Bangladesh has about 230 small and large rivers, and a large number of country’s people depend on river water for domestic, agricultural, industrial, and transportation uses. The rivers are now in critical condition as presented from long-term research data. During the last 40 years, extreme pollution events occurred in peripheral rivers surrounding Dhaka city and the Karnaphuli River in Chittagong city.

According to official records of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), around 350,000 kilograms (350 metric tons) of toxic waste is dumped into rivers every day from about 7,000 industries and other residential areas in greater Dhaka and adjacent areas. (Source: 14 March 2022, BIWTA).

Water pollutants are organic, inorganic, pathogenic, suspended solids, nutrients, agricultural, thermal, radioactive, and other pollutants. Organic and inorganic pollutants are mainly discharged from industrial effluents and sewage into rivers.

The Government of Bangladesh has taken an initiative to reduce and protect the river water by notifying the people using the River Pollution Information System (RPIS).