Relation Between Hazaribagh Tannery Industry Development and Pollution in Buriganga River

International Journal of Environment, 2(2): 117127 (2012) ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Relation between Hazaribagh Tannery Industry Development and Buriganga River Pollution in Bangladesh

Banani Biswas and Takeshi Hamada

ISSN: 2186- 6872 (print)

ISSN: 2186-0009 (online)

http://www.BENJapan.org/IJE

ARTICLE HISTORY

Received: 13 April 2012

Revised: 21 December 2012

Accepted: 24 December 2012

Published online: 24 December 2012

Abstract For several decades, river pollution and fresh water depletion are viewed

as one of the top environmental problems in Asian region. The

Buriganga River in Bangladesh is subject to severe pollution and

considered as one of the worst polluted rivers in the world. Especially,

the development of tannery industry at Hazaribagh that has pulled the

Bangladesh economy is causing pollution and the disruption of

ecosystem to the watershed environment. As a result, the environmental

problems are getting worse. According to the Export Promotion Bureau

(EPB) of Bangladesh, export earning from leather sector was

US$ 401.64 million in 2009-2010, which was a major foreign exchange

earner in Bangladesh economy. But Hazaribagh tannery city, consisting

of 196 tanneries is discharging its hazardous effluents everyday directly

to the Buriganga without any treatment. This is responsible for the high

Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) and low Dissolved Oxygen (DO)

values in Buriganga water. Along with the increase in export of leather

sector, water quality of Buriganga decreased drastically. Analysing the

data collected through this study, it is observed that there is a trade-off

relation between export trend of leather sector and DO values in

Buriganga water and such relation is a crucial problem for any

developing country to continue economic growth. Inadequate wastewater

management systems, lack of sewerage and infrastructure facilities in

one hand, and lack of capital, education, effective pollution control

measures and their strict enforcement on the other, may be largely

responsible for this alarming problem and grave situation.

Keywords: Buriganga, river pollution, tannery effluent, Hazaribagh,

trade-off, DO value.

2012, International Journal of Environment. All rights reserved.

I. INTRODUCTION1

Industrial pollution is a growing concern of the

present days. Effluents, mostly untreated, are

primarily discharged into rivers and streams.

AUTHORS INFO

Banani Biswas

e-mail: [email protected]

Graduate School of Marine Science and Technology,

Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology,

Tokyo 108-8477, Japan.

Takeshi Hamada*

e-mail: [email protected]

Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology,

Tokyo 108-8477, Japan.

*Corresponding author : Tel (Fax): +81-3-5463-0566

Since the water bodies are used for drinking,

washing, domestic purposes as well as irrigation

and fisheries, pollution of the natural water

bodies from industrial discharges, is having the

most damaging effect on the environment. From

the past decades, Bangladesh has been facing the

problem of environmental degradation of

Buriganga and other linked rivers, around the

capital city Dhaka. Unfortunately, over the years,

water quality of Buriganga has experienced

severe deterioration because of Hazaribagh

tannery industry development.

Tanneries are the oldest industries in

Bangladesh of which 95% are concentrated

mainly in Hazaribagh of Dhaka [1]. It is a

potentially rich manufacturing sector in terms of

both financial return and social benefits [2].

Bangladesh earned US$ 401.64 million in

117

2009-2010 from leather sector. But Hazaribagh

tanneries discharging their solid wastes and liquid

effluent containing putrid rotten flesh, fat, blood

and skin, toxic chemicals, dissolved lime,

chromium sulfate and alkali, hydrogen sulfide,

sulfuric acid, bleach, dyes, oil, formic acid, heavy

metals, suspended solids, organic matters, etc., in

most cases drain directly to the river Buriganga

without any treatment [3]. Ministry of

Environment (MoE) reports that the tanneries

collectively dump 22,000 liters of toxic waste

including cancer-causing chromium into

Buriganga every day [4].

