The government plans to establish a comprehensive and modern framework for monitoring river water quality, starting with the major rivers surrounding Dhaka.
The Green Transition Initiative (GTI), based in South Korea, will provide technical support for the monitoring system.
To that end, a project meeting titled "Strengthening Water Quality Monitoring Systems in Bangladesh" was held on Tuesday at the Bangladesh Secretariat in Dhaka.
Under this initiative, a Korean expert team is using GIS-based pollutant mapping to identify major pollution sources affecting rivers in the Dhaka area.
The team will also create an evidence-based sampling protocol that includes sample depth, monitoring point locations, and sampling frequency in order to standardise assessment procedures.
As part of the deliverables, the consultants will create a detailed project proposal to be submitted during the GTI 2026 Cooperation Project's Feasibility Window.
This proposal will allow for the launch of a fully automated water quality monitoring system for Dhaka's river network, with an implementation timeline ranging from 2027 to 2030.
Capacity-building activities and technical training will take place in December, followed by a comprehensive report summarising all project work completed during the current phase.
Participants also discussed potential long-term initiatives beyond 2026, such as creating a national-level automated water monitoring system, implementing a River Health Assessment protocol, and testing a River Health Card.
They also considered selecting a specific river corridor as a pilot monitoring zone, preferably one that can be closely monitored and enforced by the environment ministry or the Department of Environment (DoE).
The meeting was attended by Additional Secretary Mohammad Navid Shafiullah, Joint Secretary Lubna Yasmine, Deputy Secretaries Fahmida Hoque Khan and Sidhartha Sankar Kundu of the ministry, and AKM Rafiqul Islam, Director of the Department of Environment.
Cho Ju Hyun, Director General of KEITI; Baek In Whan, Research Specialist at KEITI; Jung Keun Joon, Director of EMC Co. Ltd.; Yi Jeong Won, Deputy Director General of EMC Co. Ltd.; Kim Ayeon, Manager at EMC Co. Ltd.; and representatives from collaborating agencies were also in attendance.
Additional Secretary Mohammad Navid Shafiullah, who presided over the meeting, emphasised the importance of strengthening water quality governance in protecting vulnerable communities living along polluted riverbanks.
He emphasised real-time monitoring systems, digital water-quality platforms, and interagency data sharing.
He went on to say that this collaboration would strengthen Bangladesh and South Korea's existing partnership and open up new avenues for environmental technology cooperation.
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