Original Research Article

Water-logging in the South-Western Coastal Region of : Causes and Consequences

ABSTRACT Aim: To assess the causes and consequences of water-logging in the south-western coastal region of Bangladesh. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in the Department of Crop Botany, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh. Methodology: Qualitative and quantitative techniques to analyze both primary and secondary sources of data available from the various waterlogged areas of , Satkhira and districts have been applied. Comment [H1]: Grammatically faulty. Results: Riverbed siltation is leading to prolonged water-logging in some parts of south-west coastal Not well captured. region of Bangladesh in recent two to three decades. Inadequate runoff is the main source of the problem caused by the polders constructed under the Coastal Embankment Project during the sixties. Other human interventions to river flow and improper management of polder hydrology are also responsible for siltation of riverbed that disrupted the normal course of the rivers. The consequent Comment [H2]: Causes of water- losses in agricultural production due to the inundation of more than hundred thousand hectare crop logging not properly determined. land were noticed in Jessore, Satkhira and Khulna districts that directly affect the life and livelihood of about one million people. Water logging destroyed settlements, houses, latrines and source of safe drinking water, disrupted communication and the rhythm of daily life, killed-off fruit trees and reduced the number of domestic animals. People especially women and children, have contracted various waterborne diseases, as they are forced to use congested pollutes water. Marooned people cannot fulfill their basic needs due to the acute unemployment problem in the areas. Many farmers turned into fishers as agricultural lands are submerged. Hundreds of thousands lost their occupations and became destitute. The affected people demanded that the government should declare their places as an affected area and sought the effective government intervention to bring an end to the crisis.

Keywords: Barrage, climate change, dam, embankment, polder, river, siltation, water congestion Comment [H3]: ?????????????

1. INTRODUCTION When the water table rises to a height that the soil pores become saturated, thus displacing the air, the land is said to be waterlogged. An area may be considered as waterlogged when the water level above the ground is too high that does not permit an anticipated activity, like agriculture. It occurs when the rate of accumulation of water through rainfall or some other means exceeds the combined rates of drainage, percolation and evapotranspiration of a catchment or when flood water submerges an area [1] followed by congestion of water by a boundary like embankment or polder. It arose in south-west coastal region of Bangladesh, since the end of the 20th century, which creates a serious hydro-geological crisis in the area. Nevertheless, the problem was slowly developed since initially that has been compounded from 2006 [2] and a maximum disaster was ever observed during the downpour of 2011 monsoon [3-5]. Thereafter, each and every rainy monsoon season in the area passes through water congestion.

Due to the permanent water congestion, sudden flood is occurred during the rainy days. Therefore, water logging situation causes recurring flood in every monsoon. The cultivable land shrinks thus Comment [H4]: Is water congestion biodiversity threatens. The situation makes agriculture activities impossible. The prolonged water- being used here as a synonym of water logging?

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logging has caused significant displacement presenting humanitarian challenges in safe water supply, sanitation, and shelter and food security. There are areas where people are compelled to live in waterlogged condition for nine months in a year; even many cultivated crop lands are permanently inundated losing valuable agricultural production especially rice and vegetables. Socio-economic and agricultural activities have largely been hampered due to water logging [6-7]. The situation reaches to an extremely vulnerable condition for the people as there is no other way out, but to live with water. Due to climate change, sea-level rise, storm surges, back water effect, sudden monsoon downpour etc are common, the situation is expected to worsen more to the future. Therefore, the root causes of water logging and its consequences are of prime need to measure.

2. METHODS AND MATERIALS The study was conducted in the Department of Crop Botany, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh. Qualitative and quantitative techniques to analyze both primary and secondary sources of data available from the various waterlogged areas (which were not previously waterlogged) of Jessore, Satkhira and Khulna districts have been applied. The tools used for primary data collection from affected villagers include Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and Case Studies. The primary data using those tools were collected from Sagardhari and Sufalakati unions of Keshabpur (sub- district) of , Tentulia and Tala sadar unions of of and Sachiadah union of Terokhada upazila of (Map 1). Comment [H5]: Several factors are responsible for water-logging such as soil physical properties, precipitation (majorly rainfall) amount, topography and poor drainage. No data on any of these were collected.

