SHIHAB stands knee-deep in the Buriganga, rhythmically dipping long rolls of fabric into vats of colour. Each plunge releases clouds of bright yellow and crimson that swirl briefly before dissolving into the river鈥檚 inky current. Nearby, his younger brother Shanto stirs another drum of dye, his hands raw and stained, his gaze fixed on the churning water as if searching for something lost beneath its surface.
They work in a small dyeing factory tucked deep inside Kamrangirchar鈥檚 maze of narrow alleys and tin roofs. When asked about their work, both fall silent. Around here, words can cost a livelihood. The river is their employer, their sustenance and slowly, their executioner. To speak is to risk hunger; to stay silent is to inhale poison. It鈥檚 a quiet cruelty that stains not just their hands, but their lives.
Once the shimmering heart of Dhaka 鈥� its trade route, its muse, its pulse 鈥� the Buriganga is now a graveyard of chemical sludge and untreated waste. What once carried the fragrance of jute and the rhythm of sails now carries the stench of decay. The river that built this city is being buried by it, one dye-soaked cloth at a time.
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Data-driven catastrophe
THE numbers tell a grim story. A 2025 study by Jahangirnagar University found alarming concentrations of heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, chromium, mercury and arsenic in both the water and sediment of the river, levels that far exceed national and international safety limits. These toxins are not confined to the water; they are settling into the riverbed, creeping into the food chain and posing a slow, silent threat to public health.
The scale of pollution is staggering. According to the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority, around 350 metric tonnes of toxic waste are dumped into rivers every single day from some 7,000 industries and residential areas around greater Dhaka. The Department of Environment estimates that tanneries alone discharge 22,000 cubic metres of untreated liquid waste each day, while the textile sector adds an additional 56 million tonnes of waste and half a million tonnes of sludge annually.
The results are devastating. During the dry season, the dissolved oxygen level in the Buriganga can fall to a lethal 0.1 milligrams per litre, a point where almost no aquatic life can survive. For context, fish begin to die when oxygen levels drop below 1 mg/L. For long stretches of the year, the Buriganga ceases to be a river and becomes more like an open sewer.
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Anatomy of crisis
THE sources of this catastrophe are well known. The industrial sector remains the biggest offender. Tanneries in Hazaribagh and dyeing and chemical factories in Shyampur and Kamrangirchar continue to release untreated or partially treated effluents straight into the river. A study identified 102 industrial waste outlets, 75 municipal sewer lines and 216 private discharge points funnelling waste into Dhaka鈥檚 rivers.
Although the law requires factories to operate Effluent Treatment Plants, enforcement remains weak. Of the 33 industrial units in Shyampur legally obliged to have ETPs, 27 have installed them, yet most run irregularly to cut costs. The remaining six operate under court orders, openly defying environmental regulations.
Dhaka鈥檚 failing sewage infrastructure only makes matters worse. The city鈥檚 lone sewage treatment plant at Pagla can handle barely 10 per cent of daily wastewater. The rest, including domestic and human waste, flows untreated through drains straight into the Buriganga.
Encroachment and solid waste dumping add another layer of destruction. Politically connected land grabbers have narrowed the river with illegal landfills and unauthorised structures. Meanwhile, much of Dhaka鈥檚 4,500 tonnes of daily solid waste ends up in the water, forming in some places a three-metre layer of garbage on the riverbed. The once vibrant flow of the Buriganga is now a sluggish, suffocating stream buried under its own waste.
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Legacy of failed promises
鈥楽AVE the Buriganga鈥� has echoed through countless political speeches and media campaigns over the years, yet the results remain dismal. The relocation of tanneries from Hazaribagh to Savar was meant to mark a turning point but has achieved little. Pollution levels remain dangerously high and untreated effluent continues to seep into nearby rivers.
Projects to dredge the river, install boundary pillars, or channel fresh water from the Jamuna have either been poorly executed, abandoned midway, or allowed to decay. Even the concrete embankments built to protect the riverbanks have been encroached upon.
At the heart of this chronic failure lies weak governance, a lack of political will, and the overwhelming influence of powerful polluters. The Department of Environment, the key regulator, is hopelessly under-resourced, with only 80 inspectors against 157 sanctioned posts to monitor compliance nationwide. As one official admitted, monitoring the Shyampur area alone would require at least four full-time inspectors.
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Path to redemption
SAVING the Buriganga will require more than slogans and half-hearted projects. It demands a unified, uncompromising strategy grounded in accountability, investment and public participation.
First, the government must show real political courage by strictly enforcing environmental laws. Industrial lobbies that have long operated with impunity must be held to account. Factories that fail to operate their Effluent Treatment Plants should face immediate closure, and judicial loopholes allowing polluters to continue under stay orders must be closed once and for all.
Secondly, Bangladesh needs to shift from scattered, individual Effluent Treatment Plant to centralised waste treatment systems. Establishing Central Effluent Treatment Plants in industrial zones such as Shyampur and Savar would allow for collective management of waste and minimise operational lapses.
Dhaka鈥檚 waste management system must also be overhauled. Expanding sewage treatment capacity, modernising drainage networks, and keeping solid waste out of rivers are essential if the Buriganga is to breathe again. Without these basic reforms, every clean-up campaign will be cosmetic at best.
The natural flow of the river must also be restored. Regular dredging to remove sludge and deepen the channel is vital. The long-discussed plan to channel water from the Jamuna should be revisited, but with transparency, proper environmental assessment and the assurance of consistent fresh water inflow.
Lastly, transparency must be woven into river governance. A real-time, publicly accessible water quality monitoring system would allow citizens, journalists and researchers to track pollution levels and hold industries and authorities accountable. When truth is visible, silence becomes impossible.
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Last cry
THE Buriganga is more than a river; it is the soul of Dhaka. Its slow death mirrors a deeper national crisis, where short-term profit outweighs long-term survival and silence replaces conscience.
If this river dies, it will not just be an environmental disaster but a moral one. The Buriganga鈥檚 decay is not inevitable, but saving it demands political will, civic vigilance and the courage to confront vested interests. The time for rhetoric is over. What we need now is decisive, uncompromising action, before the Buriganga, once Dhaka鈥檚 lifeline, is silenced forever.
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Nafew Sajed Joy is a researcher and writer.
