Facing Water Challenges in Bangladesh at the confluence of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna Rivers: A WWDR3 Case Study
From WaterWiki.net
- Synopsis
Recurring water-related hazards, declining freshwater availability and poisoning from naturally occurring arsenic in groundwater have undermined the health and livelihoods of millions in this densely populated country. Climate change might further aggravate this situation. Efforts to institutionalize integrated water resources management will play a significant role in reducing the burden of persistent poverty, especially among rural populations.
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Focus Areas | Water supply and sanitation, IWRM
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Contents |
Background and Significance
The Experience: Challenges and Solutions
- Disasters and Hazards
Bangladesh is prone to water-related hazards such as floods, cyclones, storm surges, flash floods, droughts, riverbank erosion and rain-induced landslides. In addition, salinity intrusion and waterlogging affect nearly one-third of the country in the south-west. The country suffered approximately 170 disasters between 1870 and 1998. Every year some 20% to 25% of the territory is inundated during the monsoon season (WMO/GWP, 2008). The frequency of major floods, covering up to 70% of the country, is growing. During the 2007 flood and cyclonic storm, the death toll exceeded 300, with 8 million people displaced and serious consequences for the national economy and people’s livelihoods. From 1970 to 2008, 12 major cyclones killed more than 620,000 people and affected 45 million others (MoFDM, 2008).
Because of the almost flat terrain, flood prevention through
flow regulation is not an option for Bangladesh. A flood
forecasting and warning system established in the 1970s
covers all flood-prone areas and provides real-time flood
information, with early warning for lead times of 24 and
48 hours. The country’s flood management strategies have
continuously evolved over the last 50 years, so that now
more emphasis is put on other non-structural means of
mitigating floods, including controlling development in
flood plains and wetlands through legislation and
involving communities in flood management
(WMO/GWP, 2008).
Bangladesh is also vulnerable to recurrent droughts, such
as those that occurred in 1973, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982,
1989, 1992, 1994 and 1995. The droughts of 1994 and
1995 in north-western Bangladesh led to a 3.5 million
tonne shortfall in rice production.
There is potential for regulating river flow in upstream
countries to reduce flooding, especially during the
monsoon season, and to augment water availability in the dry season, as well as to maintain river levels to facilitate
inland waterway navigation and sustain ecosystems.
A better regulated flow could also reduce salinity intrusion
caused by the decline in freshwater availability in the
dry season. This, however, would require strengthened
regional cooperation, which has not yet been realized.
River bank erosion takes a terrible toll on people,
property and infrastructure. Major rivers, including the
Jamuna, Ganges and Padma, consume several thousand
hectares of flood plain per year and carry huge sediment
loads. As a result, riverbank erosion and siltation occur
frequently. An estimated 100 km2 of land per year has
been lost to erosion over the past 20 years. The mostly
rural victims of river erosion sometimes lose all their
personal belongings and property. Bangladesh also
loses several kilometres of roads, railways and flood
embankments annually to shifting waterways.
Response efforts for water-related natural disasters still
focus primarily on emergency relief rather than on
seeking ways to reduce vulnerability to natural hazards.
There is a need to strengthen the awareness that risk
reduction and disaster prevention make better economic
sense than responding to consequences through
emergency relief.
- Health and water-related issues
The unreliable availability and fluctuating quality of surface water resources prompted the authorities to start developing a groundwater supply system in the 1970s, installing wells in an effort to provide safe drinking water. Bangladesh now has some 9 million wells, of which about half are public wells installed by government agencies (Jones, 2000).
Wells made it possible for about 97% of the rural
population to have access to bacteriologically safe water by
2000 and helped lower the infant mortality rate from 156
per thousand in 1990 to 69 per thousand in 2006 (UNICEF,
2008). Unfortunately, particularly in shallow aquifers, the
groundwater often contains arsenic at levels that can cause
poisoning (arsenicosis). Only about 74% of the rural
population has access to arsenic-free water. The naturally
occurring arsenic is a major concern for drinking water
supply and for animal husbandry and irrigation. It is also a
major development constraint in coastal aquifers. In 61 of
the country’s 64 districts, groundwater arsenic levels are
above the permissible limit. It is estimated that between
25 million and 35 million people depend on wells that
expose them to the risk of arsenicosis.
