CHAPTER 5

A CRITICAL ANALYSIS ON THE EXISTING ARRANGEMENTS

FOR RIVER POLLUTION MANAGEMENT IN BANGLADESH

5.1 Purpose and approach

In order to formulate an improved system to control pollution in the Buriganga River, it is

necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of the existing management practices. This chapter

discusses the performance of the present system in terms of several aspects such as

relevant national policies, legislative framework, organisational capacity, monitoring and

enforcement status and extent of public involvement. A comprehensive knowledge on

these elements is important to understand the capacity and the needs of the present

regulatory system in order to achieve an effective implementation of any alternative

measure for pollution control in the Buriganga. The outcome of analysis and discussions

facilitates to develop an attribute of the existing arrangements in terms of its strengths,

weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) (Hill and Westbrook 1997).

Identification of SWOT is a useful mechanism for environmental planning and water

resource management, where strengths and weaknesses are considered as factors of the

system in concern (internal issues), while opportunities and threats are considered as

factors which can influence the system from outside (external issues) (European

Commission 1999; Diamantopoulou and Voudouris 2008). Danca (2000) has suggested

that the objective of applying SWOT identification results should be to convert

weaknesses into strengths, and threats into opportunities.

The requisite information for examining the existing arrangements for river pollution

control in Bangladesh were collected through content analysis and reviewing a variety of

secondary sources, such as government documents, international organisations’ (like

World Bank, Asian Development Bank) reports and newspaper articles. The results of

previous studies on state of water quality, community willingness for contribution and

national and regional income and education levels were also considered for this study.

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5.2 Provisions for pollution control within national policies

Water quality and pollution control issues were emphasised in a number of policies in

Bangladesh such as National Environmental Policy (NEP)-1992 and National Water

Policy (NWP)-1999. The NEP-1992 was an outcome of the National Conservation

Strategy and was launched with an aim to provide protection and sustainable management

of the environment. The objectives of the policy include (UNEP 2001, p.54):

• Maintain ecological balance and overall development through protection and

improvement of the environment;

• Identify and regulate activities which pollute and degrade the environment;

• Ensure development that is environmentally sound for all sectors;

• Ensure sustainable, long term, and environmentally sound use of all natural

resources.

In 1995, the National Environmental Management Action Plan (NEMAP) was prepared

by the government as an outline of programs and interventions aimed at implementing

NEP-1992. The NEMAP was meant to promote participatory (stakeholder) based

approach for promoting better resource management. It recognizes the role of

communities and NGOs for natural resource management as vital commenting that,

‘environmental issues cannot be addressed by the government alone but require the

participation of civil society and non government organizations’ (MOEF 1995, p. 19).

This provision within the government’s policy authorised the scope of stakeholder

participation for natural resource management. However, an explicit framework including

the roles of the stakeholders for such intervention in water pollution control activities has

been missing in this action plan. Moreover, no government action program which

formalise the participatory based approach for river pollution control has been

implemented since the formulation of the NEMAP.

Subsequently, the sector specific National Water Policy (NWP)-1999 was prepared to

ensure that the use and the management of water resources are environment friendly. This

policy particularly emphasises on water resource management practices that aim to

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minimise environmental degradation. Specific provisions within this policy include

(UNEP 2001, p.55):

• Protection, restoration and enhancement of the water resources;

• Protection of water quality, including strengthening of the regulations concerning

agro-chemicals and industrial effluent monitoring;

• Facilitation of potable water and sanitation provision;

• Participation of local communities is a requirement for all water sector

development as a subject to an environmental assessment procedure and for the

planning and management process.

Even though these provisions within the NWP-1999 opened the opportunity to

specifically focus on pollution control of water bodies, very few action programs have

been developed in practice where both government and private sector developments

properly address these issues (Marr and Dasgupta 2009).

On paper, the national policies of Bangladesh to protect water bodies from pollution have

been well constructed and comprehensive (Clemett 2004). They have adequate clauses

relating to water quality protection, which includes effluent discharge monitoring,

involvement of civil society and NGOs, industrial zoning regulations and strengthening of

regulatory system (UNEP 2001). Besides the national policies, the government has also

incorporated provisions within various Five-Year Plan documents, which reflect their

initiative to protect the environment and control pollution. However, current policies are

heavily reliant on direct regulation mechanisms, and do not provide incentives for

changing polluter’s behaviour. (Marr and Dasgupta 2009). Moreover, the NEP does not

clarify the measures needed for integrated efforts for environmental protection including

water resources (Aminuzzaman 2010). Further, the government is yet to adopt any firm

policy to reduce pollution arising from industrial effluent and municipal wastewater

discharge, specifically in rivers like Buriganga.

