Urban river management

Most of the rivers in Bangladesh have not been maintained and preserved with adequate care

A clean river has both the tangible and intangible values. The intangible value of aesthetic and scenic kind contributes to the scope and quality of the human development. Health experts state that a clean urban river with parkways can provide health benefits to the mechanized modern life where people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety, depression and even aggressive behavior. In 2014, a study of Jackson and others examined various endpoints such as physical, mental, community, environmental health and economic wellbeing of the US citizens. They found that the urban river with parkways have asignificant impact on improving the citizens’ physical, mental and community health. Hence, the urban rivers have been sought as an important center of healing and recreation for many developed countries over the periods; thereby managing and preserving of these rivers increasingly come to be an imperative part of the human development in such countries.

However, many of the urban rivers in developing Bangladesh have not been maintained and preserved with that much care which has actually required in offering recreational facilities to the city life. For example, urban rivers such as Buriganga, Turag, Shitalaykha and Balu in and around Dhaka have been proved as an example of unsuccessful and barren waterways which instead negatively affect the quality of residents’ life because of severe pollution and the encroachment. Increased pollution degrades the water quality of rivers and thereby impacting human and aquatic life in numerous ways. Urban rivers of Dhaka are mostly polluted by untreated municipal wastewater and industrial effluents. The untreated sewerage of Dhaka City causes extensive pressure on water quality of the nearby rivers. The report of World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) reveals that only 2% of the sewage waste in Dhaka City has been treated properly while 98% of the total sewage dumped on-site waterways. Though the Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority (DWASA) claims that 30 percent of the sewage waste goes under treatment process but the harsh reality is that a big volume of untreated sewage discharges directly into the rivers and pollutes the surrounding rivers of Dhaka tremendously. 
At present over thousands of small and medium industries have been operating in and around Dhaka City. According to the Department of Environment (DoE), half of the total industries in greater Dhaka have no individual’s effluent treatment plant (ETP) and those who have ETP facility are not using properly. As a result, almost all the untreated industrial effluents discharge directly into the adjoining rivers. The untreated industrial effluents have been identified as the major causes for pollution of common rivers in Bangladesh. The higher establishment of the industries normally put higher stress on the quality and quantity of water. On the other hand,infiltration of industrial effluents into groundwater has severe adverse impacts on quality of potable water supplies and potentially poses a serious risk to public health. 
The industrial effluents contain both the human pathogens and chemical hazards such as high chromium, suspended and dissolve solid, high BOD and COD and other toxins which have a negative impact on human, animal and aquatic health.
Though Dhaka City has circular waterways system, extreme pollution and bad odors from polluted riversrestrain the city residents to enjoy aesthetic services,thus impacting healthy living of city residents. According to UN-HABITAT report 2016, the megacity Dhaka with a population of more than 17 million is a typically unplanned and urbanized city in the world. Moreover, about 400,000 new residents annually migrating from rural areas seeking a better life in Dhaka is straining under the pressure of its rapidly swelling population. If population estimates hold true, Dhaka is expected to grow to 20 million by 2020, making itthe world's third largest city. However, recreational open space for these colossal populations ofDhaka City is significantly low compared to the national standard set by the Detailed Area Plan (DAP), Ministry of Housing and Public Works. The DAP recommends recreational open space is 0.96 acre of land for 1000 population, while in Dhaka City, only 0.07 acre of land is shared by 1000 population for their recreational activities which arefar off from the standard level meaning that city residents require recreation facilities badly. If the urban rivers were in good ecological condition, these could be used as the recreational centers for many city dwellers. 
People appreciate and enjoy places beside the water which is also recognized as the time-proven experience in Dhaka City. The Dhanmondi Lake in Dhaka City provides waterside recreational facilities for the congestion city life. Recently, the government has implemented Hatirjheel Projectinside the center of Dhaka City which also attracts thousands of visitors each day for the recreation. More recently adding water-taxi in Hatirjheel offers passenger travel which at the same time providesa unique opportunity to the travelers to enjoy the scenic beauty of City.Aiming to provide a healthy life and living for the residents of Dhaka, the RajdhaniUnnayanKortipokhho (RAJUK) has made the Dhaka Structure Plan 2016-2035 and set objectives to build a sustainable city for the city dwellers. One of the important objectives of the RAJUK’s plan is to “conserve water bodies as a source of local aesthetics and recreation by designing urban waterbodies with landscape and green belt, sitting arrangement, walkways on both sides of conservable waterbodies”. Therefore, it is required a proper river management while improving water quality is the prerequisite which plays a pivotal role in waterside recreation.
The issue of urban recreational facilities and healthy living should have strongly addressed particularly for the megacity of Dhaka. Since Dhaka is highly densified with population and urbanization where people have very little opportunity in open space recreation, rivers can be a good place for such activities. 
Experts argue that due to having a very handful of parks and recreation centers in the capital, more projects like Hitirjheelmust be implemented on an urgent basis to provide recreational opportunities to its inhabitants and priority can be given to the urban river development. Moreover, if river water is clean, it can be treated with low cost and can generously be used in agriculture, industries and for municipal.

