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Challenges of Water Resource Management in Bangladesh

Article · August 2023

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Tasneem Sharmin
University of Dhaka
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Tasneem Sharmin
Department of Geography & Environment, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000

Abstract
In the midst of increasing worldwide water scarcity and environmental issues, water resource
conservation is a vital activity. In the midst of increasing worldwide water scarcity and
environmental issues, water resource conservation is a vital activity. The report offers a variety
of conservation tactics that take into account behavioral as well as technological factors. Water
waste in agriculture is significantly reduced by effective watering methods like drip and
sprinkler systems. Additionally, the fusion of data analytics, sensor networks, and smart
technology provides creative ways to track and control water usage across many industries.
Public awareness campaigns and educational programs promote sensible water usage practices,
which support conservation efforts on the behavioral front. However, there are a number of
obstacles to effective water resource conservation. It is crucial to use a diverse approach in
order to address these issues. Policies that are changed, effective water pricing systems, and
cross-sector cooperation are all components of sustainable solutions.
Water resource: i. Rainfall
Water resources are sources of water that ii. Transboundary flow
are useful or potentially useful to humans. iii. Water on standing water
It is important because it is needed for life bodies
to exist. Many uses of water include iv. Water on seasonal wetlands
agricultural, industrial, household, v. In-stream water storage
recreational and environmental activities. • Ground water
Virtually all of these human uses require Sources Volume Volume
fresh water. (million (&)
Water resource in Bangladesh: cubic
Bangladesh is located at the lower riparian meter)
country of the three major internationally Transboundary 1,050,000 74
famous rivers, namely the Ganges, the rivers
Brahmaputra and the Meghna. Rainfall 343,000 24
Management and development of the water Groundwater 23,000 2
resources of the country is completely Table: Volume of water occupied by the
dependent on the availability of water from important sources
these Rivers and rainfall distribution round- Water demand & supply:
the-year. Demands arise from several factors such as,
natural (evapotranspiration), water supply,
irrigation, fisheries and livestock,
industrial, navigation and the environment
(demands for salinity control). Proportion
of total water demands, as projected for
2025, is estimated to be:
• instream-56%,
• agriculture-32%,
Figure: GBM river system of Bengal Basin • environment-9% and
The natural subsystem of water resources • water supply-3%.
system are: So, consumptive use comes to be 44%.
1) the interlinked system of rivers, Environmental flow requirements
estuaries, canals, khals (smaller than rivers according to IUCN as stated by Saleh
in size) etc. (2003) should at least be 30% of the world’s
2) the floodplain river flows so as to maintain a fair condition
3) wetlands of freshwater ecosystems.
4) haor, baor, beel (local names of different Water demand for agriculture amounts to
kinds of ponds filled with stagnant rain about 70% of the global withdrawal; for
water), lakes etc. Bangladesh, the figure is about 80%
5) ponds (November to March withdrawal). Water
6) inter tidal lands and water use in Bangladesh agriculture has increased
7) groundwater aquifers. by 2.73 times in 2001 relative to 1991
Sources of water in Bangladesh: according to IRRI as reported by Saleh
• Surface water (2003).
Water balance, on yearly basis, shows a million cubic meter (Mms) of surface water
clear deficit for the entire country. This is discharged per year through the Ganges-
picture would be alarming if the same is Brahmaputra system, downstream of the
done for driest period of the year. In the confluence of the Ganges and the
absence of significant storage for water in Brahmaputra. This is equivalent to 5.52m
Bangladesh, water balance calculations are deep water over a land area of 144,000 km,
normally made on a monthly basis. The Flood
table below shows the projected demand Four main types of floods:
and supply in the month of March in 2018 ● monsoon floods from the major rivers;
according to MPO (1991). Still the ● Local flooding due to drainage
projected water supply is found to be less congestion,
than demand. ● flash floods in the eastern and northern
Water Mill % Water Mill % rivers;
deman ion supply ion ● floods caused by high tides and storm
d cubi cubi surges in the coastal areas.
c c Together inflows and rainfall causes peak
met met floods in the Ganges, Brahmaputra and
er er Meghna rivers in the period July-August,
Agricu 14,2 58 Main 11,7 5 and on average 22% of the country is
lture 90 .6 rivers 40 0 flooded annually.
Naviga 9,91 40 Region 6,39 2 Drought
tion, 0 .7 al 0 7 Drought is also a problem in Bangladesh,
enviro rivers particularly in the North West regions
nment during the spring where there are few
& surface water resources, and agricultural
fisherie production is heavily reliant on
s groundwater resources.
Domes 170 0. Ground 5,36 2 2. Groundwater availability and
tic uses 7 water 0 3 problems
& Except for a few hilly regions Bangladesh
industr is entirely underlain by water bearing
y aquifers at depths varying from zero to 20m
Total 24,2 10 Total 23,4 1 below ground surface. Groundwater in
70 0 90 0 Bangladesh is available in adequate
0 quantity, but the availability of
Table: Projected water supply and demand groundwater for drinking purposes has
in the month of March (2018) become a problem for the following reasons
Water availability and problems: (BUET, 2004)
1. Surface water availability and ● Arsenic in groundwater,
problems ● Excessive dissolved iron;
The major river systems and their ● Salinity in the shallow aquifers in the
tributaries. Rainfall within Bangladesh. An coastal areas;
estimated 795,000 ● Lowering of groundwater level;
● Rock/stony layers in hilly areas
Major Challenges: 1996 to meet drought in Northern
The main challenges for water management regions.
in Bangladesh is both scarcity in the dry ● Arsenic problem: In a northern
season and abundance in the monsoon Bangladeshi district, tube well
season. The main challenges are as follows; water was first found to contain
● Urban Demand: More than 60% of arsenic in 1993. The primary source
Bangladesh's population is of drinking water in rural regions is
projected to live in urban and semi- a tube well and all of Bangladesh's
urban areas by 2015. People, and tube wells except mountainous and
