The Blue Cost Of Fast Fashion: A Multi-River Case Study Of Industrial Water Stress In Bangladesh’s RMG Belt And Its Implications For SDG 6 Compliance

Abstract

The apparel supply chain is among the world’s most water-intensive production systems, drawing roughly 80 billion m³ each year and accounting for almost one-fifth of industrial wastewater discharges. Bangladesh an epicentre of ready-made-garment (RMG) manufacturing bears a disproportionate share of this burden. This case analysis traces cumulative pollutant loads across six industrial rivers (Buriganga, Shitalakhya, Turag, Balu, Dhaleshwari, Karnaphuli) that thread through the country’s main RMG clusters.

The investigation integrates five complementary evidence streams: (i) official 2023 water-quality records; (ii) independent sampling campaigns conducted between 2022 and 2024; (iii) 2024-2025 on-site audits of twenty dyeing and finishing plants; (iv) policy and media documents; and (v) semi-structured interviews with forty-five riverside households. This mixed dataset enables a quantitative appraisal of ecological condition alongside qualitative insight into social repercussions.

Results point to systemic dry-season failure: near-anoxic dissolved-oxygen concentrations (< 0.1 mg L⁻¹), biochemical and chemical oxygen-demand values exceeding national thresholds by orders of magnitude, elevated heavy-metal levels, and recurrent faecal-coliform episodes. Audit evidence shows most effluent-treatment plants (ETPs) run intermittently typically fewer than twelve hours daily while sludge handling and chemical-storage practices remain patchy. GIS overlays reveal that river reaches downstream of low-uptime ETPs correspond with the highest pollutant loads; interviewees corroborate these hotspots, reporting escalating costs for safe water, declining fish catches, and rising water-related illness.

The analysis suggests that intermittent effluent treatment, rather than sheer factory density, is the principal driver of river-health decline. Progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 6 and forthcoming European due-diligence mandates therefore hinges on: real-time IoT-enabled monitoring at factory outfalls; publicly accessible river-health dashboards; continuous rather than batch-mode ETP enforcement; strategic augmentation of dry-season river flows; and procurement incentives that link brand sourcing decisions to verified water stewardship performance.