Global studies have indicated that many rivers

are polluted by large amount of heavy metals like

mercury, cadmium, chromium contamination due

to the industrialization and urbanization. The

United Nations estimates that economic cost of

environmental deterioration due to water

pollution is very severe in the Asia-Pacific region

in terms of restoring the quality of life and

installing controls [5]. Water contamination has

negative effects on human health through food

cycle. The infamous Itai-itai disease in Japan

pointed out the danger of environmental cadmium

exposure and has led to a plethora of publications

[6]. JS Amarnath and S Krishnamoorthy analysed

various negative externalities on land, water,

crops, human and animal health including

socio-economic consequences due to untreated or

not properly treated tannery effluent at Tamil

Nadu in India [7]. Karn and Harada studied that

in South Asian countries such as Nepal, India and

Bangladesh, river pollution is more severe near

urban stretches due to huge amount of pollution

load discharged by urban activities [8]. The

uncontrolled dumping of huge industrial wastes

of point and non-point sources is even extremely

hazardous when the pollutants are heavy metals

and cannot be treated easily by conventional

methods. The tanneries of Hazaribagh, are such

point sources of the city environment.

Hazaribagh tannery development is having the

most damaging effect on the Buriganga

watershed environment, which indirectly causes

the serious health problems and socio-economic

consequences. The specialist speculates that a

vast number of people will die in this area in near

future. But economy is being given priority to

environment, which is very common in any

developing country. Failure to improve the

wastewater treatment and management systems,

lack of development and effective implementation

design of policies for maintenance and

regeneration of the environment and inadequate

sewerage and infrastructure facilities are leading

to worsening of the situation. The main

objectives of this study are to represent the status

of Hazaribagh tannery industry development and

Buriganga river pollution and find out the relation

between the export trend of leather sector and the

water quality of Buriganga in Bangladesh.

II. MATERIALS AND METHODS

A. Data and information

This study is designed to collect information

from both primary and secondary sources.

Primary data is collected mainly through survey

and direct interviews with key informants with

useful knowledge about the particular areas that

fall under the scope of the study. On the other

hand, secondary data and information were

collected from various concerned government

and non-government organizations and a

thorough review was hold on their publications,

studies, reports, journals, newspaper articles,

books, websites to make this study potential and

consequential. Literature review is another

important part of this research work.

In approaching this study, time series data have

been used to find out the relation between the

tannery industry development at Hazaribagh and

the water pollution in Buriganga. Development of

tannery industry is measured in terms of export

trend of leather sector. On the other hand, the

degree of pollution of Buriganga water is

evaluated in terms of DO values. Thus, the main

purpose of this article is to provide a review of

existing data and to analyse the effects of

Hazaribagh tannery industry development on

Buriganga river pollution.

B. Description of study area

During Mughol regime (1526-1858s) and

afterwards, the surrounding area of Buriganga

was the hub of all social, economic and

recreational activities of the Dhaka dwellers. It

was the countrys main waterway to the capital.

The river was also a breeding place for fish. It

was once the main source of drinking water for

the residents of Dhaka and the water treatment

plant at Chandanighat produced 17 million liters

per day (MLD) of drinking water drawn from

Buriganga [8].

118 B Biswas & T Hamada

The Dhaka urban area is surrounded by a chain

of rivers- Turag, Buriganga, and Dhaleshwori in

the west and southwest, Balu and Lakhya in the

east and Tongi Khal (a drainage channel) in the

north connecting river Balu and Turag (Fig. 1).

Dhaka watershed comprise of an area of 1,696 sq

km. The total length of the rivers surrounding

Dhaka and the nearby city Narayangonj is about

110 km [9].

Fig. 1. Map of peripheral rivers around Dhaka City [10]

Hazaribagh is located very close to the bank of

Buriganga. Hazaribagh tannery city was

established in 1940-50s on just 62 acres of land.

