Research: Potential of 3R techniques to enhance fresh water availability in Bangladesh

Executive Summary

Dry season in Bangladesh causes water crisis

In Bangladesh, due to high salinity in surface and groundwater, people are facing acute water crisis in many areas of the coastal region and hence, are looking for alternatives. To address the water crisis in this region, where rainfall is abundant, the 3R techniques (water recharge, retention and reuse) are often thought as a potential solution by experts. Several techniques of 3R can increase water storage capacity and improve water availability throughout the seasons. Some of these techniques are ancient and time-tested, others are new and innovative.

How to enhance water availability through 3R options?

While several 3R techniques (groundwater recharge, soil moisture storage, closed storage tanks and open surface reservoirs) have been used under different projects in Bangladesh to address water scarcity, the applications are often constrained by a number of factors, including lack of information on technologies, limited skills, lack of research and lack of awareness. Therefore, adequate research was needed to facilitate the utilization of 3R techniques and to encourage investment decisions towards effective and efficient use of the water resources. Hence, this study was carried out focusing on assessing the 3R practices (that includes rainwater harvesting) in Bangladesh, especially in rural areas of coastal region where the 3R techniques have been practiced.

Mixed method of best practices, previous studies and expert knowledge

The study focused on understanding the context of coastal region in relation to water supply systems, identifying main challenges in bringing 3R techniques into practices, the benefits and sustainability of such practices, and potential for scaling up of the 3R techniques in Bangladesh. During the study reports and publications on previous research and development projects carried out by organizations/researchers working in WASH sector were studied. In addition, field visits were conducted to assess the current condition of the different 3R techniques and to gather feedback from beneficiaries. The study also took support from sector professionals to identify the challenges and draft recommendations. The FIETS (Financial, Institutional, Environmental, Technological and Social) sustainability criteria approach of WASH Alliance International was used in the study in assessing the sustainability of the 3R techniques in the study areas.

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Successes of existing application of 3R options in coastal areas

Among the available techniques of water recharge, retention and reuse, groundwater recharge is still in research phase in coastal areas where potential of Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) is currently being tested. Its potential for scaling up in coastal region would largely depend on its performance, and identifying the specific conditions (e.g., salinity level, catchment characteristics, depth of water table, etc.) where MAR would be beneficial.

The soil moisture storage practice was found in limited areas as the soil salinity in many areas of the coastal region due to natural and man-made reasons has made agriculture difficult. However, in areas that are favorable for agriculture, storing rainwater in soil and small ponds for irrigation in dry period has shown good results and provides potential for improvement of existing farming practices. This practice would keep the soil quality favorable for agriculture in saline-prone areas and beneficial because with small low-cost farmer level interventions, less water from external source is needed, limiting infrastructure needed for irrigation.

The closed tank storage technique, which is mainly rooftop rainwater harvesting system using closed tanks, is one of the most popular options for rural communities in salinity affected areas. Given the proven application this technique has good potential to be scaled up. If rainwater tank of adequate capacity can be provided to the users, this technology can fulfill the year-round demand. However, attention is needed on management of water quality and promotion of low- cost systems considering the affordability of low-income people to install the systems.

The fourth technique is storing rainwater in open surface reservoirs for using in dry period for drinking/cooking purposes as well as for agriculture. These ponds or reservoirs was found as source of water in many villages where groundwater is saline or difficult to extract (hilly areas). Since the acceptance of pond water is very high for drinking/cooking purposes in absence of fresh groundwater and/or rainwater during dry season, there is scope of developing pond water based water supply systems in saline affected areas. Few individuals/organizations have started making business by selling pond water after treatment in few areas. Lack of proper management and inadequate awareness among the stakeholders were found as the main challenges.

How to sustain 3R interventions in Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, there is potential for scaling up of the techniques of water recharge, retention and reuse to address the challenge of water availability and to improve use of the abundant rainfall in the dry period. While some of the 3R interventions have been found very popular (e.g., closed tank storage, use of small reservoirs for farming, etc.) in many areas of the coastal region, its applicability could be enhanced through strong collaboration among government, its development partners and local communities to improve the water supply system in coastal

2 | P a g e region of Bangladesh. To make the best use of the available 3R techniques and to be sure that implementation of systems is sustainable, the following areas need to be emphasized: developing mechanism for financial sustainability, including an institutional approach, performing site specific research, awareness raising activities and local and regional capacity building on 3R.

