DT e-Paper 21 March 2017

14
TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017
DT
Opinion
Flowing in the
right direction
Water sustainability is a shared
responsibility
• Faruque Hassan
Many of us may not
be aware of the fact
that World Water Day
is an annual event
celebrated on March 22. So, in light
of this newfound knowledge, let’s
commit to not wasting a single
drop of water, today, tomorrow,
and for the rest of time.
Historically known as a riverine
country, Bangladesh has more
than 700 rivers, tributaries, and
many other forms of wetlands.
The correlation between water
and the economy in Bangladesh
has always been very intense --
industrialisation and urbanisation
took place around the sea ports,
after all.
Culturally, the people of this
area have never been aware of
the water crisis and it water not
treated as a scarce resource.
Due to heavy urbanisation and
industrialisation, the water table
in and around Dhaka has been
depleting by one to two metres
every year. Though ground-water
is not a problem for the whole
country, the unplanned extraction
of it is dangerous for the future
sustainability of our country.
Considering the importance
of water resource conservation,
sustainable consumption has been
have enough of water to reach our
strategic goals in the near future.
The government has taken
the issue of water security
very seriously, for which the
Bangladesh Water Act 2013 was
passed and major policies are
currently in hand.
It’s good to know that the
government has signed an MoU
with the the Netherlands on
Bangladesh Delta plan 2100 -- the
Water Resource Group 2030 (WRG
2030) is a cosignatory of the MoU.
WRG 2030 is working through a
water multi-stakeholder platform
(MSP) that includes government,
private sector, and civil society
with an aim to come up with some
transformation in industries,
agriculture, and the municipal
sector, and ensure water security
by improving surface water quality
through wastewater treatment
and promote integrated water
resources management.
In the World Economic Forum
2017, Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina asserted her commitment
to the 2030 WRG in Bangladesh.
The private sector too is quite
committed to this platform,
which is being spearheaded by
the National Steering Board where
BGMEA is an important member.
Prior to the involvement in
2030 WRG, BGMEA introduced
Water is fast becoming a scarce resource
SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN
Our nation has achieved significant
development in terms of water security,
but we have a lot more to do
identified as one of the major goals
in the 17 SDGs.
Also, ensuring water security
has already been identified as a
key area of concern for the RMG
industry. Both the industry and
major buyers have shown major
concerns over ensuring water
resource.
Bangladesh is at the take-off
phase, aspiring to be a middleincome
country by 2021, and
RMG will be playing a major role
as it is the main engine of our
economic growth. No significant
hydro-economic studies have
yet been conducted to see if we
the Bangladesh Water PaCT
(Partnership for Cleaner
Textile) program which is being
implemented in around 200 wet
processing units of the RMG
industry.
This has helped successfully
reduce water consumption by
18.4 billion litres per annum in the
intervened factories.
Another pilot project named
TREES has been introduced
in around 17 SMEs, jointly
implemented by BGMEA and
PSES, GIZ. A textile sustainability
platform (TSP) has been
established to provide policy
suggestions to the government
towards ensuring sustainable
growth of the industry.
A textile technology business
centre (TTBC), the first of its kind,
has been established in BGMEA
to help its member factories
in disseminating information
about environment-friendly and
resource-efficient technology and
practices. TTBC also organises
seminars on cleaner production
and green factories, among others.
In recent years, the Bangladesh
RMG sector has shown remarkable
success in the area of green
industry.
Till date, 67 factories have
received LEED Certification from
the United States Green building
council (USGBC), of which four
of the factories have achieved
highest rating in industrial
category of the whole world and
13 are platinum and 20 are gold
certified. 220 more factories are in
the LEED certification pipeline.
Most garment manufacturers
are now concerned about effluent
treatment plants (ETP). Many
NGOs are also coming forward
for waste water treatment for
recycling and reuse of water as
72% of water consumption takes
place in the chemical processing of
textiles.
Directly throwing the waste
water in fields or linkage with
rivers and water-logging causes
serious damage to the water, the
environment, and the ecology.
ETP can be used to “improve” the
waste-water before releasing it
into the environment.
For better service and to
maintain environmental integrity,
certain NGOs are operating mobile
water treatment services around
Dhaka, where water treatment
can be conducted on-call and
necessary suggestions and
comments can be provided to
make standardised water quality
that is reusable and environmentfriendly.
Rain water harvesting,
hazardous chemical management,
use of daylight, energy-efficient
LEDs, the reuse and recycle of
water, and so many other positive
practices are being adopted by the
industry.
Our nation has achieved
significant development in terms
of water security, but we have a lot
more to do.
Sustainability is not a
standalone game, rather a shared
responsibility of all parties
involved.
Changing attitudes is definitely
difficult, but it has to start
somewhere -- it’s good to know
that it has already started rolling in
the right direction. •
Faruque Hassan is Senior Vice-
President, BGMEA. He is a member
of the Board of Trustees at BGMEA
University of Fashion and Technology,
and is Managing Director at Giant Group.