90% of Bangladesh 270 registered tanneries are located in Hazaribagh, The tanneries generate 7.7

million litres of liquid waste and 88 million tons

of solid waste everyday [11]. The industries of

65-year-old tannery complex, processing 220

metric tons of hide a day, are discharging their

effluents containing heavy metals without any

treatment directly into the Buriganga - causing

alarming river pollution. This is a major health

concern for the city dwellers and it is said that

Hazaribagh tanneries are killing Buriganga [9].

III. LEATHER PROCESSING SYSTEMS AND

POLLUTION MECHANISM

Leather manufacturing involves a complex

combination of mechanical and chemical

processes. In tanneries raw hide is processed

through soaking, fleshing, liming, deliming,

bating, pickling, tanning, shamming, splitting,

skiving, scudding, drying, staking and providing

finishing touch where the leather is given the

final surface treatment and look. The main

important part of leather processing is tanning.

Tanning can be performed with either vegetable

or chrome operation. The process of tanning

hides & skins into leather with basic chromic salt

is known as Chrome Tanning. Most of the leather

tanning processes is the chrome tanning process

and a huge quantity of this chromium is

discharged along with the effluent. Vegetable

tanning waste contains mainly the polluting

organic matter while chrome tanning introduces

toxic chromium salts in the waste [12]. The flow

chart of leather processing operations is shown in

Fig. 2.

The wastewater, generally originates from all

operations in the tanning process. The waste,

produced during the preliminary processes of

washing, soaking, liming, deliming, unhairing

and fleshing is known as Beam House Waste.

The beam house waste has high proportion of

Ammonical nitrogen (NH3-N) and organic

nitrogen [13]. Another waste, which is highly

coloured liquor somewhat acidic in nature, is Tan

Yard processing waste and it is produced during

the process of tanning. Roughly half of the BOD

of tannery waste is concentrated in liquors from

the preliminary process and other half from the

tanning and finishing processes [13,14]. Toxic

discharges retard the process of self-purification

and sometimes cause the death of aquatic life.

Spent vegetable tan liquors have dark brown

colour and a high BOD in addition to a

significant portion of non-biodegradable

materials, which can persist in a stream. It is

reported that the spent vegetable tan liquor may

constitute only about 10% of the total volume of

tannery wastewater, but can contribute between

30%-50% of BOD of the total wastewater [12].

IV. WASTE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AT

HAZARIBAGH

Hazaribagh, once a peasant, semi-rural district

in Dhaka, is now a wasteland of toxic swamps,

garbage landfills and mountains of decomposing

leather scraps. The unplanned tanneries at

Hazaribagh, do not have supporting infrastructure

facilities. Most of the tanneries are not properly

modernized and are using non- or semi-

mechanized systems and antiquated processing

119 Relation between tannery & river pollution in Bangladesh

methods. No tannery in Hazaribagh has effluent

treatment facilities, posing a grave threat to

environment [15]. The industries dispose their

liquid wastes directly to the open drains beside

roads without any treatment, which finally

connect to the Buriganga. They also throw their

solid wastes on the road like dumping station.

Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) collects around

3500 tons of solid wastes from these areas every

day but they cannot properly collect highly

hazardous tannery wastes [16]. According to

different estimates of the experts, at least 7000

tons of solid wastes are generated in and around

the DCC area every day [16].

V. TOXIC EFFECTS ON BURIGANGA RIVER

AND WATER POLLUTION

Thousands of industries alongside the

Buriganga, are disposing untreated wastes

directly in the river. The Hazaribagh tannery is

the most harmful among these, which disposes

about 12,000 m3 of untreated wastes daily in the

Buriganga [17]. Quality of river water can be

understood by the quantity of DO and its standard

Fig. 2. Flowchart of leather processing operations.