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Contents

Executive Summary ...... 1 Contents...... 4 List of Figures ...... 6 1. Introduction ...... 7 2. Background and Objectives...... 9 2.1 What is 3R ...... 9 2.1.1 Recharge ...... 9 2.1.2 Retention ...... 9 2.1.3 Reuse ...... 10 2.2 Application of 3R ...... 10 2.3 FIETS Sustainability Criteria ...... 13 2.4 Study Context and Objectives ...... 17 3. Methodologies ...... 19 3.1 Collection and review of relevant publications/reports: ...... 19 3.2 Collection and analysis of rainfall data: ...... 19 3.3 Development and finalization of assessment tools: ...... 20 3.4 Site selection for field visits: ...... 20 3.5 Field visits, FGD and KII ...... 21 3.6 Consultative workshop: ...... 22 4. Groundwater Recharge and Storage ...... 24 4.1 Technologies of groundwater recharge ...... 24 4.2 Potential and practice of groundwater recharge ...... 25 4.3 FIETS Sustainability Assessment ...... 28 5. Soil Moisture Storage ...... 29 5.1 Technologies ...... 29 5.2 Potential and practices of soil moisture storage ...... 30 5.3 FIETS sustainability assessment ...... 36 6. Closed Tank Storage ...... 38 6.1 Technologies ...... 38

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6.2 Rooftop rainwater harvesting in coastal areas...... 39 6.2.1 Household Rainwater Harvesting System ...... 40 6.2.2 Community-based Rainwater Harvesting System ...... 43 6.3 FIETS sustainability assessment ...... 46 7. Open Surface Reservoir ...... 48 7.1 Technologies ...... 48 7.2 Retention ponds in coastal areas ...... 48 7.2.1 Case study: The Jholomoliya Pond ...... 49 7.2.2 Case study: The Gasi Pond ...... 50 7.2.3 Case study: Water reservoirs in hilly areas...... 51 7.2.4 Case study: Retention pond in Dacope: earning money by selling pond water ...... 53 7.2.5 Case study: Mini pond excavation for fish culture and watermelon ...... 54 7.3 FIETS sustainability assessment ...... 55 8. Conclusion and Recommendation ...... 57 8.1 Conclusion and key learning from the study ...... 57 8.2 Recommendation ...... 59 9. References ...... 62 Annex-1 ...... 65 Annex-2 ...... 67

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List of Figures

Figure 1: Buffering techniques for retaining unused water...... 11 Figure 2: Overview of 3R techniques (Tuinhof et. al., 2012) ...... 12 Figure 3: Study areas including field visits and report review ...... 21 Figure 4: Consultative workshop in Dhaka for sharing of research findings ...... 22 Figure 5: Mean ground water table depth (m) for the height of the dry season (March, April and May). (BWDB) ...... 26 Figure 6: Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) system in Mongla upazila under Bagerhat district ...... 27 Figure 7: Rainwater based agriculture and aquaculture on same land in Voroshapur ...... 33 Figure 8: Harvesting of Aman rice (left) and vegetable garden (right) where rainwater was used ...... 34 Figure 9: Dyke cropping using drip irrigation system in Satkhira ...... 35 Figure 10: Sectional sketch of the rainwater harvesting reservoir system studied (not to scale) [Source: Islam et. al., 2016] ...... 36 Figure 11: Ferro-cement (left) and brick-made (right) rainwater reservoirs of 3,200 and 3,600 L capacity respectively ...... 41 Figure 12: Household rooftop rainwater harvesting system of 1,000 L capacity in Satkhira ...... 41 Figure 13: Us of "Motka" for storing rainwater during rainy season in Khulna ...... 42 Figure 14: Use of "Motka" for storing rainwater at household level in Bagerhat ...... 42 Figure 15: Community scale rainwater harvesting system in Bagerhat near a temple...... 44 Figure 16: Rainwater harvesting system in Dacope union of Khulna district ...... 45 Figure 17: The Jholmoliya pond that is the source of water for more than 40,000 people during dry season ...... 49 Figure 18: The Gasi Pond that is used as source of drinking and cooking water for the villagers ...... 51 Figure 19: Nayapara refugee camp reservoir in Teknaf upazila under Cox's Bazar district ...... 52 Figure 20: Rainwater retention pond in Bajua village of Dacope union in Khulna district ...... 53 Figure 21: Treatment plant used for treating rainwater stored in retention pond ...... 54 Figure 22: Mini pond in Deluti Union used for aquaculture and water melon production ...... 55

