Quantifying the Pollutants and their Environmental Impact by Ships Operating on Inland Waterways in Bangladesh

Author: Md. Mehedi Islam Limon, Md Munir Hassan, Mohammad Azharul Islam
DOI: doi.org/10.70279/bmj-v8-i1-1030
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Bangladesh is a riverine country with a vast network of rivers, canals, creeks, and water bodies. In Bangladesh, the river network is thought to be a safe and economical mode of transportation. Near about seventeen thousand different types of registered vessels and numerous unregistered vessels are plying on inland waterways in Bangladesh. However, the large number of vessels operating on the inland waterways makes them particularly susceptible to environmental pollution. By directly disposing of bilges, solid wastes, oily water, and ballast water in addition to the air pollution caused by the operation of 
engines and other machineries, inland waterways are becoming polluted. In this article, the number of vessels registered with the Department of Shipping under the Inland Shipping Ordinance-1976 is demonstrated. For the study, four types of vessels such as passenger vessels, cargo vessels, oil tankers, and sand carriers have been taken. Then the quantification of different pollutants by inland shipping operations has been shown. The total discharge of solid waste, oily water, ballast water, and bilges has been estimated through the collection of secondary data from available sources through the usage of basic statistical methods. The impact of pollution by different pollutant components is described in this research. The impact of rising CO₂, emission of SO_X, and 
impacts of different fossil fuels on humans and the ecosystem are described elaborately. Besides, the impacts of oil spills, discharge of bilge & oily-water from inland ships, disposal of ballast water at the waterways, impacts of anti-fouling coatings, and environmental impacts by dredging are discussed as well.