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5.3 Legislative framework and discussions on existing pollution control approach

The formulation of legislations for control and minimisation of water pollution in

Bangladesh were initiated as early as 1970 through the East Pakistan Water Pollution

Control Ordinance (WPCO), which then established the East Pakistan Water Pollution

Control Board. The ordinance required that any person undertaking commercial or

industrial activity should adopt measures for the prevention, control and abatement of

existing or potential pollution of any water, including construction, modification,

extension or alteration of disposal systems; provide information to the Board regarding

wastes, sewerage or treatments works; and permit any officer to inspect and search land

and buildings. Moreover, there had been provisions to impose fines and imprisonment

due to negligence or failure to comply with these requirements (Dacca Gazette 1970).

After the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, the WPCO-1970 was superseded by the

Environmental Pollution Control Ordinance (EPCO)-1977 which extended the control,

prevention and mitigation of pollution to the entire environment of the country and

expanded the definition of ‘pollution’ from specifically related to water to ‘air, water or

soil’. As per this new ordinance, the Board was renamed as Environmental Pollution

Control Board, and its jurisdiction was extended beyond permitting officers to inspect

buildings and land, to allow them to inspect and test any wastes, air, water, soil, plants

and materials of the disposal system (Bangladesh Gazette 1977).

Since its inception in 1977, the Environmental Pollution Control Board was assisted by a

‘Pollution Control Cell’ to specifically focus on the pollution control activities of the

Board. Subsequently, the responsibilities of the Pollution Control Cell were enhanced and

ultimately it grew into the Department of Environmental Pollution Control in 1985, which

was renamed as the Department of Environment (DOE) in 1989. During the same year,

the government abolished the Environmental Pollution Control Board and established a

separate Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) under the central government for

the purpose of planning, promoting, co-ordinating and overseeing the implementation of

emerging environmental related matters in Bangladesh. Since the creation of MOEF, the

DOE became the primary organisation for environmental management and pollution

control in Bangladesh (BKH 1995; World Bank 2008).

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Subsequently, as a response to the NEP-1992, the government abolished the EPCO-1977

through passing the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act 1995 (ECA-1995) in the

parliament (BCAS 1999). This Act provided the basis to enact the Environmental

Conservation Rules (ECR) by the government in 1997 (Farooque and Hasan 1996). These

are considered as the most important legislative documents pertaining to water pollution

abatement in Bangladesh. The ECA-1995 primarily clarified DOE’s mandate and

strategies for pollution control (BCAS 1999). This included defining the functions of the

DOE and providing this organisation with considerable power regarding environmental

preservation; and prescribing a penalty system in case of non-compliance of the

environmental procedures by an individual or a company. Besides, the ECR-1997

provided additional guidance for specific components of the ECA-1995 and made some

major contributions in pollution control. This incorporated the development of

Environmental Quality Standards (for both ambient and effluent quality) and formulation

of procedures for obtaining the environmental clearance certificate by the industrial

establishments.

In year 2000 the government established the Environment Court Act to provide a

foundation for the formation of environmental benches in Bangladesh for the trial of

offences related to environmental pollution (Bangladesh Gazette 2000). The ECA-2000

includes protocols for the establishment of the court, and defines the court’s jurisdiction,

appropriate penalties, powers of search and entry, and procedures for investigation, trial

and appeal. Later on, the ECA-1995 and the Environment Court Act-2000 were amended

in 2002 and the ECR-1997 was extended to include some other provisions such as

certificate of fitness, pollution under control certificate etc.

Even though ECR-1997 is considered as a significant part of the legal basis for pollution

control in Bangladesh, there are some identified weaknesses in this regulation. One

weakness is that it aims to control water pollution only on the basis of the concentration

of pollutants. It does not include the load-based pollution guideline for the pollution

emitters. Thus the system does not provide incentives to the polluters nor impose any tax

on them on the basis of their excess load of pollution.

Moreover, according to the ECR-1997, it is mandatory that each industry or establishment

(within Orange B and Red category) should have an in-house Effluent Treatment Plant

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(ETP) otherwise they would not get the Environmental Clearance Certificate (ECC) from

the DOE (BCAS 1999). This type of direct regulatory measure gives little incentives for

the pollution causing agents to innovate or invest in more efficient pollution control or

cleaner process technologies. Besides, the ECR-1997 does not specify how the DOE

would deal with the industries which were established without having any ETP prior to

this legislation. As a result, despite having the provision of ETP, very few industries have

installed the ETP so far. It was reported that in 2006, prosecution against 2000 industrial

units who have not yet installed the ETP in Dhaka were under way (Byron 2006).

Byron (2006) further points out that there is evidence that the owners of the industrial

establishments which violate the pollution limits are not concerned with the notices of

prosecutions issued by the government. The underlying reason for this may be that the

process of prosecuting for non-compliance is protracted and expensive for the

implementing agency (such as the DOE). As a result very few cases are reaching the

Environment Courts (World Bank 2008). These findings suggest that the wide range of

existing regulations is actually not helping much to reduce the problem of water pollution

in Bangladesh. This verifies the inadequacy and the weaknesses of the existing CAC

based regulations for pollution control and gives reason for thinking of alternative

pollution control measures in Bangladesh.

