Mindless waste dumping killing Kaptai Lake
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Passenger vessels, unauthorised insanitary toilets on the bank and careless dumping of wastes contribute to water pollution in the Kaptai Lake.Photo: STARShantimoy Chakma, Rangamati
Pollution at the picturesque Kaptai Lake, one of the largest artificial lakes in the region, has taken a serious turn for worse as thousands of primitive toilets of many slums overwhelm the lake with waste increasing the instances of diarrhoea, jaundice and others waterborne diseases in the district.
Dumping different kinds of waste in large quantities into the lake by townspeople and daily defecation on the lake by passengers of various lake vessels are the prime causes of the pollution, sources said.
A recent research carried out by a non-government organisation revealed that the presence of coliform and faecal coliform, harmful to human health, are very high in the Kaptai Lake water.
The Rangamati unit of the National NGO Forum, which is working to ensure safe water and sanitation in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), in a recent test of the lake water found macabre results.
The NGO officials collected water from a number of places of the lake and identified the most polluted areas. The amount of coliform and faecal coliform are 800 and 300 per 100 millilitres of water at Rajbari, 500 and 350 at Banarupa and 600 and 450 at Reserve Bazar.
Coliform and faecal coliform should be zero in potable water said Alak Bikash Dewan, an official of the NGO Forum.
The recent flooding has also contributed to the pollution at the Kaptai Lake as numerous primitive toilets of slums on the lakeshore were inundated by floodwater. Many illegally built houses are still under floodwater even though water is receding.
The water level of the lake also increased by two to three feet due to excessive rainfall.
Vessels that ferry people between the district headquarters and upazila headquarters have toilets that dump faces straight into the lake water, sources said.
The 58,000-hectare Kaptai Lake was created when the Kaptai Hydroelectric Power Plant (KHPP) dam was built in the early 60s. The dam was constructed considering electricity generation, development of waterways and fish production on a large scale, sources said.
A few lakh people who live around the lake are now under severe threat of catching waterborne diseases as they use the lake water for daily purposes. Many of them are indigenous people who drink lake water as they have always done in the past, sources said.
Kaptai Lake is the main source of water for a large number of people in Rangamati. Tourists from home and abroad expressed their worry about the lake's condition.
The number of patients with waterborne diseases at Rangamati General Hospital is increasing day by day, District Civil Surgeon's Office (CSO) sources said.
They said they treated around 8,410 diarrhoea patients last year with six deaths. They fear it could go higher this year as the number of diarrhoea patients treated has already reached 7,441 according to figures of September. Around 6,454 patients were treated for dysentery last year and this number has already been crossed by figures till September this year. A total of 7,006 patients of dysentery have registered so far with the hospital. At least 198 jaundice patients were admitted last year while the September figure shows that 498 patients have already been treated this year.
Kazi Nazrul Islam, civil society leader and a member of Kaptai Lake Control Committee, said it was time to take immediate coordinated steps to save the lake from encroachments and pollutions. He said the lake must be saved for the future generations and to avert any large-scale disasters.
Ashiur Rahman, sub-assistant engineer of Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE), said about two years ago they tested the water but at that time such high coliform and faecal coliform levels were not found.
The DPHE is currently supplying nine lakh gallons of water from two water treatment plants daily against the Rangamati townspeople's demand of 15 lakh gallons.
Most people do not drink this water as they think it is unsafe, sources said. Quite often the DPHE supplies water having a bad odour and the smell of bleaching powder, they said.
Abu Khaled, executive engineer of DPHE, said they use bleaching powder to kill germs and even though it has a bad odour it is not harmful to health. He claimed the supplied water is safe to drink but the recipients must have a clean reservoir or tank to keep it safe to drink.
source : the daily star
Passenger vessels, unauthorised insanitary toilets on the bank and careless dumping of wastes contribute to water pollution in the Kaptai Lake.Photo: STARShantimoy Chakma, Rangamati
Pollution at the picturesque Kaptai Lake, one of the largest artificial lakes in the region, has taken a serious turn for worse as thousands of primitive toilets of many slums overwhelm the lake with waste increasing the instances of diarrhoea, jaundice and others waterborne diseases in the district.
Dumping different kinds of waste in large quantities into the lake by townspeople and daily defecation on the lake by passengers of various lake vessels are the prime causes of the pollution, sources said.
A recent research carried out by a non-government organisation revealed that the presence of coliform and faecal coliform, harmful to human health, are very high in the Kaptai Lake water.
The Rangamati unit of the National NGO Forum, which is working to ensure safe water and sanitation in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), in a recent test of the lake water found macabre results.
The NGO officials collected water from a number of places of the lake and identified the most polluted areas. The amount of coliform and faecal coliform are 800 and 300 per 100 millilitres of water at Rajbari, 500 and 350 at Banarupa and 600 and 450 at Reserve Bazar.
Coliform and faecal coliform should be zero in potable water said Alak Bikash Dewan, an official of the NGO Forum.
The recent flooding has also contributed to the pollution at the Kaptai Lake as numerous primitive toilets of slums on the lakeshore were inundated by floodwater. Many illegally built houses are still under floodwater even though water is receding.
The water level of the lake also increased by two to three feet due to excessive rainfall.
Vessels that ferry people between the district headquarters and upazila headquarters have toilets that dump faces straight into the lake water, sources said.
The 58,000-hectare Kaptai Lake was created when the Kaptai Hydroelectric Power Plant (KHPP) dam was built in the early 60s. The dam was constructed considering electricity generation, development of waterways and fish production on a large scale, sources said.
A few lakh people who live around the lake are now under severe threat of catching waterborne diseases as they use the lake water for daily purposes. Many of them are indigenous people who drink lake water as they have always done in the past, sources said.
Kaptai Lake is the main source of water for a large number of people in Rangamati. Tourists from home and abroad expressed their worry about the lake's condition.
The number of patients with waterborne diseases at Rangamati General Hospital is increasing day by day, District Civil Surgeon's Office (CSO) sources said.
They said they treated around 8,410 diarrhoea patients last year with six deaths. They fear it could go higher this year as the number of diarrhoea patients treated has already reached 7,441 according to figures of September. Around 6,454 patients were treated for dysentery last year and this number has already been crossed by figures till September this year. A total of 7,006 patients of dysentery have registered so far with the hospital. At least 198 jaundice patients were admitted last year while the September figure shows that 498 patients have already been treated this year.
Kazi Nazrul Islam, civil society leader and a member of Kaptai Lake Control Committee, said it was time to take immediate coordinated steps to save the lake from encroachments and pollutions. He said the lake must be saved for the future generations and to avert any large-scale disasters.
Ashiur Rahman, sub-assistant engineer of Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE), said about two years ago they tested the water but at that time such high coliform and faecal coliform levels were not found.
The DPHE is currently supplying nine lakh gallons of water from two water treatment plants daily against the Rangamati townspeople's demand of 15 lakh gallons.
Most people do not drink this water as they think it is unsafe, sources said. Quite often the DPHE supplies water having a bad odour and the smell of bleaching powder, they said.
Abu Khaled, executive engineer of DPHE, said they use bleaching powder to kill germs and even though it has a bad odour it is not harmful to health. He claimed the supplied water is safe to drink but the recipients must have a clean reservoir or tank to keep it safe to drink.
source : the daily star
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