PhD Student in Economics, Universiti Utara Malaysia&Lecturer of Economics, Uttara University, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Urban river management

Most of the rivers in Bangladesh have not been maintained and preserved with adequate care

A clean river has both the tangible and intangible values. The intangible value of aesthetic and scenic kind contributes to the scope and quality of the human development. Health experts state that a clean urban river with parkways can provide health benefits to the mechanized modern life where people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety, depression and even aggressive behavior. In 2014, a study of Jackson and others examined various endpoints such as physical, mental, community, environmental health and economic wellbeing of the US citizens. They found that the urban river with parkways have asignificant impact on improving the citizens physical, mental and community health. Hence, the urban rivers have been sought as an important center of healing and recreation for many developed countries over the periods; thereby managing and preserving of these rivers increasingly come to be an imperative part of the human development in such countries. However, many of the urban rivers in developing Bangladesh have not been maintained and preserved with that much care which has actually required in offering recreational facilities to the city life. For example, urban rivers such as Buriganga, Turag, Shitalaykha and Balu in and around Dhaka have been proved as an example of unsuccessful and barren waterways which instead negatively affect the quality of residents life because of severe pollution and the encroachment. Increased pollution degrades the water quality of rivers and thereby impacting human and aquatic life in numerous ways. Urban rivers of Dhaka are mostly polluted by untreated municipal wastewater and industrial effluents. The untreated sewerage of Dhaka City causes extensive pressure on water quality of the nearby rivers. The report of World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) reveals that only 2% of the sewage waste in Dhaka City has been treated properly while 98% of the total sewage dumped on-site waterways. Though the Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority (DWASA) claims that 30 percent of the sewage waste goes under treatment process but the harsh reality is that a big volume of untreated sewage discharges directly into the rivers and pollutes the surrounding rivers of Dhaka tremendously. At present over thousands of small and medium industries have been operating in and around Dhaka City. According to the Department of Environment (DoE), half of the total industries in greater Dhaka have no individuals effluent treatment plant (ETP) and those who have ETP facility are not using properly. As a result, almost all the untreated industrial effluents discharge directly into the adjoining rivers. The untreated industrial effluents have been identified as the major causes for pollution of common rivers in Bangladesh. The higher establishment of the industries normally put higher stress on the quality and quantity of water. On the other hand,infiltration of industrial effluents into groundwater has severe adverse impacts on quality of potable water supplies and potentially poses a serious risk to public health. The industrial effluents contain both the human pathogens and chemical hazards such as high chromium, suspended and dissolve solid, high BOD and COD and other toxins which have a negative impact on human, animal and aquatic health. Though Dhaka City has circular waterways system, extreme pollution and bad odors from polluted riversrestrain the city residents to enjoy aesthetic services,thus impacting healthy living of city residents. According to UN-HABITAT report 2016, the megacity Dhaka with a population of more than 17 million is a typically unplanned and urbanized city in the world. Moreover, about 400,000 new residents annually migrating from rural areas seeking a better life in Dhaka is straining under the pressure of its rapidly swelling population. If population estimates hold true, Dhaka is expected to grow to 20 million by 2020, making itthe worlds third largest city. However, recreational open space for these colossal populations ofDhaka City is significantly low compared to the national standard set by the Detailed Area Plan (DAP), Ministry of Housing and Public Works. The DAP recommends recreational open space is 0.96 acre of land for 1000 population, while in Dhaka City, only 0.07 acre of land is shared by 1000 population for their recreational activities which arefar off from the standard level meaning that city residents require recreation facilities badly. If the urban rivers were in good ecological condition, these could be used as the recreational centers for many city dwellers. People appreciate and enjoy places beside the water which is also recognized as the time-proven experience in Dhaka City. The Dhanmondi Lake in Dhaka City provides waterside recreational facilities for the congestion city life. Recently, the government has implemented Hatirjheel Projectinside the center of Dhaka City which also attracts thousands of visitors each day for the recreation. More recently adding water-taxi in Hatirjheel offers passenger travel which at the same time providesa unique opportunity to the travelers to enjoy the scenic beauty of City.Aiming to provide a healthy life and living for the residents of Dhaka, the RajdhaniUnnayanKortipokhho (RAJUK) has made the Dhaka Structure Plan 2016-2035 and set objectives to build a sustainable city for the city dwellers. One of the important objectives of the RAJUKs plan is to conserve water bodies as a source of local aesthetics and recreation by designing urban waterbodies with landscape and green belt, sitting arrangement, walkways on both sides of conservable waterbodies. Therefore, it is required a proper river management while improving water quality is the prerequisite which plays a pivotal role in waterside recreation. The issue of urban recreational facilities and healthy living should have strongly addressed particularly for the megacity of Dhaka. Since Dhaka is highly densified with population and urbanization where people have very little opportunity in open space recreation, rivers can be a good place for such activities. Experts argue that due to having a very handful of parks and recreation centers in the capital, more projects like Hitirjheelmust be implemented on an urgent basis to provide recreational opportunities to its inhabitants and priority can be given to the urban river development. Moreover, if river water is clean, it can be treated with low cost and can generously be used in agriculture, industries and for municipal. PhD Student in Economics, Universiti Utara MalaysiaLecturer of Economics, Uttara University, Dhaka, Bangladesh