The Buriganga River is so polluted that its water appears pitch black, except during the monsoon months, and emits a foul stench through the year.
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A ferryman sleeps on his boat under a mosquito net on the Buriganga river in Dhaka, Bangladesh, last month. The Buriganga, or the ‘Old Ganges’, is so polluted that its water appears pitch black, and emits a foul stench throughout the year, reported Reuters. (Mohammad Ponir Hossain / Reuters)
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A view of dye-coloured water being discharged directly into the Buriganga river in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on March 6. In 1995, Bangladesh made it compulsory for all industrial units to use effluent treatment plants so as to keep pollution out of its rivers, but industries often flout the rule, reports Reuters. (Mohammad Ponir Hossain / Reuters)
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Buffaloes rest in the Bangshai river, upstream of the Buriganga river, in Tangail, Bangladesh. A recent survey by the River and Delta Research Center showed that pollution in the river water during the dry season was well above standard levels and it identified industrial sewage as the main culprit, reported Reuters. (Mohammad Ponir Hossain / Reuters)
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Factory workers wash and dry jeans in Dhaka, on April 8. Bangladesh is the world’s second-biggest garment exporter after China but citizens and environment activists say the booming industry is also a major contributor to the ecological decline of the river, reports Reuters. (Mohammad Ponir Hossain / Reuters)
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A view of water, which has been coloured by textile dye and will eventually flow through the Labandha, Turag and Buriganga rivers, is released near a paddy field in the Mawna Union area, north of Gazipur, Bangladesh, on March 2. Untreated sewage, by-products of fabric dyeing, and other chemical waste from nearby mills and factories flow in daily. Polythene and plastic waste piled on the riverbed have made it shallow and caused a shift in course, reported Reuters. (Mohammad Ponir Hossain / Reuters)
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People cross the Buriganga river by boat near the Sadarghat area in Dhaka, on March 28. The South Asian nation of nearly 170 million, with about 23 million living in Dhaka, has about 220 small and large rivers and a large chunk of its population depends on rivers for a living and transport, reported Reuters. (Mohammad Ponir Hossain / Reuters)
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Motahar Hossain (65), a day labourer takes a bath in the polluted water of the Buriganga river in Dhaka. Siddique Hawlader, 45, a ferryman who lives on his boat on the river told Reuters, “Those who bathe in this river often suffer from scabies on their skin,” (Mohammad Ponir Hossain / Reuters)
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A general view of waste floating on the water of the Buriganga river in Dhaka, on March 5, (Mohammad Ponir Hossain / Reuters)
News link: Living along a ‘dead’ river in Bangladesh (hindustantimes.com)