Map 1: Three water logging districts in south-west coastal region of Bangladesh.

The areas for primary data collection were selected in consultation with Department Agriculture Extension (DAE)‟s officials. The most affected villagers or households were randomly selected with the help of the local administrative personnel. The FGDs were conducted to collect the views and opinions of local people on the various aspects of water congestion. Case studies based on

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experiences of villagers were done to illustrate and identify key challenges to be addressed by government or and non-government agencies. Comment [H6]: This is not enough to establish or ascertain water-logging. See preceding comment. Consultation meetings were conducted with relevant government officials (Table 1). Consultation meeting was also conducted with NGO officials working in the locality. The government officials and NGO program staffs were contacted prior to the consultation, explaining the objectives of the consultation. The discussion was always done with institutional managers or chief of the office staff.

Secondary data such as crop land areas, number of people and infrastructures like settlements, houses, roads etc affected by water logging were collected from government offices, newspapers, published and unpublished reports and by consulting with browsing on internet. Comment [H7]: ???????????

Table 1: Stakeholders of various ministries at different levels Ministry Department/ Implementing Implementing Implementing Officer Officer at Officers at Officers at local district level upazila level level Ministry of Agriculture Department of Deputy Director Upazila Sub-Assistant Agriculture (DD) Agriculture/ Agriculture Extension (DAE) Extension Officer Officer Ministry of Disaster Disaster District Relief Project Union Council Management and Relief Management and Implementatio Chairman Bureau/ Director Rehabilitation n Officer (PIO) General (DG) Officer (DRRO) Comprehensive Disaster Management Porgramme (CDMP)/National Comment [H8]: …Programme…? Project Director (NPD) Ministry of Water Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB)/Executive Engineers Resources working at the study sites (Divisional or Sub-divisional) Ministry of Environment Department of Environment (DoE)/Focal Point, Climate Change Cell and Forests (CCC)

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1. Causes of water-logging in south-west Bangladesh Comment [H9]: The causes were not scientifically established. See earlier The major cause for water logging can be explained as rising of riverbed due to siltation as influenced comment data that should have been by retardation of river flow, as well as deprivation of floodplain (low land, locally so called beel) to silt collected. Data collected should be presented in tabular and/or graphic forms. deposition due to embankment or polderization.

The main source of river flow of the southwest rivers of Bangladesh is the Ganges. The river flow of that region historically was high and the ecosystem was rich with sweet water due to strong upstream

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pressure. After death of Mathavanga (a branch of Ganges) during nineteenth century, the rivers of that area were detached from the main river Ganges. After that human intervention occurred in the Jessore-Kustia region. The other rivers such as Kobadak (locally Kopotakho), Bhairab and Betna (which had linkage with the Mathavanga River) and the depended people of those rivers were also begun to deprive form fresh water. Due to lack of upstream river flow, at the time of ebb-tide siltation occurred and river begun to lose their speed. The silts are started to deposit into those rivers. India government constructed Farakka barrage (it is only 16.5 km from the Bangladesh border) over the Ganges which drastically retarded river flow to the entire southern part of Bangladesh. Other local human interventions on the rivers are also considered for the siltation of riverbed.

