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River pollution: It’s now all over the country

Around 7km of the Turag covered in oil after an oil tanker collided with another vessel on the river near the capital’s Gabtali area on March 11, according to locals. Two days on, the authorities are yet to clear the oil. Like the Turag, at least 56 rivers of the country are suffering from extreme water pollution owing to various reasons such as chemical waste discharge, dumping of garbage and oil spills. The photo was taken yesterday. Photo: RASHED SHUMON

Conducting a year-long physical survey and testing the water from 56 selected rivers in Dhaka, Khulna, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Barishal and Chattogram divisions, the Rivers and Delta Research Centre (RDRC) has found that each one of them is polluted.

The RDRC, a non-government organisation working for rivers, carried out the survey from February 2022 to February this year. It selected the rivers based on various newspaper reports.

The organisation tested the levels pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biological oxygen demand (BOD) of each river water sample at a Gazipur laboratory.

The COD is the amount of oxygen, the standard of which is 200mg per litre, required to chemically oxidise organic materials, while the BOD represents the amount of oxygen, the standard of which is 50mg, consumed by bacteria and other microorganisms. The pH is the quantitative measure of the water's acidity, which should ideally range between 6-9.