How Bhaluka factories are damaging rivers - from Khiru to Shitalakshya
We travelled around 30 kilometres across three upazilas (two in Mymensingh and one in Gazipur) to see the extent of Bhaluka factories’ damage to the rivers and its people
Alam Master and Manjurul Huq, two middle-aged men, were deep in conversation under a tree near the bridge at Bhaluka Thana Mor in Mymensingh. The old friends and classmates had a lot to catch up on.
However, the April sun was scorching at 40 degrees Celsius. There was hardly any wind to ease the intensity of the heat. Also, a stench rose from the river under the bridge. The pitch-black water flowing through Khiru, a narrow small river, spread its industrial stench far and wide.
Alam, Manjurul and their friends used to bathe in this river; livestock would drink its water and housewives used it for cooking.
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"On hot summer days like this, we used to swim in this river all day. It was bigger and full of water," Manjurul said. "But now if you dip your hand in this water, it will rot. This is now one of the most polluted rivers of Bangladesh," Alam Master said.
He said the river had been reduced to ruin in front of their eyes over the last 15 years. This occurred with the industrialisation of the area.
"Just like Huang He is the sorrow of China, our sorrow is Khiru," Alam said with deep resentment. Huang He or the Yellow River is known as "the sorrow of China" because it was extremely prone to flooding and caused millions of deaths. This river, until 1938, had changed course 26 times and flooded over 1,500 times.
The friends at Bhaluka Thana Mor said the entirety of Khiru River is polluted to the extent that it is difficult to walk over the streets and pathways by the river, because of the stench from its dark water. "In the past, there used to be a lot of rice fields beside the river, [but] you won't find many these days as rotten water damages the crops," Manjurul said. "The people who have their houses beside the river suffer the most."
Bhaluka has over 300 small, medium and large factories of dyeing, composite, washing, ceramics, tiles and batteries. These factories release their liquid waste into the canals and rivers.
As a result, "The water of Khiru River has become a channel of poison. There are ample examples of cows and ducks dying after drinking this water. People's legs get [infected and] rot after coming in contact with this foul water," Kamrul Hasan, member-secretary of Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (BAPA), Bhaluka chapter, told The Business Standard.
Kamrul said that although many factories now have Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP), most keep their ETPs shut to minimise costs.
"If your ETP was running, the colour of water wouldn't be this pitch-black and there wouldn't be such a stench. We have video footage and photos of large factories releasing their waste and coloured water through their drainage system [into the canals and river]," he added.
River specialist Mohammad Azaz, chairman of the River and Delta Research Centre (RDRC), said that the waste produced by these washing, ceramics, tiles, chemicals and battery factories is very harmful. Moreover, all these elements eventually are channelled to the rivers from Khiru all the way to Shitalakshya, in the absence of monitoring bodies.
How 'dare' we question polluters
Many factories in Bhaluka, located down the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway, surround Lauti, a local canal that flows down to Khiru River. The liquid waste from these factories is brought to this canal through different routes, which then flows downwards.
We followed this canal from Seedstore Bazar on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway to Habirbari village. The canal had been excavated so the water down the industrial belt comfortably flowed down to Khiru. And just like Khiru, Lauti also had pitch-black water with an oozing, horrid odour.
People use the space under the bridge as a toilet, which naturally creates odour. But the canal stench easily overpowered other bad smells.
Walking closer to the canal, to our utter surprise, we spotted a dead goat. The decomposing body was stuck under the bridge in the pitch-black water, which naturally created an intolerable smell. But the water stench was stronger, defeating even the putrid smell of dead decomposing goats.
Following Lautir Khal, we spotted Excellent Industries (tiles and ceramics) discharging their liquid waste into the canal with several drains. The water bubbled, and the stench overpowered all our senses.
After taking some photos, we took the road to their office and learned that they didn't have an ETP at work. "Our ETP is waiting to become operational. The work is done. We will inaugurate the ETP soon," Hasibul Islam, the manager of HR and Admin, told The Business Standard.
He said the factory has been operating here for around 10 years.
When asked why they didn't set up the ETP all these years, Hasibul charged back at us, "Are you interrogating me about why we didn't establish the ETP before? Even no government agency interrogates us like this." He refused to answer any further questions.
Infected paddy roots, harvest down by half
Down the Lauti, we spotted a cello pump (a water pumping device) for the canal water and followed the plastic tube to trace where the canal water was being taken. We met farmer Sohrab Hossain of Lobonkota village in the rice field. He said the canal water was being used in his rice field.
"This water is poisonous, but what can I do? We don't get enough electricity. So, we use the water from this canal, although my soil gets contaminated and the paddy becomes infected and weaker," Shohrab said.
"We have to use various medicines for the survival of paddy, but either way, production has come down to less than half of what we used to get before [the industrialisation of the area]," he added.
Several people were chit-chatting in a store in Habirbari during the hot midday.
A farmer named Liton said, "This canal is long; you could trace it up to Mawna [approximately 20 kilometres away from Lobonkota village] and beyond. All the factories down this line throw their waste in this water."
"Now that the sun is scorching, a very bad odour will soon fill this entire area. It is hard to live nearby, but we cannot just leave our houses," shopkeeper Sheikh Farid said.
