City sewage pollutes Karnafuli-Halda
17 March 2022
Chattogram Bureau :
The sewage of seven million people of the Chattogram city is falling into Halda and Karnafuli rivers. The crisis is compounded by the lack of a WASA sewage treatment plant for waste management. Moreover, Karnafuli, the lifeline of the country, which is endangered due to excessive pollution, occupation and flooding, and Halda river, a natural fish breeding ground.
However, it is hoped that WASA will enter the field to implement the sewerage project in the city. Work orders have already been issued to the contractor for the project.
Asked about the pollution to Professor Md. Manjurul Kibria of the University of Chittagong Halda River Research Laboratory Coordinator said, 'Halda and Karnafuli rivers are the worst pollutants of city and industrial waste. Factory waste on both sides of the Karnafuli River falls directly into the river. In particular, industrial and residential wastes from the Oxygen and Kulgaon areas are falling directly into the Halda River. 'Like the rest of the world, Bangladesh has been celebrating the day. This time the theme of the day is 'River for Biodiversity'.
According to the master plan prepared by Chittagong WASA on drainage and sewerage, about 266 million liters of sewage is being discharged in the city every day. These wastes are flowing directly into Halda and Karnafuli rivers through canals. River water is being polluted. But these two rivers are the main source of WASA drinking water. Besides, about two thousand metric tons of solid waste is generated in the city daily.
A part of this waste is also falling into the river. In addition to the city's liquid and solid waste, contaminated chemicals from industries on both sides of the river are also flowing into Halda and Karnafuli.
Due to this, these two rivers are constantly being polluted. But effective measures to control river pollution have not been taken yet. WASA Sewerage Project Director and Supervising Engineer Mohammad Ariful Islam told the media that the city is discharging about 268 million liters of sewage per day which will increase to 51 million liters per day by 2030. As a result, these sewage, industrial wastes and hospital wastes are mainly falling into the Halda and Karnafuli rivers through canals and ditches.
If the discharge of waste into the river is not stopped, these two rivers, the only source of potable water in the city, will be the victims of terrible pollution.
This will create a crisis in the supply of potable water in the city including environmental pollution in Chittagong. However, the implementation of WASA sewerage project has started to resolve this crisis.
