comatose’

    Rivers in Bangladesh ‘Comatose’

    Ashik Rahman: The locality and government are neglected to be responsible for the relentless degradation. As a source of livelihood, communication, and heart of people in Dhaka had been determined to the Buriganga River but now it’s a major source of running the capital. This happens due to pollution and building illegal property by robbing. So, now Rivers in Bangladesh is in ‘Comatose’

    Along with Buriganga, Turag, Shitalakkhya, Balu and Bangshi is being a death trap for increasing pollution and also indiscriminate sand lifting. The minimal level of dissolved oxygen (DO) required for life to survive in these rivers do not have.

    Researchers of The Department of Environment (DoE) had been an alarming message on levels of DO in these rivers after three months of research. They have analysis on various samples of a chemical whose were collected from these rivers and the levels of DO in Buriganga, Turag and Bangshi were 0.38, 0.59 and 0.0 milligram per liter gradually.

    According to the Environment Protection Act (Amendment) 2010, the minimum required level DO is 5 mg/l for any water body to sustain aquatic species including fishes and others is. The minimal standard rate for water being eligible for treatment as drinking water is 6 mg/l.

    Contacted with Environment Expert Dr Ahsan Uddin Ahmed over the phone, he said that “such a DO merge amount in water poses severe great threats to biodiversity and hydro-ecology”. “Random dumping of waste has put the rivers in and around the city in a blackout”.

    Professor Mujibur Rahman of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) said that the government ought to shift the tannery diligence from the Hazaribagh, Dhaka. The chemical waste from the tanneries is a major polluter of these rivers. It’s important that The DoE research had been found that the level of DO at the Hazaribagh area of Buriganga River was 1.06, 0.50 and 1.0 mg/l in January, February and March gradually. And the Bio-Chemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) is also very high in these waters.