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1. Introduction

The WASH Alliance International (WAI) is a multi-national consortium of over 100 partners worldwide. WASH Alliance works together with local NGOs, governments and business organizations to make sure everybody on this planet has sustainable access to water and sanitation. With its programs, WASH Alliance aims to achieve increased sustainable access to and use of safe water and sanitation services. To realize this overall ambition, WAI has formulated two supporting objectives (wash-alliance.org):

• Increased improved access to and use of safe water and sanitation services and improved hygiene practices

• Civil society actors are strengthened to jointly and individually better respond to the needs of the communities and influence decision making on WASH service delivery

WASH Alliance International stands for a shift from hardware-construction towards WASH sector development. Its innovative acceleration approach will not only sustain after programs stop, it will also accelerate and be able to meet the needs of a growing population. Although much has been achieved under the Millennium Development Goals, it is also true that 700 million people still do not have access to clean water and 2.5 billion people do not use improved sanitation facilities. This makes WAI extra committed to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6, aiming at full coverage of WASH for everyone on this planet by 2030 (wash-alliance.org).

Accelerating WASH requires a mind-set focused on reaching everyone (‘thinking big’). This encompasses standardization of products & services, cost efficiency, and using effective multi- stakeholder techniques for lobbying the government, community mobilization and generating demand. WAI facilitate the development of a system in which all stakeholders, such as private sector, public sector, organized citizens and NGOs work together and know their roles and responsibilities (wash-alliance.org).

In the countries in which WAI is active, it works on changing mindsets and creating systems for sustainable and affordable WASH services that create structural change and can accelerate, which is the only way to adapt to fast population growth and urbanization. The WASH Alliance Bangladesh (BWA) is one of the partner country alliances of the WASH Alliance International. It is an alliance and network of a number of national and international NGOs working on various aspects of accelerating WASH in Bangladesh. BWA is working together with multi-stakeholders towards a society where all people can assert and realize their right to sustainable access to safe drinking water in sufficient quantities, adequate sanitation and hygienic living conditions to

7 | P a g e improve their health, nutritional status and economic living standard. Over the last 5 years, BWA has achieved an additional 227,861 people that have access to and use improved sanitation facilities, and additional 140,947 people use improved water resources. BWA partners proved some best practices on WASH service delivery through contributing in functioning WASH market, empowering and organizing citizens and functioning WASH public sector. Its sanitation entrepreneurship development through market promotion and linking micro finance with producers and buyers contributes in improved sanitation in the country. “Budget tracking” has also yielded in increasing government budget for WASH and fecal sludge management by involving pit emptier has shown positive results. BWA is working as a unique platform as well as a good convener for the NGOs and civil society organizations for lobby and advocacy in Bangladesh.

Recently WASH Alliance International has come forward to support further advancement in water management in Bangladesh through a local research on identifying the potential of 3R (recharge, retention and reuse of water) techniques in Bangladesh. RAIN (www.rainfoundation.org), one of the founding members of the 3R consortium (www.bebuffered.com), was recently asked by WASH Alliance International (WAI) to provide more information about the possibilities of rainwater harvesting for WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene), and in particular the options for 3R (water recharge, retention and reuse) applications in Bangladesh. Bangladesh ranks as one of the most vulnerable country to the impacts of Climate Change in the coming decades. Due to climate changes, it is expected that there will be more variable precipitation, more extreme weather event, and more frequent floods. Bangladesh’s water crisis affects both rural and urban areas, and is a matter of both water scarcity and water quality. Salinity and arsenic pollutions in groundwater are decreasing the availability of fresh water, leaving people to rely on unprotected water sources. At the same time the population is increasing dramatically leading to the highest demand on water in history. Hence, considering 3R solutions to address these problems is of major importance to both WASH Alliance International and for its country partner Bangladesh WASH Alliance. This report presents the outcome of the research carried out by RAIN on behalf of WASH Alliance International in coastal areas of Bangladesh to assess the potential of up scaling 3R practices to improve access to safe water.