Sorting Hides & Skins

Measuring height & size

Trimming

Washing &

Soaking

Removing salt, blood & dirt and swelling the fibers

by washing & soaking in clean water

Liming Swelling hides and removing hairs & hooves by

treatment with milk of lime

Unhairing & Fleshing

Removing hairs and fleshing by knife-bearing roller

Washing with water

Deliming Removing lime and other alkalis used in liming

Reducing swelling

Bating

Removing non-leather forming protein materials

from delimed pelts

Making pelts slippery non-elastic

Pickling Treating of bated pelts with a solution of common

salt & making ready for tanning

Tanning

Chrome

Tanning

Vegetable

Tanning

Tanning hides into leather

with basic chromic salt

Tanning hides into leather

with tanning

Finishing Process

Splitting, shaving, re-tanning, coloring, fat

liquoring, staking, buffing, etc. for the final

finishing touch of leather


Table 1. BOD loading from industrial clusters and sewage discharge (kg/day) [19].

Cluster Total Load

Industrial Load

Domestic Load

% of Industrial Load to Total Load

% of Domestic Load to Total Load

Tongi Cluster 1 12,621 6,954 5,667 55 45

Hazaribagh Cluster 2 106,834 99,550 7,284 93 7

Tejgaon Cluster 3 104,961 87,550 17,411 83 17

Tarabo Cluster 4 53,751 53,751 - 100 0

Narayanganj Cluster 5 81,209 58,047 23,162 71 29

Savar Cluster 6 3,340 2,997 343 90 10

Gazipur Cluster 7 37,844 37,844 - 100 0

DEPZ Cluster 8 62,099 62,099 - 100 0

Ghorashal Cluster 9 10,843 10,843 - 100 0

Fig. 3. Comparing the DO Value changes in Buriganga at Critical Locations

(in January, from 2000 to 2011. Data source: DoE.)

value of 4 mg/l is considered as the minimum

requirement acceptable for the survival of the

aquatic life. Several studies have identified that

the water quality of Buriganga is deteriorating at

a rapid rate and other water quality parameter like

BOD concentration is much higher concentration

than the Environmental Quality Standard. The

water quality of Buriganga has been seriously

affected due to the dumping of indiscriminate

discharge of untreated industrial effluent and

municipal wastes. About 60,000 cubic meter/day

of toxic wastes are discharged mainly from 9

industrial clusters into the Buriganga and linked

rivers causing alarming river pollution [18].

From Table 1, it is observed that Hazaribagh

cluster brings the highest industrial pollutant load

among all the 9 clusters and thus the tanneries at

Hazaribagh tend to be the high polluter for

Buriganga pollution.

A. Changes of DO levels in Buriganga water

DO levels of Buriganga have gone down the

acceptable limit at many places during the past

decades and the degradation values are very high.

Analysis from available data of Department of

Environment (DoE) of Bangladesh, demonstrates

an alarming condition deteriorating further rapidly.

From Fig. 3, it is observed that in Jan. 2000,

DO levels for most of the locations were within the

5

4

5.45.1

5.34.9

4.1

55.2

3

1

2 2 2 2.11.8

3.8

2

5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Mirpur

Bridge

Hazaribagh Kamrangir

Char

Chandni

Ghat

Sadar Ghat Farashgonj Dholaikhal Bridge 1 Pagla

2000 2005 2011 Standard

Location

Co

nce

ntr

ati

on

of

DO

(m

g/L

)


minimum standard of acceptable limit (5). But in Hazaribagh,

the DO level was 4, which was the lowest value among all the

locations. After 5 years in Jan. 2005, water quality turned

down drastically and DO value for Hazaribagh fell down at a

critical level (1). But in Jan. 2011, DO levels of Buriganga for

all locations become zero, which indicates serious water

pollution and environmental degradation of Buriganga and

other linked rivers around Dhaka, posing severe threat to

public health, ecosystem and socio- economic consequences.

VI. CONTRIBUTION OF LEATHER SECTOR IN

BANGLADESH ECONOMY

The tannery industry in Bangladesh is expanding from

economic point of view despite of the environmental

pollution. Bangladesh earns a good amount of foreign

exchange from leather and leather goods. This industry is

entirely run by private sector, which has proved to be fully

capable of handling it. In

Fig. 4. Contribution of leather sector to GDP (% of leather sector

GDP to total GDP from 2000-2010. Data source: EPB).

