158 rivers dry up in 57 years

The government's commitments and pledges to protect the rivers are nothing new. Even the court has ordered the government to take measures to save the rivers. All year round there is talk about various initiatives to dredge and revive rivers. But on ground, the encroachment and the pollution of the rivers continue unabated. The commitments remain mostly restricted to rhetoric and the rivers are steadily drying up.

According to two studies, over the past 57 years, 158 rivers have dried up. Bangladesh Disaster Forum in 2010 published a report on the decrease in the number of rivers from 1963 till 2000. A team of researchers from the geography department of Jahangirnagar University were involved in drawing up the list. The report said that 115 river had dried up and were near extinction.

Again, according to a report of Uttaran, a non-government organisation (NGO) which has been studying rivers and water of the northwest region of the country, 43 rivers have dried up over the past 20 years (2000 to January 2020). The death of the rivers cannot be prevented due to coastal embankments, construction of all sorts of infrastructure and encroachment.

Director of Uttaran, Shahidul Islam, told Prothom Alo that the strong-flowing rivers of the northwest like Betna, Shalika, Shalita, Hamkura, Chuna and Hatitana had dried up and settlements had grown in place of these. Unplanned embankments are the reason that these rivers have died.

On one had the decrease in water flow has led to the rivers drying up, and on the other hand, the rivers are being killed by pollution. There is adequate water flow in some rivers, but river is so polluted that the water is totally unusable. Topping the list of such rivers are Buriganga, Balu, Sitalakhya and Dhaleswari.

Three teachers of Dhaka University, Md Khalid Hasad, Abrar Shahariar and Kudrat Ullah, have analysed 143 studies published in international journals from 1991 to April 2019 regarding the qualitative aspects of the country's rivers. Their analysis was published in the May 2019 issue of the international science journal Heliyon. It stated there that there were metallic substances harmful to the human body detected in 32 rivers of the country. The most toxic metallic substances were found in Buriganga. Next were Balu and Sitalakhya.

Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) is in charge of the country's river routes, the Water Development Board is in charge of protecting the river banks and dredging, and the land minister is in charge of leasing out the rivers. The fisheries directorate looks after the fish resources. The ministry of forests is responsible for the dolphins, crocodiles and such animals in the river. Then again, the ministry of agriculture is in charge of irrigation and rubber dams. WASA and the department of public health engineering treat water from the river and supply it to the cities. And now the National River Conservation Commission is in charge of the overall protection of rivers.The rivers are spread out like a network all over the country and are interconnected. If one river dries, it has an impact on the others.

In February this year, the National River Conservation Commission updated a list of 39,558 river encroachers. According to the list, Cumilla has the highest number of encroachers. These encroachers include powerful industrial groups of the country, as well as influential individuals, companies and politicians. In recent times, reports highlighted ruling party member of parliament Haji Selim and Aslamul Huq MP using their political clout to obstruct eviction and keep control of the encroached rivers.

Chairman of the National River Conservation Commission, Mujibur Rahman Howladar, told Prothom Alo that preparing a full-fledged list of the encroachers and eviction is being carried out simultaneously. He said that the rivers must be restored to their original form. However, the commission still does not have an accurate record of how many rivers there are in the country

No government organisation has an accurate number of the country's rivers either. Almost 10 years ago an official survey was carried out. The Water Development Board's six-volume study report of 2011 stated there were 405 rivers in Bangladesh.

The Water Development Board's survey was based on NASA satellite pictures and field surveys. However, in 2005 the board had published a book on Bangladesh's rivers, putting the number at 310. Again, in Banglapaedia and other official documents, the number of rivers is put at 700 in some places and 800 in others. And accounts in literature and folklore put the number in thousands.

A year after the survey report was published, in 2012 the water resources minister at the time, Ramesh Chandra Sen, told the parliament that there were 310 rivers in the country, of which 212 had a good flow and 97 were on the verge of vanishing. And after independence the river Bhola of Bagerhat disappeared completely.

Former director general of WARPO (Water Resources Planning Organisation) and river researcher M Inamul Haque has put the number of rivers in the country at 1,516.

BRAC University emeritus professor Ainun Nishat told Prothom Alo that 80 per cent of Bangladesh land is made up from river silt. The rivers are spread out like a network all over the country and are interconnected. If one river dries, it has an impact on the others. He said that when constructing on the rivers, no silt management steps have been adopted. The natural flow of the rivers is being obstructed and many rivers have dried up. From the sixties till now, at least 100 rivers have dried up.

* This report appeared in the print edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Ayesha Kabir