The right to have protection against offences to natural resources, like the water sector,

have been safeguarded under various legislations of Bangladesh. A research in the

environmental regulatory regime showed that there are about 185 laws in Bangladesh

which include issues related to the environment directly, indirectly or causally (Farooque

and Hasan 1996). Box 5.1 presents a list of selected pieces of legislation that contain

provisions for protection against environmental pollution and measures for environmental

conservation (including rivers). Given these numerous legislative efforts, it appears that

the issue of pollution control has received substantial attention by the Government of

Bangladesh. However, a bulk of these legislations is not being implemented and remains

unenforced and non-functional. IWM (2007) observed that even though many rules exist,

the effective implementing principles for controlling pollution in Bangladesh are lacking.

Marr and Dasgupta (2009) have criticised the current pollution control system in

Bangladesh, on the basis that it relies on sanction-based regulatory approach. They have

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argued that this approach is limited in scope and hence in the solutions it offers. The

sanction-based approach assumes that pollution would continue to be generated, and

therefore sees end-of-pipe treatment as the only solution. Hence, the current sanction-

based pollution control system in Bangladesh is underpinned by a technocratic solution

(Marr and Dasgupta 2009). Therefore, at the government level, the primary focus for

pollution mitigation is given on establishment of Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP). This

approach was successful to some extent in developed countries may be due to their

affluence, where polluters can afford to pay for clean up, and are able to avail

technological solutions to respond to the requirements of pollution control.

Box 5.1 List of legislations related to pollution control and environmental conservation in Bangladesh 1. The Irrigation Act 1876 2. The Private Fisheries Protection Act 1889 3. The Agriculture and Sanitary Improvement Act 1920 4. The Forest Act 1923 5. The Protection and Conservation of Fish Act 1950 6. The Embankment and Drainage Act 1952 7. The Inland water and Transport Authority Ordinance 1958 8. The Water Pollution Control Ordinance 1970 9. The Mining Act 1974 10. The Dhaka Metropolitan Ordinance 1976 11. The Pourashava Ordinance 1977 12. The Environmental Pollution Control Ordinance 1977 13. The Local Government Ordinance 1983 14. The Marine Fisheries Ordinance 1983 15. The Brick Burning (Control) Act, 1989 16. The Water Resource Planning Act 1992 17. The Public Health Ordinance 1994 18. The Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act 1995 19. The Water Supply and Sanitation Authority Act 1996 20. The Environment Conservation Rules 1997 21. The Environment Court Act 2000 22. The City Development and Conservation of Natural Wetland Act 2000 23. The Bangladesh Water Development Authority Act 2000 24. The Environment Conservation (Amendment) Act 2000 25. The Brick Burning Control (Amendment) Act 2001 26. The Environment Conservation (Amendment) Act 2002 27. The Environment Court (Amendment) Act 2002 28. Environment Conservation Rules (Amendment) 2010

Sources: EDA 1999a; RPMC 2008; World Bank 2008

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However, Bangladesh lacks many of the conditions necessary for the technocratic

approach to pollution control (World Bank 2008). In many cases the technologies are

being transferred from the developed countries (UEM Group 2008), which are not always

appropriate or easy to implement considering the socio-economic and environmental

conditions of a developing country like Bangladesh. Moreover, many of these

technologies have already become outdated in the countries of their origin (World Bank

2008). Instead of further promotion of the end-of-pipe treatment based solutions, many of

those countries have started shifting to market based approaches and pollution prevention

measures. Further, research shows that end-of-pipe treatments for harmful pollutants

always incur large investment costs for the industries and in many cases do not become

economically sound if the treatment costs exceed residual damage costs (Nemerow 1995).

World Bank (2008) has also suggested that this approach is expensive to implement and

requires considerable human and financial resources. Moreover, World Bank (2008) has

stressed that for such a technocratic approach, there is a need for strong political will for

the effective enforcement of the pollution control regulations, which is often missing in

developing countries.

Marr and Dasgupta (2009) also argue that when market pressure is weak or absent, the

impact of technological solutions are difficult to maintain, unless there is improvement in

environmental enforcement and management. Dasgupta (2000) has noted from

experiences in India that forced installation of end-of-pipe treatment technology has

become counterproductive in the long run. However, the integration of EI based

instruments may provide flexibility to the polluters, where they can adopt innovative

technologies as cost effective preventive measure for pollution reduction.

5.4 Organisational capacity

The list of legislations provided in Box 5.1 indicates that a number of organisations are

directly or indirectly involved in environmental protection and pollution control in

Bangladesh. However, no single organisation or authority takes leading responsibility for

the pollution control in Buriganga. Table 5.1 presents a summary of key responsibilities

of major government organisations who are involved in different capacities to control

pollution of the rivers in Bangladesh, including Buriganga. In the absence of clearly

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outlined tasks of these organisations for river pollution control, overlapping of

responsibilities within these agencies often lead to a blame culture (World Bank 2008).

