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Sustainable Development of Water and Environment: An Effort in Reality

Received: 27 March 2019    Accepted: 23 May 2019    Published: 8 July 2019
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Abstract

Substantial parts of land mass of Bangladesh is built up gradually over ages by the process of deposition of silts carried by waters of three mighty river systems flowing to the sea. The process itself, i.e. deposition of silt, is likely to fill out the formed canals and rivers one day in the long future if it is not intervened. Ecology, however, livelihood including that of human, and environment have developed depending on waters and the river systems which existed so far. There has not been any human intervention, such as, by dredging but in recent decades Farakka has been erected. In up country, India, waters are being drawn out of flowing feeding rivers resulting in nearly no flow of water in the dry season. Thus Bangladesh may have only dried out rivers. The ecology and environment are thus threatened. Both the government and the people are concerned of the crisis and keen to find a solution for their existence. The present Prime Minister utters a slogan “save the rivers, save the country”. The envisaged solution is dredging and excavating rivers to increase their water holding and water flowing capacity. Two organizations which are entrusted by the government with responsibilities of water management have been given required budget and these organizations have been reasonably discharging their responsibilities. The paper outlines the concept of formation of land mass of Bangladesh, the gradually growing threat and cites undertaken steps and actions in reality towards achieving the solution. Restoration of river systems will improve, among others, environment, ecology, help recharging ground water, agriculture, fisheries, navigation and outflow of up country waters during heavy monsoon and floods. The paper may encourage others for development of waters and environment and attract international community to the efforts being made by Bangladesh.

Published in American Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering (Volume 4, Issue 3)
DOI 10.11648/j.ajtte.20190403.13
Page(s) 91-102
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Gigantic and Challenging, Withdrawal from up River System, Manmade Irrigation Canals, Save River Save Country, Entrusted Organizations, Dredging Fleet in Bangladesh, Dried out Rivers

References
[1] Faruque, H. S. M (2005). River Basin Management: national water policy and national water management plan perspective. Presentation in the River Basin Management course, DCE, BUET.
[2] Government of Bangladesh and Government of India (1996), Treaty... on the sharing of the Ganga/Ganges Waters at Farakka. New Delhi, 12 December, 1996.
[3] Joint River Commission Bangladesh (JRCB), Govt. of The People’s Republic of Bangladesh, http://old.jrcb.gov.bd/bangla/index.php/9-link-page/12-basin-map.
[4] Tso Lhamo Lake: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tso_Lhamo_Lake.
[5] River, Banglapedia: http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=River.
[6] The Krug Mission Report, 1957.
[7] Bangladesh Inland Water Transport MASTER Plan August 1989, DKIV Consulting Engineers, the Netherlands in association with WITTEVEEN+BOS the consulting Engineers the Netherlands and BETS Ltd., Dhaka, Bangladesh.
[8] FAP 16 and FAP 19, (1995). The Dynamic Physical and Human Environment of Riverine Charlands: Brahmaputra-Jamuna, ISPAN.
[9] Annual Report 2017-18, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA): http://www.biwta.gov.bd.
[10] Impact of Indian Plan of Inter-Basin Water Transfer on Bangladesh, Jahir Uddin Chowdhury, Professor, Institute of water and flood management, BUET, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
[11] Farakka Long March Day-16th May 1976 led by Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani, the great Bangladeshi leader.
[12] The seminar of planning the development of inland waterways, held in Calcutta September 1979 Economic and social commission for Asia and the pacific, Bangkok, Thailand.
[13] River Basin Management and Planning, Research Report nr. 10, 1999, RBA Centre, Delft University of Technology, Sponsored by: Commission of the European union DG XII.
[14] Workshop on River Basin Management jointly organized by TUDelft and BUET, Dhaka, Bangladesh, April 21-22, 2004.
[15] Bangladesh Inland Water Transport MASTERPLAN, August 1989, DHV Consulting Engineers, The Netherlands in association with Witteveen+bos, Consulting Engineers, the Netherlands and BETS Ltd, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
[16] National Water Plan (Bangladesh), Ministry of Irrigation Water development and flood control Government of Bangladesh in co-operation with United Nations Development programme World Bank, Master Plan Organization: Consultants- HARZA Engineering Company International in Association with Sir M. MacDonald & partners Ltd. Meta Systems Inc. Engineering & Planning Consultants Ltd.
[17] Dredging the only Solution to Floods, Dr. Bari, Published News paper Name: The Bangladesh Observer, Date: 26 September 2004.
[18] Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) Ordinance, Govt. of The People’s Republic of Bangladesh, www.biwta.gov.bd/site/page/f61bbdba-0d29-4048-a3b8-7ff706d49d3f/.
[19] President's Order No. 155 Of 1972, Bangladesh: http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/pdf_part.php?id=424.
[20] Guideline for river bank protection, May 2010 (JMREMP-2010) Department of Water Resource, BUET, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
[21] Bangladesh Delta plan-2100, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Planning Commission, General Economics Division, September, 2017.
[22] Annual Report 2017-18, Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB), Govt. of Bangladesh, Dhaka.
[23] Bangladesh Climate change Trust Fund, UNDP in Bangladesh, www.bd.undp.org and Bangladesh Gazette April 4, 2016, The Climate Change Trust Act, 2010.
[24] German Federal Waterway Engineering and Research Institute (2005). Principles for the design of bank and bottom protection for inland waterways. Bulletin No. 88.
[25] Wikipedia: Economy of Bangladesh: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Bangladesh.
[26] Bangladesh Bank, Central Bank of Bangladesh: https://www.bb.org.bd/.
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  • APA Style

