Dhaka
Environmental pollution

Increasing air and water pollution affects public health and the quality of life in the city. The air pollution is caused for example by vehicle traffic and congestion. Also, due to the unregulated manufacturing of bricks and other causes, Dhaka has very high levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air pollution.

Water pollution is caused by the discharge of municipal wastewater from households and industry without treatment. As of 2011 only 20% of the city is connected to a sewer system, whereas 80% is not connected. As a result, the rivers in Dhaka have severe pathogen pollution, as indicated by the fecal coliform count that is several hundred times higher than the recommended national and international standards of less than 200 cfu per litre for bathing and swimming.

In addition to the organic and pathogen pollution load from the 1.2 million m of untreated sewage, the rivers receive about 60,000 m of industrial effluent every day from nine major industrial clusters (as of 2021). There are an estimated 500–700 wet processing and dyeing textile factories releasing a range of chemicals including salts, dyes and bleaches, and 155 tanneries discharging heavy metals, including chromium.

Four of the rivers surrounding Dhaka—Buriganaga, Sitalakhya, Balu and Turag—are so polluted that they have been declared as ecologically critical areas in 2009 by the Department of Environment. This makes them unsuitable for any human use. Nevertheless, people living in low-income and slum areas still have a lot of direct contact with river water, exposing them to health risks. They use river water for dish washing, laundry, cleaning fish and vegetables, and personal washing, washing and dyeing denim, washing fish baskets or plastic sheets, collecting plastic waste and fishing. As a result, many of the immediate environmental burdens of river pollution are borne by these low-income residents.

Water bodies and wetlands around Dhaka are facing destruction as these are being filled up to construct multi-storied buildings and other real estate developments. Coupled with pollution, such erosion of natural habitats threatens to destroy much of the regional biodiversity.
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