Table 5.1 Responsibilities of major government organisations for river pollution control

Adapted from: RPMC 2008

Organisations

Responsibilities in river pollution control

MOEF - Apex body to formulate policies and regulations

DOE - Conservation and improvement of environment - Setting water quality standards for particular uses of water and for discharge to water bodies - Monitoring environmental quality - Control and mitigation of industrial pollution of the environment - Reviewing EIAs and managing the environmental clearance process; - Establishing regulations and guidelines for activities affecting the environment - Promoting environmental awareness through public information programs

DWASA - Provision of pure water to Dhaka dwellers - Regular, safe and continuous disposal and treatment of sewage - Operation and maintenance of drains for storm water disposal

MOI - Compliance with pollution regulations within industries

BWDB - Flood Control management projects at the national level - Coordination for implementation of National Water Management Plan

IWM - Perform all the mathematical water modelling tasks in Bangladesh - Function as a centre of excellence and learning in the field of

computational hydraulics, water modelling and allied science

BIWTA - Demolition of illegal structures in river buffer zone

- Dredging, terminal maintenance and waste management at the terminals

DCC - Solid waste management and environmental conservation for Dhaka (including along the river banks of Dhaka)

RAJUK - Land use management and planning

- Administration of master plan

The following discussion specifically focuses on the capacity of the DOE, which

performs as the central government organisation under the MOEF for pollution control in

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Bangladesh (BCAS 1999). Section 12 of ECA-1995 stipulates that ‘No industrial unit or

project shall be established or undertaken without obtaining environmental clearance

from the Director General, DOE, in the manner prescribed by the rules’ (DOE 1997, p.1).

This gives mandate to the DOE for granting permits to discharge wastewater to recipients,

monitoring compliance with the permit and taking actions for non-compliance. The

descriptions of procedures for applying, issuing and renewing a certificate and also for

granting a permit to discharge wastewater to a recipient are explained in ECR-1997

(BCAS 1999). This provision subsequently provides the authority of the DOE to issue an

Environmental Clearance Certificate (ECC) for the establishments who intend to get

permit to discharge their effluent.

As per the procedures in ECR-1997, the DOE is responsible to issue the ECC on the basis

of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the proposed projects. EIAs are

usually conducted by hired consultants of the project proponents and are afterwards

judged by the DOE officials. However, Momtaz (2002, p.176) observed that, ‘there is a

lack of skilled EIA and SIA professionals within this department to make meaningful

judgement on EIAs conducted to acquire ECC’. Moreover, there are no definite terms of

reference set by the DOE by which to govern the hired consultants to conduct the EIA

activities. There are also complains from the project proponents that in many cases it

takes a very long time to obtain ECC due to bureaucratic complications and corruption

(World Bank 2008).

The ECR-1997 also assigns the DOE to monitor water quality of the rivers and to enforce

the legislation for pollution control. Besides, the DOE has launched the Bangladesh

Environment Management Program (BEMP) and the Sustainable Environment

Management Program (SEMP) respectively in 1998 and in 2000 to improve water quality

monitoring and to estimate pollution loads in rivers and water bodies. In the Buriganga

River alone there are 15 DOE designated stations for water quality monitoring (Rahman

2000). However, the procedures (such as frequency, parameters, positions etc.) for water

quality monitoring are ambiguous and the execution of this responsibility is sometimes

missing. Also, monitoring data are not always easily accessible. The World Bank (2008)

has reported that the absence of regular monitoring and interaction with industries at the

government level, in relation to pollution management, has resulted in an adhoc approach

to monitoring with only high profile cases being targeted.

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Marr and Dasgupta (2009) note that besides the DOE having several water quality

monitoring points along the rivers, it does not disclose the results of the monitoring

activities to the public or the research community on a regular basis (DOE last published

Buriganga River water quality data in 1993). World Bank (2008) has observed that within

the DOE there is no procedure of systematic compilation, interpretation or dissemination

of environmental information. This raises questions of reliability and accuracy of the

environmental monitoring data. Moreover, the absence of public disclosure is leading to a

limited scope for accountability. The DOE also lacks any clear plans and procedures to

conduct the regular monitoring task (World Bank 2008). In addition, no unified river

water quality monitoring and testing system has so far been developed, which could be

followed by other organisations and interested parties. These issues related to the

deficiency of the water quality monitoring system have undermined the effectiveness of

the present pollution control system administered by the DOE.