River course is a dynamic process which turns the motion of any agro-ecological system. In course of time, however, the aforesaid rivers became a curse instead of a blessing. In early 1960s, the East Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (EPWAPDA changed to the name BWDB following independence of Bangladesh in 1971) established the Coastal Embankment Project (CEP) to convert the seasonally flooded coastal wetlands into reclaimed land for permanent agricultural production under the Green Revolution Programme (GRP), as well as to protect human settlements from the cyclone, tidal surge and associated floods, and saline water intrusion. A series of embankments and polders were constructed as a part of the CEP. With that Water Master Plan 37 polders, 1566 km coastal embankment and 282 sluice gates were constructed in the in Khulna, Satkhira and part of Jessore districts with funding from USAID [8-9]. Before establishing the embankment in this region, boat was the only one way of communication for traffic and goods. After polderiation, the embankments are used as roads, and their sluices as bridges for communication. During construction of embankments, many cannels and discharge path of water being closed but relatively less number of sluices or culverts, bridges or opening is developed at that time. Maximum sluices were not constructed with necessary height for water discharge. Pillars of such sluices also help to rapid siltation (Photograph 1). As a result problem arises for discharging the water from those regions. Because the slope of land towards north-south oriented but maximum embankments or structures are developed in the face of east-west side, the rivers and cannels lost their natural flow of water and create water logging at those regions.

The polder or enclosure system was developed and implemented in line with the “green revolution” paradigms of “grow more food”. The idea was to promote cultivation of high yielding crops in dry lands with controlled irrigation [10]. The output of that large-scale engineering intervention was found good in the initial stage with producing rice 2 to 3-fold higher than before. When the whole country has fallen scarcity of foods, this area was out of this effect. However, day-by-day, the improper operation and poor management of polders/embankments and their sluice gates have caused a series of problems. Accordingly within a few years, the negative impacts of the project began to appear including the siltation of river beds, increased saline intrusion, the narrowing of river estuaries and changes in the normal morphological processes of river (Photographs 2 and 3). The biodiversity of the region became degraded, river flows were affected and many rivers silted up, affecting navigation.

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Photographs: 1) A sluice gate near Bhabodaho; 2) Silted up and narrowed of Kobadak River in Tala; 3) Raised riverbed of Kobadak.

By the early 1980s polders became a bane rather than a boon for the people, as rivers failed to maintain their natural courses. Tides deposited silt on the riverbeds and sluices, rather than the floodplains, for more than two decades, halting the natural flow of the rivers and sluices. The consequent dearth of land formation left floodplains inside the polders lower than riverbanks outside the polders. That is inside the polders, the wetlands subsided due to subsidence and non-deposition of silt and gradually took the shape of lakes i.e. beel. River flow discharges to over the beel. Moreover, rainwater could not drain from the area leading to chronic water logging (Photographs 4 and 5). By 1990, over a hundred thousand hectares of land in Khulna, Jessore and Satkhira districts became waterlogged, and agriculture became impossible. Another concern is that the elevation of greater Khulna area is much lower (even less than a meter) than that the other coastal parts, a significant proportion of which again falls below high-tide level [11]. The embankments are at risk of overtopping due to storm surge, high tide or sea-level rising, leading to saline water congestion within the embanked or polderized areas.

Photographs: 4) Vast cropland under permanent water logging in Tala; 5) A waterlogged home in Terokhada. Comment [H10]: Consequences are better captured than causes (which ought to 3.2. People and assets affected by water-logging have been more scientific. Table 2 shows the number of people and other assets which were affected due to monsoon flooding of 2011 and subsequent water logging in the Satkhira and Jessore districts. Much variation was found in the number of affected people for the different sub-districts (). The higher number of people was affected in Sadar and Tala upazilas of Satkhira district followed by Asasuni and Kaliganj upazilas of the same district. In Jessore district, the number of affected people was higher in Keshabpur and Monirumpur upazilas followed by . In Khulna district, 62500 and 33413 people from Terokhada and Paikgacha upazilas were affected due to water logging, respectively. The water logging during 2011 rainy monsoon was so intense and acute that more than one million people were affected in the different upazilas of those three districts. The public and private assets such as crop

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lands, settlements, buildings, roads etc which affected during that havoc have also been shown in Table 2.

