Halda River Protection Committee has put forward an 11-point recommendation to save the Halda River, the largest fish spawning ground in the country.
The recommendation came following the recent incident of death of various fish species due to extremely polluted river water.
Committee President Manzoorul Kibria, also a professor of Chittagong University's Zoology department, made the recommendations at a press conference at Chittagong Press Club in Chattogram on Friday, reports UNB.
The suggestions include making it mandatory to install and use effluent treatment plants (ETPs) in all industries, including Hathazari Peaking Power Plant and Asian Paper Mills, from Oxygen to Kulgaon to treat industrial waste, permanently stopping dumping of waste into the Mora Chora canal at Nandirat, taking effective measures to check pollution by poultry farms set up haphazardly, re-excavating Bamonshahi canal which was grabbed in Ananya Residential Area to take it to its earlier form, disconnecting master drainage system of the residential area from the Bamonshahi and Kuraish canals, setting up STPs for the garbage management of the residential area, ensuring uninterrupted water flow digging small canals in Shikarpur and Madarsha areas, declaring Halda as an 'ecologically critical area (ECA)', constituting a Halda River Commission for coordination in the river management and announcing Halda as the national river.
Various species of fish such as ruhi, katal, ayeer and shrimp have died over the last few days. Locals found them floating in a 15-km stretch of the river on June 21-22.
A team of experts from Chittagong University and the local Met office collected samples of water from 11 points of the river on June 21-25 and they found it to be extremely polluted after tests.
The press conference was told that 18 species of fish and two species of shrimp have died due to the water pollution.
In a written speech, Prof Manzoorul Kibria said fish died due to low level of oxygen and excessive ammonia.
He said on average, one litre water contains 0.05mg of oxygen, but Halda water currently contains less than 0.02mg of oxygen, which is not suitable for aquatic animals to survive in the river.
Describing the pollution as an ominous sign, the Halda researcher said the river will face dire consequences in the future if steps are not taken to check it.