Khiru to Shitalakshya – a polluted river belt
We patrolled some 25 kilometres downstream on Tri Mohona Bridge near Kaoraid. This is the place where the Khiru River falls into another river. The locals called this the Sutia River.
If you use Google Maps, it is called the Banar River. But the locals disagreed, saying Khiru falls into Sutia, not Banar, before joining Shiktalakkhya River. There was a certain level of confusion with the names of the rivers that we also had to navigate, alongside the stench.
The Urahati village, besides Tri Mohona Bridge where Khiru and Sutia meet, is where the Bhaluka and Gafargaon upazilas of Mymensingh, and Sreepur upazila of Gazipur, are separated. Abul Kalam, an elderly man of Urahati village, said that the stench of the river water always persists except for a few months in the fall.
Shopkeeper Ujjal seized the moment and expressed his pent-up rage, "If we bathe our livestock in this water now, they become ill and have skin disease. If we use this water for the crop, the plants become weak and damaged. People become sick if they touch this water, and fish don't survive here."
Firoz Khan, in charge of a rubber dam under the bridge, which is used to hold water for agriculture, said, "There is no point talking to you [journalists]. Many people came, talked and took water samples. But nothing changed. If you came in Ramadan, you couldn't even stand here, at this far distance from the river, due to the stench."
The locals said they organised human chains multiple times and their local MP promised to ensure that Bhaluka water is no longer polluted anymore, but nothing changed.
The flow of the water meets another river near Trimohoni Bridge on Gafargaon-Mawana road, which is locally called Banar, but Google Maps calls it the Shila River. And then the combined flow falls into the Shitalakshya.
We met a local fisherman named Roton on the bridge, who said that the water here is "rotten and malodorous. These rivers are growing drier and smaller. People used to fear getting in the water because of its depth. Now, if you want to, you can walk over the water hyacinths on the river," Roton said. "The fishermen here go to the old Brahmaputra and other areas for fishing."
Starting from where the Bhaluka rivers stream down, the Shitalakshya is over-burdened with water hyacinth, like a winter coat. We talked with some locals in Bormi Bazar ghat on the bank of Shitalakshya.
Alamgir has been a boatman here for 11 years. The water is growing more black every year, and the fish are dying as they swim out to the riverbank for oxygen, Alamgir said.
"The fish come up for air and then die sometimes. Bhaluka water is defiling this river," said Shahidul Islam, a local businessman in Bormi Bazar.
BAPA's Kamrul Hasan said even today's contaminated canal Lauti was a river in the CS record [Cadastral Survey. In our country, the first district-wise map and land records prepared are called CS records].
He expressed his frustration about how all these rivers were being damaged. "When government agencies visit some factories under our pressure, they don't get direct access to the factories. They only run ETP when they receive the message that DoE people are at the gate," Kamrul said.
"The pollution is coming here from Bhaluka, and this area is getting more polluted every year," said Abul Hashem, a freedom fighter. "Besides, local waste too is being dumped into the Shitalakshya. All these are gradually killing the river."
'If the factories don't have ethics, it is not possible for us to sit there all the time'
Kamrul said there is a composite factory named Experience located around four to five kilometres north of Bhaluka. They don't have any canal nearby to discharge their water, so they release the contaminated water into the agricultural lands. As a result, the agro lands have been damaged to the extent that five unions and 18 villages have become empty of crops.
There were protests and some actions taken. However, the factory was eventually back to functioning by channelling its water to the Khiru River, through a plastic pipe. The plastic pipe broke and water spilt in agro lands again. Then they promised to build a steel pipe, which Kamrul said, hasn't materialised yet.
Mymensingh Department of Environment (DoE)'s Deputy Director Mezbabul Alam said they regularly monitor and inspect the factories and fine them if gaps are found. He said they are also monitoring some 18 factories online.
When asked why the state of water is such if ETPs are functional, he said, "If ETP is functional, water shouldn't get to this state. If some factories keep their ETPs shut, this can create pollution." However, the deputy director also said, "We are trying to ensure that ETP is running all the time. We have taken steps against many factories."
When Kamrul's allegations were mentioned – that industries keep the ETPs shut even if they have it – Mezbabul said, "We monitor 13 upazilas from our office. There are many industries in this area. If the factories don't have ethics, it is not possible for us to go and sit there all the time to ensure they keep their ETPs on."
RDRC's Mohammad Azaz said Khiru derives its name from Khir, because it used to carry a lot of sediment, which made it look brownish like khir. Its water was very fresh and tasty.
"Many tiles, ceramics, chemical-based washing plants, battery factories based by the Khiru, Shila and upper side of Banar rivers are not monitored for how their chemicals are discharged. Now in February, March and April, not only do the fish, but crabs as well get out of the water to the banks, because it has become so poisonous," he said.
"We have seen that their discharge lines are set to these rivers through various hidden lines and canals, in a one to three/four km radius across the river," he added.
Azaz emphasised enhancing the capacity of the DoE offices.
"How can you survey, monitor and enforce such a big operation with a small office like this? What monitoring can they do without more capacity and manpower? You have to appoint directors and increase manpower," he said.
Azaz said that smart monitoring – a project the DoE has long advocated – should be fully implemented and he wants civil participation in the monitoring.
"We want to see this information in public so local people are aware of whether a factory is running ETP or not. We need people's partnership. Many projects in Bangladesh are not bringing results because there is no people's participation."