Fig. 5. Export growth rate of Bangladesh leather sector

(during FY 2001-2002 to 2009-2010. Data source: EPB).

Bangladesh, leather sector is

contributing significantly to GDP.

This sector accounts for 85% of total

exports, combined with garments and

shrimp [20]. GDP contribution and

export growth rate of leather sector

are presented in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5,

respectively.

In Fig. 4, contribution of leather

sector to total GDP was 0.40% in

2000-2001 but it decreased during

2002-2004 because of economic

recession in Bangladesh. After that, it

was increased in increasing rate till

2007 (0.47%), which indicate the

significance of leather sector to GDP.

Again it fell down due to Lehman

shock and now it is recovering. Fig. 5

exhibits that initially the export

growth rate of Bangladesh leather

sector was negative during

2001-2002 to 2002-2003 because of

global economic recession due to the

Iraq War, the 9/11 incident, rise of

international terrorism,

fundamentalist orientations, etc.

After that the growth rate started

increasing significantly and

reached 15.46% in 2006-2007, as the

demand for quality raw material for

finished leather goods increased in

developed countries. But again as a

consequence of global economic

shock (Lehman shock), export

growth rate declined very rapidly and

became negative in 2008-2009

(-19.42%). The figure shows that the

export growth rate is recovering now

due to the global market demand for

Bangladesh leather and leather

goods.

Leather sector also plays a

significant role in alleviating

unemployment. The contribution of

leather sector to total employment in

Bangladesh economy is represented

in Table 2. Information obtained

from a number of credible sources

exhibit that in total 741,000 people

are employed directly or indirectly in

leather and its subsectors. 200,000

people are involved in raw hide

collection and supply and 50,000 are

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

200

0

200

1

200

2

200

3

200

4

200

5

200

6

200

7

200

8

200

9

201

0

GD

P I

n %

Year

-20

-10

0

10

20

Rate

in

(%

)

Fiscal Year (FY)


working in tanning industry. 300,000 workers are associated

with retailing of leather. Currently it is estimated that 150,000

persons are employed in the footwear industry, 30,000

persons are in leather goods industry and another 8,000

persons are involved in exporting of leather and by product

processing.

Fig. 6. Export trend of bangladesh leather sector

(during FY 1999-2000 to 2009-2010. Data source: EPB)

Fig. 7. Water Quality of Buriganga River at Hazaribagh

(during 2000-2011. Data source: DoE)

VII. RELATION BETWEEN HAZARIBAGH

TANNERY INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT AND

WATER QUALITY IN BURIGANGA

Development of tannery industry at Hazaribagh leads to the

export trend of leather sector in Bangladesh economy. Export

performance of leather sector is increasing gradually and

consequently DO value in Buriganga is inversely decreasing

day by day. Fig. 6 represents the export trend of leather and

leather goods of Bangladesh from 1999 to 2010. The

increasing demand trend of leather led Bangladesh to export a

total of US$ 290 million in 2000-2001. Bangladeshs leather

sector is vulnerable to global shocks

[21]. The export volume declined

during 2001-2002 to 2002-03.

Projection of leather export till 2008

demonstrates an upward demand

trend of international leather market

with an expectation of achieving US$

418 million export earnings in

2007-2008. But in 2008-2009, export

volume again suffered from the worst

global economic crisis. Trend

analysis shows that the crisis is

covered up and the situation is

changing gradually. This sector

accounted for US$ 402 million

export earnings in 2009-2010 for

increasing development of tannery

industry. But with the development

of leather sector, water quality of

Buriganga degrading seriously. Fig. 7

represents the DO profile of

Buriganga near Hazaribagh for last

decade.