It is also reported from a field study that about 48, 69, 36, 55 and 39 percent of the total population from Sadar, Tala, Kalaroa, Debhata and Asasuni upazilas of Satkhira district, respectively; about 19, 11, 3 and 19 percent people, from Keshabpur, Monirumpur, Abhynagar upazilas of Jessore district, respectively; and 19 percent population from of Khulna district were affected by water logging during the 2011 monsoon.

Water-logging has shrunk the valuable cultivated crop land even in the dry season. An area of more than 128,000 ha crop land is affected following 2011 monsoon surge due to water congestion from those three coastal [12]. In the south-west region of Bangladesh there exists about 200,000 ha (including the 128,000 ha from reported three districts) of natural and artificial wetlands. Due to water congestion, the flooding stayed for 60-90 days, many trees like jackfruit, papaya etc could not survive and the waterlogged lands had not produced any yield over past years.

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Table 2: Scenario of Flooding and Subsequent Waterlogging in the Different Upazillas of Satkhira and Jessore Districts During the Monsoon Rain of 2011 Damage item Satkhira District Jessore District Satkhira Tala Kalaroa Debhat Asasun Kaliganj Kesabp Monirumpu Abhynaga Jhikargach Bagharpar Sadar a i ur r r a a Affected Union+ 14+1 12 12+1 5 11 12 9 7 8 11 6 Pourashava (no.) Affected area (km2) 310 285 96 17 199 80 - - - - - Affected people (no.) 330,600 225,40 89,164 72,500 127,85 94,000 63388 49752 7020 28014 - 0 0 Affected houshold (no.) 60,400 52,902 22,420 24335 26,382 11,300 9650 13634 1000 7428 3454 Fully damaged house 5,660 19,328 28 552 865 780 1241 1394 - - 34 (no.) Partially damaged house 17,175 12,500 1,540 3,200 2,975 5,700 4689 6000 350 1696 1630 (no.) Affected livestocks (no.) 30510 - - 335 - 72 19829 14640 - - - Affected pourty/bird (no.) 35796 - - 15000 89 12000 Fully damaged crops (ha) 5048 4684 1230 160 2098 82 1017 780 - 379 2062 Partially damaged crops - 1020 3680 2140 427 103 836 318 1806 1435 1751 (ha) Damaged shrimp gher 7206 7435 314 3220 5425 3401 2034 - - - 52 (ha) Damaged educational 50 219 24 83 111 90 3 70 - - 4 institution, mosque etc (no.) Fully damaged road (km), 50+75 37+105 - 45+120 - 12+84 - - - - - paved+unpaved Partially damaged road 90+85 68+115 - +48 70+255 22+55 30+180 45+86 36+75 - - 4+24 (km), paved+unpaved Fully damaged - 5 1 0.08 ------embankment (km) Partially damaged 11 19 4.5 8.5 39 - 2 3 - - - embankment (km) Affected fish farm (no.) 1500 6093 - 1020 - 300 - - - - - Affected pond (no.) 850 5087 1889 1453 861 2250 1144 - 350 - 192 Affected tubewell (no.) - 230 - 390 266 200 - - - - - Temporary shelter (no.) ------2 2 - - - People living in temporary ------259 260 - - - shelter (no.) Source: D-Form collected from DRRO, and unpublished web reports.

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3.3. Affected livelihood due to water-logging Within the last two to three decades, many of the mighty rivers have already been fully silted up and people have been suffering heavily by the water-logging. At least 6 months in a year, the marooned people especially women are bound to live surrounded by water (Photograph 6). Moreover, frequent cyclones and even any abnormal high-tide flood, increased salinity etc destroy all kind of agricultural productions. In addition to „normal‟ patterns of flood that occurs in Bangladesh in almost every year, water-logging issue is added to as another climate shock which has become an increasing problem in recent years.

