Water pollution - sustaining water bodies for future

 Water pollution - sustaining water bodies for future 

- Nurul Mostafa Kamal Zafari 

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Water is everywhere. But not a single drop to drink. Yesterday I was travelling from one of the islands in Bangladesh's southern part. This island is famous for producing betel leaf (a leaf chewed by south-estern folks with some other spices, especially betel nut) and once abundant with drinkable water including surface water. In the speed boat, I was chatting with some of the passengers, one of them is old, Sadhan Dutt, expereinced, seemed, was a little bit nervous and excited as his betel leaf gardens are under water for excessive rainfall. His point is very clear, water is excessively available when it is not needed but scarce when it is needed so much. 

Then another passenger responded with a different tone. A woman, Fojila Begum, seemingly house wife, couldn't water her kitchen gardens during dry season. She is almost 70 as she couldn't recall her actual birthday. She used to get enough surface water to fetch during dry seasons when she was a new bridegroom brought to her in-law's house 50 years back from the mainland Bangladesh. But in recent years, ponds are dried and empty during dry seasons. It hampers her big kitchen garden. She also couldn't get enough fish to feed her big family in dry seasons from her own three ponds. 

This is the scenario of scarcity of water. I landed the island (Moheshkhali, Cox'sBazar) after 40 minutes. of speed boat journey. I went to some remote villages inside the hilly areas of Shaplapur. There are water bodies every where but some water bodies are pollluted due to excessive use of chemical food for fish-firming. I have seen, farmers are not ploughing while this is the rainy season and farmers are busy in ploughing. I asked some farmers why some pieces of lands are out of firming. The answer is simple, soil is polluted due to polluted water spillage from the nearby fish-firms. 

From rural kitchen ponds to the village drains to rivers, water bodies are getting polluted. Seas and oceans are now facing the same consequences. 

Are we saving our waters for future? No, not. If immediate actions are not taken, house wife like Fojila Begum couldn't afford a rare species of vegetable for her pregnant daughter-in-law as the nutritiou vegetable helps the pregnant women with enriched vitamin sources. Or farmers, like Sadhan Dutt, will see his gardens are washed away. What we need is to have a plan and actions accordingly.