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2. Background and Objectives

2.1 What is 3R

3R stands for Recharge, Retention and Reuse - the main elements in managing the water buffer. 3R is about managing the water buffer - both for development and climate change adaptation - through recharge, retention and reuse of groundwater and rainwater. 3R can substantially contribute to increasing the quantity and quality of water resources. The use and reuse of buffered water allows for the increased availability of water, as it circumvents water allocation conflicts through simply using and re-circulating the water (RAIN and NWP, 2014). Groundwater recharge, fresh water storage and rooftop rainwater harvesting are examples of some 3R solutions with proven results worldwide. A brief description of the components of 3R is provided in this section.

2.1.1 Recharge

Recharge may derive from a number of sources, for example, the interception of rain and run-off water (natural recharge), from the increased infiltration of natural processes by manmade interventions (e.g., managed aquifer recharge-MAR) or it can be a by-product from an alternative source (for example, inefficient irrigation or leaking pipes in water supply systems). Recharge requires the management of natural recharge, the application of artificial recharge and the controlling of incidental recharge. Natural recharge management is very important and may be derived from elements in the landscape that slow down or retain surface run-off, like terraces, low bunds, depressions or intelligently designed roads. Natural recharge can also be derived from direct infiltration through better tillage techniques and mulching. Recharge is essentially the charging and recharging of the water capacity of an area (RAIN and NWP, 2014).

2.1.2 Retention

Retention is the storage of recharged groundwater, surface water or rainwater in one place. The slowing down of the lateral flow of ground water and the creation of a buffer in the shallow groundwater can result in groundwater retention. Surface water retention means that water is held where it flows to, for example, in ponds or depressions. Retention can also be achieved through manmade systems like below surface tanks or rainwater jars. Retaining water allows for the extension of the chain of water use (RAIN and NWP, 2014).

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2.1.3 Reuse

Reuse is the third factor in buffer management. 3R’s biggest challenge is to allow water to circulate as often as possible. Scarcity is not resolved simply by managing demand by reducing usage or promoting more efficient use, it also requires actions to keep water in active circulation. Three processes are important in managing reuse: controlled (non-beneficial) evaporation, management of water quality and the ensuring of availability and accessibility over time. Controlled evaporation may be achieved by efficient irrigation. This type of irrigation reduces the evaporation loss in the irrigation process and makes sure that the majority of the water used directly benefits the crops. It is important to strike a fine balance between keeping good soil moisture and avoiding loss of water through evaporation. The second process of managing the water quality is largely dependent on the required quality for the intended purpose, as different purposes demand different qualities. It is important therefore that high-quality water is not mixed with a lower quality of water. Special emphasis and effort must therefore be placed on keeping the water quality within safety thresholds when reusing water, or in the circulation of water. To thoroughly ensure water availability and accessibility requires water not be allowed to migrate to an area from which it is hard to retrieve or reuse. Recharged water in a dry unsaturated buffer, although not lost, is hard to retrieve and difficult to bring back into circulation. Saturated buffers on the other hand allow for easy retrieval, therefore increasing ‘wet water buffers’ is an important challenge for 3R (RAIN and NWP, 2014).

2.2 Application of 3R

Several techniques of water harvesting can increase storage capacity at the scale of a sub-basin and improve its management. It is generally discernible that there are a number of traditional/indigenous and modern/adopted rainwater-harvesting and water retention techniques and practices being employed deserving to be considered as important alternatives for improving the utility and augmenting the supply of fresh water and for other multiple uses, which is ever dwindling. Some of these techniques are ancient and time-tested, others are new and innovative. It is important to recognize that water should not only be managed when it is scarce, as in arid areas, but also when it is abundant. The way this fact is addressed may differ in arid and in humid areas, but better water management and climate change adaptation are necessary everywhere. 3R aims to design and integrate these individual solutions for the entire basin or sub-basin in a close link with all local planning activities including spatial planning, and the planning of local infrastructure, land development, irrigation and nature areas (Steenbergen and Tuinhoff, 2010).

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This approach focuses on water buffering to better manage natural recharge, and to extend the chain of water use. When water is abundant, a substantial portion is commonly lost or unused through floods, surface runoff and evaporation. Through buffering techniques this unused water can be retained as indicated in figure 1 below.

Figure 1: Buffering techniques for retaining unused water

The 3R techniques can be distinguished in four main categories, or strategies (Studer and Liniger, 2013), which are:

(a) Groundwater recharge and storage: This is “closed” storage hence evaporation losses are smaller than under open water storage. Water is not directly available as wells are necessary to access it from the ground. Examples include sand dams, infiltration ponds, and spate irrigation. (b) Soil moisture conservation in the root zone: This storage option is relatively closed as water is stored in the upper part of the soil (the root zone). Part of the water can be used by crops though part percolates deeper to recharge the groundwater. Examples include grass strips, deep ploughing, and conservation agriculture. (c) Closed tank storage: This provides a method to store water in a clean manner, close to the location where it is used as drinking water. Examples include rooftop tanks, underground cisterns.