Water-logging destroyed houses, latrines and source of safe drinking water, disrupted communication and the rhythm of daily life, killed-off fruit trees and reduced the number of domestic animals. People especially women and children in the areas have contracted various types of waterborne diseases as they are forced to use pollute water. They do not have enough money or food as their fish farms, ponds and crop fields have been inundated. Schools became closed and children were deprived of education during water logging period. Many farmers turned into fishers as agricultural lands were submerged. They do not have enough dry places to cultivate their crops or to sleep safely. Therefore, they cannot fulfill their basic needs due to the problem. Even neither do they have toilets. Affected people in the waterlogged area could not celebrate their festival like Eid or Puja. Hundreds of thousands lost their occupations and became destitute [13].

Food supply, in terms of quality, quantity and diversity become less than the demands during the peak water congestion period. The situation is becoming so acute that food and vegetable production systems are completely damaged by flood or rain. Local food storage is not enough to cover the needs as the large area is now synonymous with perennial water logging as drainage channels of attached rivers have been silted up [14]. The market price is reported to increase by about 10-15% during 2011 water logging event [15]. Most of people did not have ability to afford sufficient food for their households. Unemployment is the major cause to purchase the daily needs. Due to acute financial crisis, many people cannot have three meals a day, even after removal the congested water. Without food or safe drinking water, many villagers have been forced to migrate elsewhere (especially towards city) as life became difficult to support. Most people want to go back their previous waterlogged free rice-production based condition in the regions.

3.4. Public reaction to water-logging As the waterlogged situation become more condensed, the people called on the government to take an effective step to withdraw the water from the area. The marooned people demanded that the government should declare their places as an affected area and sought the Prime Minister‟s direct intervention to bring an end to the crisis (Photograph 7). In a human chain recently inaugurated at Dhaka, the residents of Bhabadaho region urged the government to take initiatives, including excavation of Shrinadi and Horinadi rivers, re-excavation of Amdanga cannal, opening Bhabadaho sluice gate and making it fully functional, and creating another sluice gate at the entrance of the Bhairab river.

Photogra phs: 6) A girl rows a country boat to go to a nearby place from her water-logged house at Moshiati village in Abhoynagar uapzila [16]; 7) Participants at human chain demanded immediate solution to the water logging problem in greater Khulna [17].

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4. CONCLUSION South-west Bangladesh that partly covers Satkhira, Jessore and Khulna districts are facing prolong and permanent water-logging problem since two to three decades. The situation is compounded more Comment [H11]: This was not day by day with the losses of agricultural production due to the inundation of more than hundred established scientifically by the study. thousand hectares of crop lands that directly affect the life and livelihood of about one million people. Marooned people cannot fulfill their basic needs due to the acute unemployment problem in the areas. Hundreds of thousands lost their occupations and became destitute. They demanded that the government should declare their places as an affected area and sought the government for taking necessary steps to solve the problem.

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2016. URL: http://www.thedailystar.net/city/end-waterlogging-bhabadah-1288759; accessed on 19 October 2016. 14. Roy D. Rain worsens water-logging in Bhabodaha: 1.3 million people are directly affected. The Daily Star published on 30 August 2016. URL: http://www.thedailystar.net/country/rain- worsens-water-logging-bhabodaha-1277536; accessed on 12 October 2016. 15. Anonymous. Initial assessment on floods and water logging in south-west Bangladesh. 2011. URL: http://www.lcgbangladesh.org/DERweb/Monsoon_2011/NGO/Initial Assessment on flood and water logging-18 8 11.pdf; accessed on 26 October 2014). 16. Star Photo. Rain worsens water-logging in Bhabodaha: 1.3 million people are directly affected. The Daily Star ˗ a leading English newspaper of Bangladesh published on 30 August 2016. URL: http://www.thedailystar.net/country/rain-worsens-water-logging-bhabodaho-1277536. 17. Staff Correspondent. Jessore dwellers demand urgent solution to waterlogging. 2016. URL: https://t.co/QPRQ4GMKCP; http://en.prothom-alo.com/bangladesh/news/119339/Jessore- dwellers-demand-urgent-solution- to?feed_tracker=yes&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter; accessed on 8 November 2016.

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