World Bank (2008) has further observed that there has been a large gap between what is

required from the DOE in terms of pollution control and what it is capable of doing. The

gap has been created largely because the DOE lacks the capacity to fully implement the

present CAC based system of pollution regulation. In response, the DOE contended that

their poor performance in handling the overall pollution problem was caused because of

inadequate staffing. In 2007, the DOE had 191 staff positions, which has been identified

as one of the smallest departments of the national government by Marr and Dasgupta

(2009). Within the DOE there have been only three inspectors and five chemists assigned

for the whole Dhaka division to monitor the effluent from about 7000 industrial

enterprises (BKH 1995; Mitu 2006). World Bank (2006) has noted that this is the lowest

level of staffing of an environmental agency within South Asia. However, recently the

government has been actively considering to expand the staffing of the DOE (World

Bank 2008).

Apart from the DOE and the other government organisations, there are several NGOs

whose functions have an indirect impact on water quality management in Bangladesh.

These NGOs include Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS), World

Conservation Union, Bangladesh (IUCN-B), International Centre for Living Aquatic

Resources Management (ICLARM), Centre for Environmental and Geographic

Information Services (CEGIS) and Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers’ Association

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(BELA) who are playing active role in pollution mitigation through disclosure and

information dissemination, public awareness campaigns and environmental litigation

(UNEP 2001; World Bank 2008). Moreover, the Coalition of Environmental NGOs

(CEN) performs as the lobbying organisation for national NGOs in relation to

environmental matters (UNEP 2001). However, the activities of these organisations have

not yet been formally integrated within the pollution control system. Marr and Dasgupta

(2009) postulate that these NGOs can act as prospective role players in pollution control

if the government disclosure system of environmental information is improved.

The greater involvement of NGOs indicates the possibility of developing an integrated

pollution control system where shared responsibilities are promoted. Moreover, much of

the problem of staffing shortage of DOE could be minimised by developing a partnership

approach among the government organisations, the NGOs and the other relevant

stakeholders (such as local communities, research groups and pollution emitters). In

relation to this, UNEP (2001) has reiterated the importance of promoting pollution control

strategy through mobilisation of other organisations (apart from the government) and the

public in general, including public-private partnerships.

5.5 Enforcement status of regulations

The effectiveness of the present pollution control system may be judged by the

enforcement status of the regulatory measures. The criterion of effectiveness determines

whether the existing system is accomplishing the goals and objectives specified in present

legislations and regulations (Davies and Mazurek 1999). At this stage the effectiveness of

implementation of policy and legislations of pollution control system in the Buriganga

can be interpreted from reviewing the existing trend of data on water quality status of this

river.

It is evident from the results provided in Chapter 4 on the present state of river water

quality and also from Figure 3.3 on the information of DO and BOD concentration in

earlier years, that in spite of the presence of stringent laws (such as ECR-1997) on water

pollution control since 1997 no discernable effect in terms of pollution reduction has

taken place. This situation indicates that the water quality legislations could not yet be

effectively enforced to meet the goal of ambient water quality standards and thus the

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excessive pollution of the Buriganga River continues. As a result, the existing trend on

the river water quality data may indicate that the current river pollution control system in

Bangladesh is not performing effectively and suggests that the system is deficient.

Moreover, as per the current regulations, there are provisions for closures of polluting

activity, penalties and imprisonment for non-compliance by the offending parties.

Nevertheless, the enforcement status of the legislation has been very poor or absent as

evidenced earlier in section 5.3. Polluting industries hardly pay any attention to

government notices regarding prosecution. The insufficient enforcement capacity may be

due to the fundamentally inadequate financial resources of the designated government

organisations (World Bank 2008). Besides, Momtaz (2002) noted that the enforcement of

environmental legislations is an uphill task for the government alone in a country like

Bangladesh, where corruption is widespread.

5.6 Public participation

Public participation has been deemed as an important component for an effective

environmental pollution control strategy (UNEP 2002). Generally, a positive correlation

is observed between the degree of pubic participation for pollution control, and the

average income and education level of local population (Wang and Wheeler 1996;

Dasgupta et al. 1997). Existing studies reveal that both the average per capita annual

income and the literacy rate of people leaving within the Buriganga watershed (Dhaka

district region) have remained on higher levels over the years compared to the national

average values. This is shown below in Figure 5.1.

This information may indicate that for pollution control purpose, the community capacity

within the Buriganga River watershed could be stronger than the rest of the country. This

may imply that public involvement may possibly play a positive role towards controlling

pollution in the Buriganga, as Pu (2003) has similarly interpreted such information for the

Yangtze River of China.

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0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Year

Per c

apita

inco

me

(US$

)

National Regional

Data source: BBS 2005a; BBS 2009a (a)

01020304050607080

2001 2007 2008

Year

Lite

racy

rate

(%)

National Regional

Data source: BBS 2001; BBS 2009b (b)

Figure 5.1. Comparison between national and regional (Dhaka district) (a) average per

capita annual income; (b) literacy rate

5.6.1 Applicability of public participation in Bangladesh context

There is an inadequacy of specific legislation of public participation and community

involvement for pollution control in Bangladesh. However, the importance of the issue

has been recognised within the NEMAP as mentioned in section 5.2. A number of public

participation and community consultation documents and guidelines have been

formulated for performing the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and the Social

Impact Assessment (SIA) within various development projects in Bangladesh (Table 5.2).