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(d) Open surface water storage: This provides a method to store larger volumes and can be used for agricultural and industrial purposes. Examples include small storage reservoirs, road water harvesting.

Each type of buffer option has its own strength and weakness, and local conditions usually help define which to use. In general, the buffering capacity increases as one moves from small to large storage, and from surface to soil or groundwater storage. Often different types of storage complement each other in water buffering at landscape and basin level. There is no standard approach to determining ‘buffer strategies’, as different socio-economical and environmental conditions set different starting points. Much is to be gained, however, from tailoring 3R to local opportunities and preferences (Studer and Liniger, 2013). In figure 2 a large sample of water buffering techniques are shown, ordered by retention and recharge method. The advantage of this classification is that it is system based and application oriented. The overview shows there are many options at hand – which might be used under different local conditions (Tuinhof et. al., 2012).

Figure 2: Overview of 3R techniques (Tuinhof et. al., 2012)

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2.3 FIETS Sustainability Criteria

Besides studying the technical sustainability of the practiced 3R techniques, WAI also focuses on other aspects that help ensuring sustainability of the technology used. The focus of the WASH Alliance is to create results that are able to sustain themselves after the support has stopped. To realize this, WAI identified five key areas of sustainability that need to be addressed to achieve structural impact, which are Financial, Institutional, Environmental, Technological and Social sustainability (http://wash-alliance.org/our-approach/sustainability/). This approach is called FIETS sustainability approach which has been used in this study.

The FIETS principles of sustainability were formulated by the Dutch WASH Alliance to help create results that are able to at least sustain themselves, but that are preferably also able to scale-up the projects to create more outreach. A brief description of each of the five sustainability criteria is provided here.

Financial Sustainability: Financial Sustainability means that continuity in the delivery of products and services related to water, sanitation and hygiene is assured, because the activities are locally financed (e.g. taxes, local fees, local financing) and do not depend on external (foreign) subsidies. It mainly focuses on providing innovative financial concepts which diminish dependency on external subsidies, using the principle “local finance first”, leading to the strengthening of the “in-country” structural finance. The main strategies are business approaches and private sector involvement, innovative financing and mobilize government budgets.

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The main criteria for financial sustainability are: 1. Projects are substantially and progressively co-financed by local stakeholders, especially the share from (local) private investors is valued positively but also financing through tax revenues is seen as sustainable. 2. Local entrepreneurs and companies take up an increasing and serious role in the provision of WASH services. 3. Project and initiatives are based on a business (plan) approach, including operation, maintenance and depreciation, preferably with positive financial results within the project period. Payments by the end user are based on market research on paying ability and life cycle costs. 4. After the project period, WASH service provision can be sustained based on local finance, meaning based on payment for services by the end-users or tax revenues.

Institutional Sustainability:

Institutional sustainability in the WASH sector means that WASH systems, institutions, policies and procedures at the local level are functional and meet the demand of users of WASH services. Households and other WASH service users, authorities and service providers at the local and the national level are clear on their own roles, tasks and responsibilities, can fulfil these roles effectively and are transparent to each other. WASH stakeholders work together in the WASH chain through a multi stakeholder approach. It helps to ensure systems, institutions, policies and procedures at the local and national level that are functional to meet the (long term) demand of users of water and sanitation services. Civil Society Organizations (CSO) work in close collaboration with local stakeholders, including the private sector, as capacity builders, facilitators and watch dogs representing the voice of ordinary people, working from a rights based approach. The strategies may include multi-actor approach / PPPs, capacity building, policy influencing & monitoring.

The main criteria for institutional sustainability are: 1. A mandated local party (local business or government), that is (or is made) responsible for the delivery of services and/or products, and that represents especially the interests of the weakest stakeholders, has (or gets) a leading role. 2. The interests of the different stakeholders in the WASH chain are structurally incorporated and met. 3. Activities must be in accordance with local policies, laws and regulations. If not, this must be solved through improved cooperation and coordination in line with sustainability criteria.

