Dhaka Tribune| 15 March 2023

The River Halda merits inclusion as both a national and global heritage, according to UNESCO, and yet, the waters of the River Halda today are severely polluted. According to sources, a vast section of Chittagong’s industrial factories and residential refuse are being directly channeled into Halda through Bamanshahi, Krishnakhali, and Kuaish Khandakia, contaminating the water in the process. The only tidal river in which carp eggs are directly harvested after fertilization is Halda, which is why direct egg extraction is unique to tidal rivers.

Halda river is Bangladesh’s economic “white gold mine,” but it is still treated incredibly poorly. 

Every year on March 14, there is an event called the “International Day of Action for Rivers” that aims to protect, honour, and raise awareness regarding the value of rivers. The global environmental group International Rivers established the International Day of Action for Rivers in 1998, the first of its kind.

Halda’s water is polluted and lacks the oxygen levels necessary for aquatic life to survive. Moreover, the water contains a significant amount of ammonia and, as a result, any and all fish are dying. Along with industrial garbage, the River Halda is losing fish on a daily basis because of numerous impediments in its path, such as rubber dams and dredgers that remove sand. Halda is constantly under danger for a variety of man-made reasons. One of the main causes of this is the installation of sluice gates in several canals that connect to the river, and the discharge of household and industrial garbage into the river. 

According to a 2016 report by the Chittagong Divisional Environment Department, the eight surrounding establishments are primarily to blame for Halda’s fish spawning problems. Due to the lack of an efficient Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) in these institutions, residential and industrial waste are contaminating the river. Through several canals, and tiny streams that are connected to the river, this pollution is spreading at an alarming rate.

The research also notes that rubbish being dumped into Halda, via the Bamanshahi Canal from a number of factories and residential areas in the Bayezid-Oxygen region, is exacerbating the contamination. Previously, the Bamanshahi Canal’s water flowed directly into the River Karnaphuli. However, it is already entering Halda directly through the Quaish Canal via the drains of residential neighbourhoods.

The River Halda’s branch canals were visited by a delegation from the Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute, who also collected water samples from the river to test. The amount of oxygen in the river water has significantly reduced, according to various studies. This river typically has five milligrams of dissolved oxygen per litre of water. But after testing a sample of water from Halda, it was discovered that the current dissolved oxygen content was less than two milligrams. 

Conversely, the amount of ammonia in the water has increased significantly. The water is becoming severely contaminated by industrial waste and the canal’s water has turned entirely black as a result (it travels to Halda where it contaminates the water).

Lest we forget, the sole natural roe fish breeding area in the nation is the River Halda, and that water was once taken from this river to supply the requirements of the entire nation. 

More than six million residents of Chittagong depend on this river for their daily water supply. People on both sides of this 98km long river, which runs from Patachhari of Khagrachari to Kalurghat, use the water for agriculture as well. Chemical waste from numerous industries flows into the river on a regular basis. Continuous rain and mountain streams have contaminated the water with industrial pollutants, hazardous wastes from poultry farms, and other decaying elements. 

It is imperative that remediation efforts for Halda’s pollution start right now.