Moreover, Momtaz (2006, p. 96) has postulated that there are evidences that ‘community

groups are actively involved in the continuous monitoring of post project situations’ in

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Bangladesh. This verifies that Bangladesh has a long experience in involving public and

community as a form of management intervention in various development projects, which

further opens the opportunity to engage the community in the Buriganga water quality

management.

Table 5.2. Public participation and community consultation documents

and guidelines in Bangladesh

Name of the document/guideline

Purpose/project for which the document was developed

Responsible agencies involved in formulation

Flood Plan Coordination Organisation Guidelines for EIA-1992

Flood control, irrigation and water management projects (Flood Action Plan)

WARPO

Guidelines for Environmental Assessmen-1992

Small-scale water resources development projects

LGED

DOE’s EIA Guidelines for Industries-1997

Development of techniques for public participation in EIA

DOE

Environmental Management Field Handbook for Rural Road Improvement Projects-1998

Integrated Food for Development Projects

USAID and CARE, Bangladesh

Environmental Impact Assessment of the Jamuna Bridge Railway Link Project-1998

EIA for the Jamuna Bridge construction

JBA

Environmental and Social Impact Assessment of Khulna-Jessore Drainage Rehabilitation Project-1998

Construction of embankments under coastal embankment project

CEGIS

Guidelines for Participatory Water Management-2001

Community participation in water resource management programs

Ministry of Water Resources

Adapted from: LGED 1992; CEGIS 1998; JBA 1998; MWR 2001; WARPO 2001; Momtaz 2006

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5.6.2 Scope for public participation in the Buriganga River

In the past decade, the local community within the Buriganga River watershed along with

the civil society organisation members have been frequently held public protests and

demonstrations against the situation with Buriganga River water pollution (Plates B.1 and

B.2 in Appendix B). In July 2000, The Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon (BAPA) with active

participation of its members and other voluntary Community based Organisations (CBOs)

formed a campaign program named ‘Buriganga Bachao Andolon’ (Save Buriganga

Movement) in order to raise the public awareness of citizens and policy makers to protect

the river from pollution and encroachment. Such campaigns have added momentum to the

environmental activism (BAPA 2005; Hossain 2005).

Moreover, the issue of degradation of the Buriganga River has been regularly covered by

print and electronic media to draw attention of the pollution control authority and policy

makers at the government level (Channel I and Daily Star 2009). Figure 5.2 shows the

number of reports published in the Daily Star (a leading national English newspaper in

Bangladesh) in recent years on the topic of Buriganga River water pollution (the titles of

all the reports are provided chronologically in Appendix B: Table B.1 to B.8). The data

reveals that about 2.6 reports on average have been published per month since 2003 in

this daily newspaper, which indicates the importance and the concern of general public

regarding the pollution problem of the Buriganga. This indirectly proves the extent of

existing pressure from the society in order to protect the Buriganga River from pollution.

Furthermore, a recent study (Alam 2003) verifies the willingness to contribute (either in

cash or in kind) to improvements of water quality of the Buriganga River by the people

living adjacent to the river banks. The study has found that 25 and 33 percent of the local

people were willing to contribute in terms of their money and time, respectively, to clean

up the river. The study has also estimated the annual value of the contribution of money

and time respectively as US$ 2.94 million and US$ 4.5 million. The findings of that study

indicated that on average, a respondent was willing to contribute about US$ 2 per

household per month, of which about 50 percent was in the form of time. This is strong

evidence that the river is highly valued by the community and thus there is a great

prospect to actively involve the local community within the framework for pollution

control of Buriganga River.

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0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Year

No.

of r

epor

ts/y

ear

Data source: Compiled from The Daily Star (a leading English newspaper in Bangladesh) website

(http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/index.php)

Figure 5.2. Media (The Daily Star) coverage on Buriganga River water quality issue

The discussion above implies that societal involvement in a formal manner might play an

effective role towards addressing the problem of water pollution in this river. Despite

many deficiencies in organisational capacity for pollution control, people’s awareness

regarding rehabilitation and clean up of the rivers in Bangladesh has risen over the years.

These are all positive signs towards the idea of applying multi-stakeholder based river

pollution control system in Bangladesh. However, the framework for the involvement (in

terms of capacity and role) of the public within the present regulatory measures are not

yet clear, although the recent policies such as NEP-1992 and NEMAP-1995 have

recognised the importance of public participation for pollution control.

Regular monitoring of water quality is an important aspect of controlling river pollution.