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4. Transparency and accountability of planning, decision making, use of budgets and results must be met by all stakeholders involved (for example by the use of innovative ICT applications). 5. Training/capacity building of the local private sector must be structurally embedded in order to ensure sustainability of the service/product.

Environmental Sustainability:

The element of environmental sustainability implies placing WASH interventions in the wider context of the natural environment and implementing an approach of integrated and sustainable management of water and waste(-water) flows and resources. WASH interventions connect to and effect the natural environment and hence people’s livelihood. It helps ensuring long-term availability of natural resources, climate resilience and a healthy environment. The strategies include Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM), ecosystem approach, climate change adaptation.

The main criteria for environmental sustainability are: 1. The project at its base has knowledge of the hydrological, ecological and socio-economic situation of the (smallest) relevant catchment level in which the intervention takes place. 2. The project involves the analysis of the impact of the interventions on the environment (particularly water and soil) and the immediate environment of the target by means of an Environmental Impact Assessment. Crucial part of this is a hydrological analysis of the project. The project preferably has a positive impact on the environment, but should have no negative effect on it. 3. The project uses sustainable techniques. Here, preference is given to techniques which a) make use of durable water (such as rainwater according to the approach 3R), or in such a way that makes use of natural water while the groundwater level remains the same, b)

prevention or reduction of contamination of water, soil and air (due to CH4 methane emissions) to an acceptable level (such as eco-sanitation), c) purification and reuse of wastewater and sanitation, and 4) important/prevailing ecosystem services can be maintained/are not diminished. 4. The project should strengthen capacities and increase knowledge and awareness on linkage between WASH interventions and the natural environment. This can be done by: • Including environmental actors in WASH platforms, committees, networks and programs/projects at all levels, • Strengthening capacities and knowledge (through trainings, learning alliances, pilots, etc.) on environmentally sustainable tools and approaches (see criteria 1).

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5. The project should influence governmental key players in WASH to make informed decisions and ensure integration of environmental sustainability in policies and programs. This can be done by: • Including environmental paragraphs in policies and legislations on WASH, • Allocating budget to environmentally sustainable WASH programs.

Technological Sustainability:

Technological sustainability of WASH services is reached when the technology or hardware needed for the services continues to function is maintained, repaired and replaced by local people and it is not depleting the (natural) resources on which it depends for its functioning. It helps to seeking and applying locally appropriate technologies of high quality, which are context- specific, affordable, durable and demand-driven. The key strategies include appropriate technologies, innovative ICT-solutions, systems approach.

The main criteria for technological sustainability are: 1. Sustainability (availability) of the hardware/ technology is based on a viable business model; that is, the activities of the actors in the chain of supply, installation and maintenance do have enough financial incentive to sustain the services; 2. Proposed technology is produced or procured, installed and maintained by the local private sector (or in specific cases by end user groups or cooperatives that could take over such a role). 3. For new technologies, training should be included to transfer all knowledge and expertise needed for the continued functioning to the local level. 4. For household level options, it is essential that the technology can be acquired by the majority of the intended users free of subsidy. In case where a (micro) financing scheme is used, the repayment period of the loan does not exceed the expected lifetime of the technology. For communal systems (like community hand pumps or piped water supply), the users should (periodically) pay for the services to such an extent that not only costs for repair and maintenance are covered but also reservations are made to replace the system after its lifetime.

Social Sustainability:

Social sustainability refers to ensuring that the appropriate social conditions and prerequisites are realized and sustained so the current and future society is able to create healthy and livable communities. Social sustainable intervention is demand-driven, inclusive (equity), gender equal, culturally sensitive and needs-based. It helps making WASH interventions demand-driven, inclusive and needs-based, being sensitive to local and cultural incentives, addressing issues of

16 | P a g e exclusion and focusing specifically on women as change agents. The key strategies include gender mainstreaming, rights based approach.

The main criteria for social sustainability are: 1. The project/program is demand driven and aimed at provision of basic services on the basis of rights based approaches and enhances empowerment (of women and marginalized groups). 2. The project/program includes concrete actions to ensure that the interests of all groups in society, including women and especially the marginalized, are taken into account. The project/program guarantees the interests of the marginalized people are anchored in constitutions, bylaws, ownership agreements and consultation/coordination mechanisms. 3. The project/program clearly guarantees good working conditions, appropriate environmental measures and attention to include female employees and female entrepreneurs. 4. The project/program takes into account socio-cultural and religious believes, habits, practices and 5. The project/program includes actions to stimulate behavior change related to hygiene improvements, for example through social marketing.