Comparing Fig. 6 and Fig. 7, it is

observed that in 1999-2000, export

performance of leather sector was

US$ 246.89 million (Fig. 6) against

the DO value of 4.0 (Fig. 7). Next

year, export volume goes up for a big

amount of US$ 290.08 million and

DO value goes down sharply from 4.0

to 1.5, which represents the drastic

degradation of water quality. But in

2002-2003, export volumes

decreased and DO value improved

slightly (1.6). From 2003-2004,

export volume increased rapidly and

DO values started decreasing and

came near to zero. Export volume is

increasing continuously due to the

international market demand. Though

DO value was not directly inverse

proportional to the export volume but

from 2007, DO values fell to zero

permanently. Analysing the available

data, can be concluded that due to the

increasing development of tannery

industry at Hazaribagh, DO values of

Buriganga water is decreasing day by

day which indicates severe water

pollution. So it can be assumed that

there is trade-off relation between

Hazaribagh tannery development and

water quality in Buriganga.

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

Valu

e In

Mn

US

$

Fiscal Year (FY)

Leather Footware Leather goods

-0.5

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012

DO

V

alu

es

Year


VIII. DISCUSSION

The watershed environment of Buriganga is under

increasing pressure from the hazardous wastes, emanating

from Hazaribagh tanneries. A large amount of toxic wastes

from Hazaribagh have eaten up all oxygen in Buriganga and

the DO level has fallen down drastically. At present the DO

levels of Buriganga is near equal to zero, which indicates no

aquatic life. But Hazaribagh tanneries play a significant role

in Bangladesh economy in terms of its contribution to export

and domestic market. The low wage rate and poor

enforcement of environmental laws and rules have given the

countrys leather sector a comparative advantage in the world

market [22]. Moreover, the country enjoys duty exemption

under the Generalized System of Preference (GS) from most

of the importing countries of the developed world. Due to

these advantages, Bangladesh has adopted an export-led

growth strategy, for its economic development. From this

study, it is revealed that with the increase in export trend of

leather sector, the water quality of Buriganga has deteriorated

severely.

Table 2. Total (accumulated) people employed in Leather Sector

value chain [15]

Stages in Value Chain Total Number of People

Employed (Estimated)

Direct Indirect Total

Raw hide supply 70,000 130,000 200,000

Tannery/leather processing 30,000 20,000 50,000

Wholesaling (leather,

footwear & leather goods) 3,000 - 3,000

Retailing (leather, footwear

& leather goods) 300,000 - 300,000

Footwear production

(mechanized, semi-

mechanized & handmade)

130,000 20,000 150,000

Leather goods production

(semi-mechanized &

handmade)

25,000 5,000 30,000

Exporting and by products

processing - 8,000 8,000

Total Number of People

Employed 558,000 183,000 741,000

Hazaribagh tanneries discharge its highly toxic wastes

directly to the Buriganga without any treatment. But tannery

effluents require elaborate treatment before disposal to

prevent pollution of the receiving body of water. Buriganga

receives in average 19 tons of

suspended solids and 7.5 tons of

BOD in one day from the tanneries.

Industrial waste with such

concentration of pollution is not

allowed to be discharged in natural

water in any developed country [23].

There is no waste management

system at Hazaribagh. Besides most

of the tannery owners are poor and

they are using primitive technology

in their production process, which is

very harmful for environment. If they

keep consideration to the

environment, they have to install

modern technologies in their

production and waste management

systems. The production cost will go

up then and it may turn to be a big

constrain for Bangladesh to compete

with others in the global market. So it

can be assumed a trade-off relation

between the export trend of leather

sector and the water quality of

Buriganga. Due to this trade-off

relation, environmental problems of

developing countries cannot be

solved so easily. Inadequate waste

management systems, lack of capital

and infrastructure facilities and

insufficient open spaces can make

the problem acute. In this situation,

some policy recommendations may

be considered.

A. Innovating cheap waste management system

For environmental preservation,

this policy is very important for any

developing country. Government and

concerned organizations should take

a notice and step forward for a useful

solution. If cheap modern technology

is innovated, all tanneries can

continue their production and survive

in the export market without

damaging the environment. The

Government also has to concentrate

on providing proper sewerage and

infrastructure facilities. Hence the

problems of lack of capital and

infrastructural facilities may be

removed.