The main cause of death in Bangladesh, however, remains
poverty-related infectious diseases, which are exacerbated
by malnutrition. A marked gender differential in health
persists. About 70% of mothers suffer from nutritional
deficiency anaemia and over 90% of children have some
degree of malnutrition.
- Pollution and environmental degradation
Water bodies in Bangladesh receive a large amount of pollution in the form of municipal, industrial and agricultural waste, including pesticides and fertilizers. There is also pollution originating in the upstream parts of the major river basins.
The National Water Policy and National Water
Management Plan stress the importance of preserving
the natural environment as a condition for the socioeconomic
development of the country. Both state that
care must be taken to conserve goods and services
provided by ecosystems, including fisheries and wildlife
biodiversity. Yet the country’s rivers, flood plains,
mangroves and natural lakes continue to deteriorate.
The situation is mainly due to poor enforcement of
regulations and lack of integration with development
activities in other sectors.
The degradation of water resources has a particularly
detrimental effect on poor communities that are highly
dependent on ecosystems for their livelihoods. In part to
address these challenges, the Ministry of Environment
and Forest supported the Environment Conservation Act
of 1995 and the Bangladesh Environmental Regulation
of 1997. These form the basis of modern pollution
control in Bangladesh. The revised industrial policy of
2005 also recognizes the need to control pollution as
stipulated under the Environment Conservation Act.
However, pollution control legislation has only gradually
been implemented.
Environmental impact assessments (EIAs) have been
carried out in Bangladesh since the late 1990s to
minimize the adverse effects of development projects.
However, a lack of resources and capacity often hampers
the process: most EIA consultants are poorly trained,
developers lack the resources to conduct EIAs
appropriately and there is inadequate awareness at
decision-making level of the benefits of conducting EIAs.
Essentially, although significant progress has been made, poverty
continues to plague the people of Bangladesh, particularly
in rural areas. They depend mainly on land for subsistence
and are severely affected by seasonal variation in surface
water availability, frequent floods, droughts and cyclones,
which cause substantial socio-economic damage.
The effects of potential climate change are likely to
worsen the situation, especially for the rural poor and
the disadvantaged, who already bear the brunt of the
consequences. To prosper in the 21st century, Bangladesh
needs to improve the way it manages its water resources
internally while continuing to work towards better
regional cooperation that can offer benefits for all basin
countries. A combination of these factors will also play a
pivotal role in key economic sectors and in breaking the
vicious circle of poverty.
Results and Impact
Lessons for Replication
Testimonies and Stakeholder Perceptions
References
See also
Aquastat. 1999. Review of water resources statistics by country. Rome, Food and Agriculture Organization. http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/ water_res/index.stm (Accessed November 2008.)
Asian Development Bank (ADB). 2004. Bangladesh Country Paper. www.adb.org/Water/NWSAB/2004/Bangladesh_Country_Paper.pdf (Accessed 22 November 2008.)
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). 2003. Selected Indicators of Food and Agriculture Development in Asia-Pacific Region 1992–2002. FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok. http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/004/AD452E/AD452E00.HTM (RAP Publication 2003/10. Accessed 22 November 2008.) Institute of Water Modelling/DHI. Forthcoming. Bangladesh Case Study Report, executive summary.
Jones, E. M. 2000. Arsenic 2000: An Overview of the Arsenic Issue in Bangladesh. Dhaka, WaterAid Bangladesh, December 2000. (Draft Final Report.)
Ministry of Agriculture. 2004. http://www.moa.gov.bd/statistics/
Table5.11_TAI.htm. Department of Agricultural Extension and Water
Development Board. (Accessed November 2008.)
Ministry of Food and Disaster Management (MoFDM). 2008.
http://www.mofdm.gov.bd/sidr%20damage.htm (Accessed
November 2008.)
UNICEF. 2008. http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/bangladesh_
bangladesh_statistics.html (Accessed December 2008.)
WHO/UNICEF. 2008. www.wssinfo.org/en/36_san_leastDev.html. Joint
Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation. (Accessed
December 2008.)
World Meteorological Organization/Global Water Partnership (WMO/GWP).
2008. http://www.apfm.info/pdf/case_studies/bangladesh.pdf. Associated
Programme on Flood Management. (Accessed November 2008.)