2.4 Study Context and Objectives

Bangladesh is a deltaic country with a total land area of 147,570 km2 and a population of over 160 million. It is often called the ‘land of rivers’ where more than 700 rivers and their tributaries form a large network of hydro-system that has a length of 21,140 km (Basar, 2012). However, despite having a large river network and plenty of water bodies in the country, many areas of the country are suffering for shortage of adequate fresh water for irrigation and drinking. The coastal area of the country has been suffering due to salinity in groundwater as well as poor management of existing water resources. With climate change, it is expected that there will be more lows and highs in water availability in this part.

While the coastal area is suffering for shortage of fresh water, it has been observed that in the rainy season, a huge amount of fresh water is wasted due to lack of good rainwater management practices. A better management of the water buffer in the systems can help using rainwater to mitigate the problem. It is agreed by most of the water professionals in Bangladesh that groundwater represents a vitally important resource for the country for its irrigation development as well as the most popular source of drinking water. But the discussion on groundwater often focuses on overuse and control, which is indeed of great concern in many

17 | P a g e areas (Studer and Liniger, 2013). Moreover, water management is often limited to the paradigm of water resource allocation, availability and efficiency. It often fails to take into consideration the buffer capacity, water circulation or the re-use of buffered water (Steenbergen and Tuinhoff, 2010). To address this issue, there is a clear need for better water management system which should include ways to maximizing recharge and storing rainwater where possible, storing water from floods, managing water levels and ensuring water quality to make reuse possible.

While several techniques, especially rainwater harvesting, have been used under different projects to address the water scarcity through 3R concept in Bangladesh, the applications are often constrained by a number of factors, including lack of information on technologies, limited skills, lack of research works and lack of awareness. Therefore, adequate research focus is needed in order to facilitate for enhanced utilization of the rainwater harvesting, up take of 3R approach and encourage investment decisions towards effective and efficient use of the water resource to address multiple uses of water and sanitation needs of the people residing in the vulnerable parts of the country. Hence, this study was carried out focusing on assessing the 3R practices (that includes rainwater harvesting) in Bangladesh, especially in rural areas of coastal region where water scarcity is acute and 3R techniques have been practiced addressing this challenge, to come up with up scaling recommendations.

The general objectives of the study were to provide evidence based best practices from the coastal zone for integration of 3R (including rainwater harvesting) practices into policies, strategies, budgets and plans of local and national governments, as well as for private/corporate users. The specific objectives of the study were: • To carry out an assessment on the performance of selected rainwater harvesting / 3R schemes in coastal areas, using the FIETS sustainability criteria, • To assess the potential causes of success and limitations of the applied technologies, • To generate sets of general and specific recommendations for up scaling of 3R technologies, • To identify relevant stakeholders involved in the use, uptake and promotion of 3R in coastal rural areas of Bangladesh.

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3. Methodologies

To carry out this research study, the methodologies and approaches were set considering that both quantitative and qualitative data/information were needed to accomplish the objectives of this assignment. Data and information available from a combination of desk reviews and field data/information collection were used to accomplish the objectives that were set for the study. The methods included gathering of the available information on 3R technologies practiced in Bangladesh, secondary rainfall data analysis, review of project reports, data collection from fields, etc. The step-by-step methodologies used to gather relevant information during the study are illustrated below.

3.1 Collection and review of relevant publications/reports:

Reports of different WASH organizations who implemented 3R techniques in the coastal region of Bangladesh were collected. Relevant technical information describing the techniques and its sustainability available in the reports was given attention and used during selection of areas/sites for field visits.

The list of the research and implementing organizations that were contacted for relevant project reports/documents/publications include OXFAM, Practical Action Bangladesh, WaterAid Bangladesh, Caritas Bangladesh, NGO Forum for Public Health, International Training Network Center of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (ITN-BUET), University of Dhaka, Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (KUET), Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE), United Nations High Commission for Refugees, iDE, Blue Gold, etc. Review of available reports of previous research carried out by different organizations on rainwater harvesting in coastal areas, e.g., Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, University of Dhaka and Khulna University of Engineering and Technology was also performed. Moreover, literature review involved study of research publications on coastal water supply challenges and practices of different 3R techniques in coastal region. The key findings were taken into consideration for this study, with major focus on FIETS sustainability assessment of the implemented 3R techniques in coastal rural areas.