B. Merging of small tanneries and co-operative production structure

It is reported that at present, 114 units, large

and medium by the local standards are registered

to the Directorate of Industries. Others are mostly

of small and cottage type and are not on the

register. In this situation, different groups of

medium and small tanneries can make

co-operative or collaborate industrial structures to

run their production. Then they can be able to

maximize their production and minimize

environmental degradation by installing modern

technologies. Co-operative system is also fruitful

in the area of waste management system. Japan

has taken the lead in a co-operative production of

value in the area of waste management. For almost

30 years Japan evolved waste management as a

fundamentally co-operative process [24].

C. Strict enforcement of industrial and environmental rules and policies

It may be possible to curb pollution by the

policies. The existing rules should be amended by

strict enforcement. Under this policy, all tanneries

have to clean their effluents before disposal and

install environmentally friendly technologies.

Those who are unable to obey the rules have to

close their tanneries and Governments have to

support them to switch in other sectors. As a

large number of tanneries get collapsed under this

policy, the existing tanneries will get some open

space to build Central Effluent Treatment Plant

(CETP) and the problems of inadequate waste

management and insufficient open space can be

solved.

D. Execution of Hazaribagh relocation project

Most of the European Union (EU) counties are

set to pass new policies that will bar import of

products from industries that pollute environment

with harmful chemical agents and do not have

CETP [25]. But Hazaribagh is too congested to

build CETP and redevelop. The Government has

launched a relocation project of Hazaribagh

tanneries to a new area, located at Savar to save

Buriganga. But this relocation project proves to

go in vain because of unwillingness of the

tannery owners to move and in terms of the cost

effectiveness and potential environmental threat

of the new area [26]. Though the Government is

persuading the tannery owners to start shifting

their factories from Hazaribagh to Savar, the CETP

has not been built yet. Moving to Savar, without a

CETP and proper infrastructure facilities, will

result in the same way as Hazaribagh. So, the

shifting should be completed as early as possible

impending EU legislation keeping in mind,

otherwise it may hurt this export-oriented industry.

E. Recycling policy and practice

Recycling is re-using of products, a mean of

waste reduction. Government may introduce or

innovate new technologies for recycling to reduce

or manage solid wastes.

IX. CONCLUSIONS

Pollution of Buriganga is now reaching

epidemic proportion. Thousands of industries

alongside the bank of the Buriganga, disposing

their untreated wastes directly to the river.

Hazaribagh tannery is the most harmful among

them and the water quality of Buriganga is

deteriorating severely. But the leather industry is

one of the export oriented industries of

Bangladesh, which is gaining both economic and

industrial importance now a days. As Bangladesh

has adopted an export-led growth strategy for its

economic development, it is therefore an

imperative for the country to maintain a sustained

growth of export to accelerate the pace of

development and alleviation of poverty. But

while Bangladesh boosts its export, new

challenges involving health and safety,

environmental and social issues are increasingly

linked to trade and market access due to the

problem of trade-off relation. For this reason, a

trade-off relation between the export performance

of tannery industries and water quality in

Buriganga may be assumed.

As Bangladesh is a developing country, the

existing rules of proper industrial waste treatment

have always been ignored by the owners of the

industries. Lack of implementation of rules by the

concerned Government agencies has aggravated

the environmental pollution problem. Besides,

many small industries have no legal permission,

may be established in future by bribing and using

political power, which will deepen the problem.

Immediate attention should be given to sort out

illegal establishment and prevent further increase

of such industries. DoE should take the leading

role to implement the rules with the help of law

enforcing agencies. However, political

commitment is necessary to avoid and overcome

the socio-political implications, which may curb

Buriganga pollution and help the country to

continue achieving economic growth.


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors wish to thank and acknowledge the

cooperation received from many individuals and

organizations during site visits and data

collection. This research was supported in part by

a grant from the Yuasa International Foundation.

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Relation between tannery & river pollution in Bangladesh

Relation Between Hazaribagh Tannery Industry Development and Pollution in Buriganga River

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