However, this is an expensive and time consuming continual activity, difficult to perform

for any government agency on a regular basis. Even powerful agencies like the United

States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) have introduced Volunteer Stream

Monitoring program to assign the task of monitoring the quality of the stream water in the

USA to the community, with support from the local administration (USEPA 1997). Such

possibilities could be explored in Bangladesh to share the burden of the necessary

monitoring activities of hundreds of rivers in the country.

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In this regard the experiences of the Streamwatch Water Monitoring Program, which is

being run in Australia as a partnership of Sydney Water and the Sydney Catchment

Authority (SCA) could also be useful (Sydney Water 2008). This has been implemented

as a successful program since 1990, involving local communities and schools across

Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Illawarra and Southern Highland regions. The local

community is engaged in investigating and taking action to conserve the water quality

and the health of the ecosystem. The experiences of SIPCOT Area Community

Environmental Monitoring Program of Tamil Nadu, India also indicates the success of

community involvement for natural resources management in a developing country

(SIPCOT 2010).

The concept of public participation in river water quality monitoring is relatively new in

the context of Bangladesh but has the potential to be effective. However, before

introducing any community monitoring system for the Buriganga River, a specific manual

(such as USEPA 1997) has to be developed for the participating members. Such manual

should precisely explain the procedures and frequency for conducting the river water

quality assessments and documenting the results. Moreover, the manual needs to be

formulated considering the local factors such as geographic region, program goals and

objectives and program resources (USEPA 1997).

5.7 Specific measures taken to date to save the Buriganga River

Some specific measures have been taken at the government level to save Buriganga from

its continuing environmental degradation. The DOE formed a national committee headed

by the Minister of Environment and Forests in 1997 to implement the ‘Save Buriganga

Program’, which was focused on improving the conditions of the waterways (including

Buriganga) in and around Dhaka. The committee identified 244 illegal establishments

(such as residential buildings, shops, brick kilns, hanging lavatories and so forth) along

the Buriganga, which were also responsible for the degradation of water quality of the

river. Later on in 1998, BIWTA demolished nearly 200 of those illegal structures,

however, eventually those establishments were re-erected illegally (DOE 2005).

In 2003 the government formed a high powered Task Force (River Committee) for

mitigation of river pollution surrounding Dhaka (including Buriganga). The Taskforce

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formulated its policy recommendations which were subsequently approved at the cabinet

meeting (RPMC 2008). The major recommendations related to Buriganga River pollution

control and their implementation status is listed in Table 5.3.

Table 5.3. Recommendations of Task Force-2003 for river pollution control in Dhaka

Recommendations Implementation status

Relocation of the Hazaribagh tanneries to Savar

This has been a priority initiative of the government to be executed by the Ministry of Industries. The government purchased land in Savar (about 20 km north of Dhaka City) and 200 plots have been prepared, but the tannery industries are still lobbying government for financial subsidies to compensate for their relocation. The government has invested around Tk. 1.7 billion (US$ 25 million) to develop the new industrial estate. However, the tannery owners association have refused to move until the government agrees to pay them at least Tk. 8 billion (US$ 114 million), which is their estimated cost for transporting equipment and rebuilding at the new tannery estate (Khan 2007). This has caused delay and uncertainty to implement the initiative of relocating the tannery industries from Hazaribagh.

Common effluent treatment plants for industries

This still remains a concept. The technical details and the cost analysis are being prepared to estimate the effectiveness of such measure.

Augmentation of flow in the Buriganga River

More studies are required to fully understand the implications of upstream water diversion and potential environmental effects.

Development of circular water way

This has been partially completed, which involved demolition of illegal structures on the Buriganga River. However, more work needs to be done to develop walkways and barriers to prevent further river encroachment.

Upgrading capacity of the PSTP

DWASA has made progress with some work to extend the sewage network. However, further work is required to remedy the existing blockage of the sewerage network.

Adapted from: RPMC 2008

Furthermore, the government has formed a River Pollution Mitigation Committee

(RPMC) in 2008 headed by the Director General (DG) of the Department of Social

Services with the objective of recommending preventive and mitigating measures and an

action plan for the mitigation of pollution of the Buriganga River and its linked rivers.

This committee has proposed an action plan including 38 different components to be

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implemented in short, mid and long term (up to 10 years) with specific outcomes and time

frames (RPMC 2008).

It is evident that the Government of Bangladesh has been very keen for at least the last

decade to address the pollution problem of the Buriganga River. At the policy level

several initiatives have been taken and some good recommendations have come out.

However, the execution process and the outcome of the suggested measures are not clear

as apparently there is no indication that the water quality of the Buriganga River has

improved. As a result, the previous experiences show that many of the recommendations

remain on paper only and the effective implementation of those measures turn out to be

difficult. Such government initiatives are still focused on traditional CAC based approach

and the measures wholly rely on expensive technological solutions. Alternative pollution

control measures such as the application of EI based instruments have never been

explored and a framework for societal involvement has not been developed. Moreover,

the pollution control managers lack tools which can enable them to assess the impact of

any proposed alternative measure for pollution control in a tangible manner.