    Abdullahel Bari. (2019). Sustainable Development of Water and Environment: An Effort in Reality. American Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering, 4(3), 91-102. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajtte.20190403.13

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    ACS Style

    Abdullahel Bari. Sustainable Development of Water and Environment: An Effort in Reality. Am. J. Traffic Transp. Eng. 2019, 4(3), 91-102. doi: 10.11648/j.ajtte.20190403.13

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    AMA Style

    Abdullahel Bari. Sustainable Development of Water and Environment: An Effort in Reality. Am J Traffic Transp Eng. 2019;4(3):91-102. doi: 10.11648/j.ajtte.20190403.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajtte.20190403.13,
      author = {Abdullahel Bari},
      title = {Sustainable Development of Water and Environment: An Effort in Reality},
      journal = {American Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering},
      volume = {4},
      number = {3},
      pages = {91-102},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajtte.20190403.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajtte.20190403.13},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajtte.20190403.13},
      abstract = {Substantial parts of land mass of Bangladesh is built up gradually over ages by the process of deposition of silts carried by waters of three mighty river systems flowing to the sea. The process itself, i.e. deposition of silt, is likely to fill out the formed canals and rivers one day in the long future if it is not intervened. Ecology, however, livelihood including that of human, and environment have developed depending on waters and the river systems which existed so far. There has not been any human intervention, such as, by dredging but in recent decades Farakka has been erected. In up country, India, waters are being drawn out of flowing feeding rivers resulting in nearly no flow of water in the dry season. Thus Bangladesh may have only dried out rivers. The ecology and environment are thus threatened. Both the government and the people are concerned of the crisis and keen to find a solution for their existence. The present Prime Minister utters a slogan “save the rivers, save the country”. The envisaged solution is dredging and excavating rivers to increase their water holding and water flowing capacity. Two organizations which are entrusted by the government with responsibilities of water management have been given required budget and these organizations have been reasonably discharging their responsibilities. The paper outlines the concept of formation of land mass of Bangladesh, the gradually growing threat and cites undertaken steps and actions in reality towards achieving the solution. Restoration of river systems will improve, among others, environment, ecology, help recharging ground water, agriculture, fisheries, navigation and outflow of up country waters during heavy monsoon and floods. The paper may encourage others for development of waters and environment and attract international community to the efforts being made by Bangladesh.},
     year = {2019}
    }
    

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    AB  - Substantial parts of land mass of Bangladesh is built up gradually over ages by the process of deposition of silts carried by waters of three mighty river systems flowing to the sea. The process itself, i.e. deposition of silt, is likely to fill out the formed canals and rivers one day in the long future if it is not intervened. Ecology, however, livelihood including that of human, and environment have developed depending on waters and the river systems which existed so far. There has not been any human intervention, such as, by dredging but in recent decades Farakka has been erected. In up country, India, waters are being drawn out of flowing feeding rivers resulting in nearly no flow of water in the dry season. Thus Bangladesh may have only dried out rivers. The ecology and environment are thus threatened. Both the government and the people are concerned of the crisis and keen to find a solution for their existence. The present Prime Minister utters a slogan “save the rivers, save the country”. The envisaged solution is dredging and excavating rivers to increase their water holding and water flowing capacity. Two organizations which are entrusted by the government with responsibilities of water management have been given required budget and these organizations have been reasonably discharging their responsibilities. The paper outlines the concept of formation of land mass of Bangladesh, the gradually growing threat and cites undertaken steps and actions in reality towards achieving the solution. Restoration of river systems will improve, among others, environment, ecology, help recharging ground water, agriculture, fisheries, navigation and outflow of up country waters during heavy monsoon and floods. The paper may encourage others for development of waters and environment and attract international community to the efforts being made by Bangladesh.
    VL  - 4
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Author Information
  • Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering (NAME), Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Dhaka, Bangladesh

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