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Strengthen the Civil Society Capacity and Voice on

Water Co-operation

(Following the year of water co-operation 2013)

State of

Turag RiverTareque Ahmed

Md. Bodrud-Doza

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State of the Turag River

Introduction

The Turag river is one of the most important river around Dhaka city. The

river used for various purposes throughout the century. The river is amatter of great importance from economic point of view. The river is a

transit point with Bangshi, Dhaleswari and Buriganga of the Dhaka city.

The Turag River is the upper tributary of the Buriganga, a major river inBangladesh. The Turag originates from the Bangshi River, the latter animportant tributary of the Dhaleshwari River, flows through Gazipur andjoins the Buriganga at Mirpur in Dhaka District.It is navigable by boat allyear round.

Turag River drawn into the Jamuna system by the invasion of theLouhajang river (in Tangail district). The Turag remains active, although ithas only a small flow in the dry season. The whole of the Turag valley southof the Mymensingh Trunk Road is notable for boro rice cultivation.

Fig: Map of Savar Upazila with rives and Turag River

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tributaryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buriganga_Riverhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladeshhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangshi_Riverhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhaleshwari_Riverhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gazipur_Districthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirpur_Thanahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhaka_Districthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navigablehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navigablehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhaka_Districthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirpur_Thanahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gazipur_Districthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhaleshwari_Riverhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangshi_Riverhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladeshhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buriganga_Riverhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tributary

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The entire regime of the Turag River is almost a semi-funnel shaped basinand its catchment is located on the central and southern part ofMadhupur tract and flows from north to south within the basin and itslength is 40 miles and 15 miles in wide to the maximum. It has a total areaof 386 square miles.

There are numerous numbers of industries, brick fields, and sand extractingzone at the banks of the river. The river water is polluted which is noticeablethrough necked eye. Exemplifying theriverine character ofDhaka,the Turagis abundant in fish but suffers from acute water pollution.While attemptshave been made to marginally widen the river, the majority of industry hasmade little effort to follow environmental law and the water has becomevisibly discolored.

Fig: Satellite image and GIS map of Turag river

Method of the study of Turag river

The Turag river is one of the most polluted river surrounding the Dhaka city.The tributaries and distributaries of the river also polluted. The Bangshiwhich is the tributary river of Turag is heavily polluted and its distributaryBuriganga is another well-known polluted river in the Dhaka city. The fieldstudy of the Turag river made from Abdullahpur to Aminbazar. Varioussource of pollution are seen through Ashulia beribadh. The present stateindicate that time has come to take some initiatives to save Turag river.Pollution scenarios are seen at every place of the river bank.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverinehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhakahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_pollutionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_pollutionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhakahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverine

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Fig: Some images during field visit of Turag River

Major findings

Pollution: Many industries have set up in and around the Dhaka Cityduring last decade, and the number of new industries are continuallyincreasing. The river Turag have been steadily experiencing complicated

problems like pollution and encroachment that have almost suffocated thesevaluable lifelines of the city. The highest pollution points of the Turag Riverinclude the Buriganga Turag Bridge area at Bashila and the Tongi Bridgearea. At these two points, the river water is pitch black with the worst ofsmell and can be used for hardly any purpose. The other extreme pollutionspot is near the Tongi Bridge that derives massive pollutant loading from theTongi Industrial Area. This industrial area possesses about 29 heavyindustries. This cluster of industries of the capital city generates a lot ofeffluents daily, which contain lots of heavy metal.

There are some severe pollution hampering the natural properties of the

river and gradually degrading the environmental condition of the whole area.Some types of pollution are mentioned below:

Water pollution: The untreated waste from the industries degrading thewater quality of the river.

Air pollution:The area around the Turag river is one of the busiest area ofthe Dhaka district. There are many industries and some places are transitpoint to enter the Dhaka city. So vehicles emitted unburned fuel and roaddust pollutes the air. The entire river banks are full of brick field. The smokeof unburned coal emitted from the brick field always polluting the air. The

river water smells very odorous some places which degrade the air quality.The Aminbazar land filling site also situated near the Turag River, which

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degrades the air quality of the area by producing high quantity of methanegas.

Sound pollution: The area is always busy with public transportationvehicles and trucks. So there is always a heavy sound pollution in the

surrounding area.

River grabbing and encroachment: There also some manmadeproblems in there. The unplanned restaurants, hotel and business centeralways degrading the river systems in various ways.

The river grabbing and encroachment is one of the biggest problem at thearea. Some dishonest people occupy the river bank illegally. As a resultsome areas of the river are being dried and the river channel has beenchanged.

Illegal sand extraction:The illegal sand extraction from the bank of theriver changing the navigability of the river.

Drainage:The Turag River plays a vital role to facilitate the drainage ofwater from Dhaka city. But due to some man made problems the river haslost its own nature and the river drainage system is disturbed.

Biodiversity: The aquatic life of the river is now at danger due to thepollution of the river. The odorous and pitch black water might support afew to the aquatic life of the river.

Water quality of the river

The Turag River is getting polluted day by day. Discharge of untreated waterfrom the industries continually changing the river water quality. The waterquality of the river is affected by the industrial and agricultural activities inits vicinity and the water is characterized by high pollution load from thesurrounding industries. The river water can pose threat for aquatic livesduring post-monsoon and pre-monsoon seasons. The presence of pollutantsin Turag River could be due to dumping of municipal wastes and nutrientsfrom induced fertilizers from agricultural lands along the river bank whichultimately made the river prone to eutrophication and resulted intodegradation of water quality as well as the aquatic environment. It is

alarming that the pollution concentration in the river is increasing sharplyand can cause serious threat to the ecosystem. The river water remainsmost wore during the dry season. At the monsoon the water dilutes a littleand the water is usable in some extent.

Discussion

To ensure the better Turag River it is essential to identify the pollutionsource of the river. Then useful measures should be taken against thepolluters of the industries. The river water is being polluted from thetributary (Bangshi). All necessary step should be adopted. The brick fields,

river encroachment, Illegal River grabbing and sand extraction from the riverbank extremely affect the river system. The Turag River is one of the most

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important river of Dhaka district, which maintain the drainage system of thecity. So it is very important to take some steps for the betterment of theriver.

Recommendation

The industries surrounding the river are the main reason for the pollution ofwater of the river. All polluted effluent discharges in the river. Now the wateris the reason of the degradation of the environmental condition of the riverarea.

Immediate steps including regular monitoring of the river water quality isneeded to check the environmental condition. Wastewater discharged fromindustries could be recycled for the remediation of pollution in a sustainableand eco-specific way. Different remediation measures should be takenpromptly to remove excising pollutants from discharge.

Common mitigation measures

Wastewater treatment is probably the most obvious mitigation measure thatcan check the adverse environmental and social consequences. ETP(Effluent Treatment Plant) should be used in every industry.

Break fields near the bank of river should be maintained in eco-friendlyprocesses.

Landfill area near the Turag River should be maintained in proper way.

Government should be more aware about the discharge of waste from the

industries. The fine for the discharge of waste should be applied strictly.

Raising public awareness may be very effective mitigation measures.

There should be strong rules for the river use and the river maintenance actshould be maintained. The punishment for the illegal river encroachersshould be applied.