5.8 Attributes of the existing system in terms of SWOT

A strategic planning method which is used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses,

Opportunities and Threats is known as SWOT. A team of researchers working on

corporate planning from 1960 to 1970 developed this technique at the Stanford Research

Institute (Koo and Koo 2007). Initially the SWOT technique was used in evaluating

corporate performance but its application has extended to analysing the management

systems on environment and water related projects (European Commission 1999;

Diamantopoulou and Voudouris 2008). The SWOT identification for this study was based

on the detailed examination on the different components of the existing arrangements for

river pollution control in Bangladesh. The attributes of the present management practices

for controlling pollution in surface water resources of Bangladesh (including the

Buriganga River) are listed in Table 5.4.

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Table: 5.4. Attributes of present pollution control system in Bangladesh Criteria Factors

Strengths • Presence of adequate policies and legislations in terms of CAC based

measures; • Consideration of ‘River pollution control’ as one of the high priorities

of the government; • Establishment of the government organisations for implementing

environmental protection measures; • Recognition of participation of NGOs and CBOs.

Weaknesses • Absence of functional involvement of NGOs and CBOs; • Sole reliance on CAC strategy; • Emphasis on technological solutions; • Inadequate monitoring and enforcement capacity; • Shortage of skilled professionals; • Insufficient disclosure of information; • Lack of transparency and accountability; • Multiplicity of legislation and responsibilities; • No economic incentive for pollution prevention and new

technologies.

Opportunities • Potential benefits of applying EI based instruments; • Social pressure for clean up of the polluted rivers.

Threats • Corruption in enforcing the legislations; • Political instability and lack of commitment; • Resistance against any new system; • Uncontrolled urbanisation and industrialisation along river side areas.

The analysis indicates the strengths of the present system to be the existence of adequate

policies and legislations for CAC based pollution control measure. Further, the

government has established various agencies for executing environmental protection

measures and has also prioritised the activity for river pollution control within their

agenda. The government also understands the limitations in pollution control activities

and thus recognises the role of NGOs and CBOs in pollution control. However, a

weakness within the present system is that the participation of NGOs and CBOs still

remains largely on paper, rather than a reality. The functional involvements of these

organisations are still missing in pollution control and their activities remain fragmented.

However, these organisations have the potential to directly contribute in pollution control

activities such as raising awareness, increasing social pressure on polluters, information

dissemination, public litigation and pollution monitoring.

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The other weaknesses of the present system are the sole reliance on CAC strategy, the

stress on technological solutions, the lack of monitoring and enforcement capacity, the

shortage of skilled professionals within government agencies to accomplish EIA, the

insufficient disclosure of information to public and the lack of transparency and

accountability of the executing agencies. Moreover, two or more organisations are

simultaneously responsible to carry out similar tasks for pollution control in Bangladesh.

For example, in case of protecting the Buriganga River, there is fragmentation of

responsibilities in different capacities across many government agencies like DOE,

BIWTA, BWDB, DWASA and DCC. Inevitably this causes conflicts and develops a

blame culture, which jeopardises the efficiency of the present system. The other major

weakness is the absence of any economic incentive for pollution prevention which fails to

motivate the polluters to introduce new technologies and mechanisms to control pollution.

Table 5.3 also includes the opportunities and the threats which may influence the

pollution control arrangements in Bangladesh. Given the benefits of the EI based

instruments for pollution control (as identified in Section 2.4.2), it could be an

opportunity to apply them as complementary measures to achieve pollution control

objectives. However, further analysis is required to examine the effectiveness of EI based

instruments in the local context before recommending their application for a specific

pollution control purpose. In addition, the pressure from society also provides an

opportunity for the government to embrace alternative measures against polluting

activities. The willingness of the local people to participate also opens the scope to

introduce new mechanisms, such as monitoring of river water quality by local

communities for pollution control.

The threats are situations that might cause problems (Diamantopoulou and Voudouris

2008) within the pollution control system in the long run if they are not appropriately

addressed. One of the potential threats has been identified as possible occurrence of

corruption (Momtaz 2002; TI 2009) while enforcing the legislation. The corruption may

exist within both government organisations and NGOs (Khan and Rahman 2007) which

can be detrimental for the pollution control system. Another likely threat on pollution

control system may arise from ‘divisive politics’ present in Bangladesh (Khan and

Rahman 2007, p.370) that may cause political instability and lack of commitment. When

a newly elected government replaces the previous government in power, the common

practice in many cases is to disregard the strategies of the previous government without

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considering the positive or negative effects of it. This trend has an adverse impact on the

long term political commitment for river pollution control. Moreover, the uncontrolled

growth of urbanisation and industrialisation along the rivers may go against any well

functioning pollution control system. Hence the attributes of the present arrangements

may provide policy makers and water quality managers new insights into selecting the

appropriate strategies for sustainable river pollution management system in Bangladesh.

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