The River Bleeds Black

July 8th, 2008 by Shehzad Noorani

This is a story about Buriganga, a river that flows through Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, but one with huge implications internationally. Because historically Buriganga has been a hub of commercial activities, it has always been busy, vibrant and full of life, but never really very clean. Yet the level of environmental degradation it has been subjected to in recent years is most astonishing.

Dhaka’s 12.6 million people produce about 3,200 tons of solid waste daily. Approximately 80% of they city’s sewage, in addition to 40,000 tons of untreated toxic industrial waste is released directly into the river daily making much of the Buriganga river biologically dead. The river has become so polluted that the water has literally turned black and has a glue-like consistency. With failing infrastructure and little investment in systems, thousands of people living on the bank of the river have little or no choice but to continue to use this highly contaminated water to wash, bath and even to drink.

Sikendar, a fisherman, catches Taki Mach, a tough fish that thrives in polluted water.

Although Bangladesh is a poor country, for rich industrialists there are huge profits to be made. Labour is cheap and there are almost no regulations or environmental restrictions that cannot be dodged. Bangladesh has some of the largest garment and leather industries in the world that freely dump their toxic waste into rivers.

A young girl sits on broken wall inside an informal glue factory whether workers process waste leather to make glue in Hazaribagh area near Buriganga river in Dhaka.

Most industries based in urban area in Bangladesh pollute environment but leather tanneries probably do the worst damage. Hazaribagh, Dhaka’s biggest leather processing industrial zone, is right in the middle of one of the most densely populated residential area.

These polluting industries survive on orders from big manufacturers in the west who take shelter behind the comfort of the Kyoto argument, that the west have been industrializing and polluting for centuries, so it is only fair that poor countries in desperate situations that need to develop should also have the same opportunities. The idea that somehow developing countries need to pollute the world to come out of poverty is nothing but a gimmick. For many it is just an excuse to move polluting industries from one place to another. As long as profits are fat, it does not seem to matter if it costs someone’s life or future of entire country.

Sitting near a communal hand pump in her slum in Dhaka, Munni (9 years old) washes dirty dishes.

Like thousands of women and children, she too survives on resources from Buriganga. To support her family, she scavenges for metal on a dumpsite on the bank of river. She has three sisters and one brother. Her father died recently in a boat accident. Her mother works six days a week and earns Taka 400 /week ($7).

Munni’s mother Sofia Begum said, “Only I know how I manage to feed my children. Often just to feed them plain rice with salt and onion, I have to borrow money from my neighbors. School? Education is not for poor people like us.”

We live in a global village, connected with each other in every possible way. We know more now than ever before that wrong environmental practices in one part of the world could have fatal implications on lives of the people in other parts of the world. To allow industries to pollute the world just because they are based in developing countries is not just wrong, but criminal. It does not make sense to control emissions only in the developed world and let developing countries pollute indiscriminately in the name of development and eradicating poverty.

Noorun Nehar (15 years old) looks through a curtain hole of a battery-recycling workshop. Like thousands of other women and children, she too survives by recycling waste on the bank of Buriganga. She is only 15 years and has been breaking batteries since last three year. She earns Taka 300/week (about $4).

Bangladesh is just an example of what is already happening in countries like India and China on a much larger scale. Developing countries are responsible for about one-third of the world’s greenhouse-gas emissions, but experts predict that if the pace of industrial growth in developing countries continues at the same rate, by 2100 they will emit almost three times more than their developed counterparts. As a matter of fact, according to a recent study by University of California, China has already surpassed the United States as the world’s largest carbon polluter. If concrete steps are not taken to improve environmental practices in developing countries soon, it will have a significant negative impact on everyone’s lives around the world.

Tags: asia, Bangladesh, pollution, poverty
Posted in Articles, Economic Development, Environment, Photo Highlights, Photography