Sustainable development & water resource management

Bangladesh is facing frequent challenges from flooding and inundation during the monsoon season while also experiencing water shortage in the dry season due to drought.  Bangladesh mostly consists of low-lying, flat lands at the conflux of the Ganges (Padma), Bramhaputra (Jamuna) and Meghna (Borak) rivers and their tributaries.

The two major rivers (Ganges and Bramhaputra) of the subcontinent have joined in Bangladesh. The country has 405 rivers out of which 57 are perceived as trans-boundary rivers, including the above-mentioned rivers. So, it can be said that Bangladesh is a water-abundant country having plenty of rivers, innumerable small lakes and water bodies. The importance of water bodies in the context of our economic, social and overall development process should be emphasised.

As our main concern is to achieve sustainable development, we must use this most important life-supporting natural resource in the most efficient way. There are many areas which should be focused in this regard, for example -- improving drinking water quality which is contaminated by iron and manganese, working on industrial pollution, salinity in the coastal belt, water depletion, decrease of groundwater table.

Analysing the "Revised final draft report on consolidation and analysis of information on water resource management in Bangladesh", we found that around 46 per cent of the shallow tube wells of the country have harmful arsenic content, higher than the WHO-GV limit of Arsenic (10 ?g/L). Some of the most seriously affected districts are Munshigonj, Chandpur, Lakshmipur, Noakhali,

Gopalganj, Faridpur, Rajbari and Shatkhira. In these arsenic affected areas, arsenic concentrations have been observed to range from below detection level to as high as 4730 ?g/L.

Apart from arsenic, increasing salinity levels in fresh water sources has been extensively observed in Nabinagar , Muradnagar, Daudkandi and some parts in the south-east region -- Khulna, Bagherhat and Shatkhira .

Salinity is causing problems to 96 per cent rural farmers in these areas to grow major crops. However, the gradual decrease of ground water table has been observed in some regions. Some of these regions are the northwest, north-central consisting of Rajshahi, Tangail, Dhaka and Mymansingh.

 Lack of ground water is responsible for the scarcity of water for irrigation. Moreover, industrial pollution of surface water has been identified in Dhaka, Chittagong, Bogra, Khulna. More than 200 rivers are being directly and indirectly affected by untreated effluent from factories and industries.

Presence of harmful arsenic content, salinity, ground water depletion and industrial pollution are directly and indirectly related to "health issue" which is again directly related to "human capital".

These are only a few major problems which we are facing because of the lack of water resource management. It is high time we put in the best in terms of framing policies and using newer technologies to reduce the potential risks arising from faulty water resource management.

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