the ever-growing industrial sector, terraced uplands, are contaminated
will demand an increasingly larger with arsenic. According to
share of the total water available, estimates, 50 million people in
much of which is responsible for Bangladesh could get arsenic-
alteration from water used in exposed by consuming water from
irrigation which then pressurised tainted tube wells. It causes long-
water supply systems, and reduces term exposure to arsenic and may
availability of arable land. entail several organ diseases. In
● Climate Change: In general, Bangladesh, many of the negative
analyses and application of health impacts of chronic poisoning
management techniques in the are visible.
water sector have all along been
carried out based on the
presumption that hydrological
series are stationary. There is
growing evidence of shifting trends
in such series, which need to be
assessed and ascertained to enable
taking corrective actions as needed.
● Flood: Flood is a common natural
disaster in Bangladesh. In some
years, it causes devastating damage
to life, property, land and ecosystem
like 1988, 2004, 2007 and 2022
floods. It is a lengthy process to
drain water from wetlands because
of proper infrastructure and
sewerage management.
● Drought in dry season: The
country has suffered from extreme
water shortages in the dry season
since before its independence. The
Figure: Arsenic affected areas in
country signed a water sharing
Bangladesh
treaty with India in the dry season in
● River Erosion: River bank erosion ● Land-use Changes: Land use
is a typical occurrence during the change is a reality with more forest,
monsoon and post-monsoon arid, marshy, fallow areas which
seasons. Furthermore, erosion is a paves way for activities such as
highly regular occurrence along The mining, agriculture, tourism-related
Padma, Meghna, Jamuna and other activities and infrastructure
major rivers. Bangladesh loses development. For instance, a large
several kilometres of roads, number of mega power projects are
railroads, and flood-control coming up in the eastern coastal
embankments every year in addition region of Bangladesh. Changes to
to the floodplain. Though land use, even within agricultural
controlling erosion is equally risky lands, have substantial implications
and expensive, still the government for both water availability and use.
has started certain projects, such as ● Environmental Requirements:
the Jamuna-Meghna Erosion Environmental concerns are first &
Mitigation Project. foremost on the minds of
● Saline Water: Bangladesh is a low- administrators, planners and the
lying nation with 19 coastal districts general populace with the result that
and a total of 42 million inhabitants. there is a steadily increasing
Drinking water sources in the area awareness and emphasis on the
have been impacted by sea level requirements of environmental
rise, storms, tidal surges, and flows in any river system towards
permanent flooding. According to a maintaining ecosystems such as
survey of 66,234 houses, the salt wetland and in-stream environs.
level can increase to six times the People have begun to accept the
allowable limit during the dry rights of nature, treating rivers,
season or winter. estuaries, forests not as simply
● Waterborne Diseases: Water is properties, but entities who have
one of the most important carriers of their own right to flourish.
disease, accounting for 11% of all Management & conservation:
diseases, including pneumonia and National Water Policy(1999) has been
other infections of the respiratory undertaken to address the above issues by:
system, and plays a significant • Harnessing and development of
influence in the overall disease all forms of surface and ground
profile of the nation. Pathogens that water and management of these
are water-borne or transported resources in an efficient and
through the medium of water are the equitable manner
primary cause of diarrhea and other • Ensuring the availability of
gastrointestinal illnesses. About water to all
12% of all illnesses in Bangladesh • Accelerating the development
are caused by diarrhea, and 10% are of sustainable public and private
caused by other gastro-intestinal water delivery systems
ailments such enteric fever.
 Developing a state of the art
• augmentation of dry season flow, power
knowledge and capability that generation, comprehensive development
will enable the country to design and harnessing of water resources of
future water resources Bangladesh.
management plans Recommendations:
Water Resources Planning Organization As the lower riparian state of three major
(WARPO) is an organization, which was river systems, Bangladesh should work
created in 1992 to perform planning of with its neighbors towards overall basin
water resources by: management, with an early focus on the
• Preparing environmentally different hydrological regions and
compatible master plan for promoting information exchange. Although
water resources development Signature of Ganges Water Treaty in 1996
• Formulating strategy and policy is an important milestone, continued efforts
for scientific utilization and are needed to secure Bangladesh’s share of
conservation of water resources the flows of the other 53 transboundary
• Assisting the rivers. The National Water Management
organizations/agencies involved Plan has to address and balance the
in utilization, conservation and conflicting needs of too much water in
development of water monsoon and too little in the dry season
resources, in conducting studies which would need tapping the resources of
and, if necessary, to conduct both surface and ground water.
special studies on any related Reference
issue 1. BUET, 2004. Water Supply
• Collecting and analyzing data Situation Analysis, Online
and information on water Publication (URL:
resources and arrange for http://www.buet.ac.bd/itn/publicati
dissemination ons/as_mitigation/as_mitigation_pa
Conclusion: rt4_2.pdf), Bangladesh University
Due to its geographical location, of Engineering and Technology,
Bangladesh experiences water abundance Dhaka, Bangladesh.
in the wet season and lack in dry season. 2. MPO, 1991. National Water Plan,
The water conservation practice in vol-2, Master Plan Organization,
Bangladesh still needs attention as the Ministry of Irrigation, Water
country is geographically dislocated. Development and Flood Control,
Moreover, cooperation among the co-basin Government of the People’s
countries is necessary for sharing of Republic of Bangladesh.
Transboundary river flows. Efficient water
and flood management and assured shares
of the dry season flows of the
Transboundary Rivers have, therefore,
become imperative for the survival of
Bangladesh. Interception of flood waters by
upstream storage is crucial need for

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