Esrat Jahan :
Bangladesh widely known as `The Land of Rivers’ is home to over 700 tributaries, including major waterways such as the Padma, Jamuna, Meghna, and Karnaphuli. These rivers are the lifeblood of the nation, providing essential water for farming, fishing, transport, and daily life. Despite this enormous importance, Bangladesh’s rivers are in a perilous state ranking among the most degraded river systems in the world.
The country’s rivers face mounting pressures from pollution, encroachment, upstream water diversion and climate change. Industrial effluents, untreated sewage and agricultural runoff are poisoning rivers with toxic chemicals and heavy metals, endangering both aquatic life and human health. Urban waterways such as the Buriganga, Turag, and Balut, particularly around Dhaka, have been enduring severe contamination. The Buriganga is often described as a `dead river.’ Its dark and oily waters are a stark indicator of industrial neglect, while the Karnaphuli suffers from pollution linked to Chittagong city and the ship-breaking industry along its banks.
Encroachment and unplanned infrastructure development have further narrowed river channels, reducing their natural capacity to carry water and exacerbating flood risks. Meanwhile, upstream dams and barrages, especially in India have diverted crucial water flows.
This reduction is particularly damaging during the dry season, leaving rivers such as the Padma and Old Brahmaputra unable to sustain their ecosystems. Reports indicate that four out of 10 major rivers in Bangladesh now fail to maintain minimum flows needed to support social and ecological systems.
Climate change compounds the crisis, with rising sea levels, erratic rainfall, and extreme weather intensifying river degradation and flooding. The consequences are profound: millions of people, including fishers and farmers, are losing their livelihoods, biodiversity is declining, and the nation’s agricultural economy faces significant disruption.
Globally, Bangladesh’s river network is among the densest, yet its rivers’ health starkly contrasts with countries like India, China, Russia, Brazil, the United States, and Canada, where rivers though sometimes fewer in number remain comparatively better managed. While the Amazon, Yangtze, and Volga sustain ecosystems and economies, Bangladesh’s rivers are collapsing under human and environmental pressures.
Experts warn that without urgent, coordinated intervention including stricter pollution control, riverbank restoration, and transboundary water management the nation risks losing not only its waterways but the communities, livelihoods, and biodiversity that depend on them.
“Bangladesh’s rivers are abundant, yet their condition is a national emergency,” says environmental analyst Dr. Shamsul Alam. “Immediate action is essential to restore these vital arteries before the damage becomes irreversible.”
Bangladesh’s wealth of rivers is a national treasure, but its current state is a warning that abundance alone cannot secure a sustainable future.