3.2 Collection and analysis of rainfall data:

From the Bangladesh, Meteorological Department (BMD), precipitation data of 22 weather stations in the coastal region of 30 years (1984-2014) was collected. Since availability of rainwater depends largely on rainfall, analysis of the rainfall data provided an idea on availability of

19 | P a g e rainwater in this region. The 22 stations were divided according to the divisions. Collected data from Chittagong (Ambagan), Chittagong (Patenga), Chandpur, Comilla, Cox's Bazar, Rangamati, Feni, Hatia, Kutubdia, Maijdi Court, Sandwip, Sitakunda and Teknaf were considered under Chittagong division. Barisal, Bhola, Patuakhali and Khepupara stations were considered under Barisal division. Khulna, Chuadanga, Jessore, Mongla and Satkhira stations were considered under Khulna division. The rainfall data were analyzed for different seasons and was averaged over the period of 30 years to find the annual average rainfall in each division..

3.3 Development and finalization of assessment tools:

For collection of data/information from the field, two types of questionnaires were developed. One of these questionnaires was used for technical assessment of the system which included collecting information on system design (catchment size, conveyance system, filtration, storage, delivery, treatment, use), maintenance, water quality etc. The second questionnaire was used for understanding the FIETS sustainability for the implemented schemes. A sample of each of the questionnaires are attached as Annex-I with this report.

3.4 Site selection for field visits:

Based on collected information from different organizations, review of reports/publications, sites were selected for assessment and collection of information. One MAR site, three rainwater based irrigation sites, five closed storage tank sites and three rainwater reservoir sites. It is to be noted that a site was selected for visit only after getting sufficient information that the system is still in use by the beneficiaries. This was given priority as it has been observed in many cases that due to lack of follow-up program, implementing organizations cannot present data or information whether the system was functional after a certain period of ending of the project. Therefore, within the scope of the study, information provided by different organizations about different systems in coastal areas were checked with local informants if the system is still functional or not. Moreover, it should also be noted that technologies with similarities were avoided unless a different approach for ensuring sustainability was used by the organizations/communities.

Initially, the areas focused for the study included Khulna, Satkhira, Bagerhat, Cox's Bazar, Barisal, Bhola and Patuakhali districts. These areas which were identified based on the collected information from step 1 (collection and review of reports) as well as based on the focus areas of the Bangladesh WASH Alliance within the new DGIS program (2017-2021). After getting confirmation about the functionality of the systems, initially suggested by implementing organizations, the sites selected for field visits were in Khulna, Bagerhat and Satkhira districts. It is to be noted that sites where more information were needed to assess the systems were given

20 | P a g e priority for field visits. All together for 7 districts in the coastal areas, examples of 3R applications are included in the research. The map in figure 3 shows the locations of the studied areas through field visits, as well as includes areas where visits were not conducted, but review of reports on 3R practices in those areas were made.

- Site visits and project report study - Project report study

Figure 3: Study areas including field visits and report review

3.5 Field visits, FGD and KII

The study team was divided into two groups and each group conducted field visits for technical assessment as well as to collect information on FIETS sustainability criteria. Once technical assessments of the system were made, the team collected additional required information

21 | P a g e regarding the five criteria of FIETS sustainability tool through Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and Key Informant Interviews (KIIs).

FGDs were conducted for community scale systems, e.g., community based rainwater harvesting system and retention ponds. FGDs also helped collection of socio-economic information from beneficiaries as well as impact of the 3R practices on their lives and livelihoods. During the Key Informant Interviews (KIIs), the key informants were interviewed to get their feedback on the project's sustainability where FIETS assessment tools were discussed.

3.6 Consultative workshop:

A consultative workshop was arranged at ITN-BUET seminar room in Dhaka on January 10, 2017, after the desk review and field visit, and compilation and analysis of the gathered data/information. The workshop was participated by partners of WAI as well as other organizations implementing WASH interventions in coastal areas. Few academicians, researchers and experts having experience of working on 3R techniques in the coastal region also attended the workshop.

Figure 4: Consultative workshop in Dhaka for sharing of research findings

In the workshop, representatives of Practical Action, Caritas Bangladesh, Dhaka Ahsania Mission, Village Education Resource Center (VERC), Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), Water and Sanitation for Urban Poor (WSUP), Development Organisation of the Rural Poor (DORP), MAX Foundation, Dushtha Shasthya Kendra (DSK), International Training Network Center (ITN-BUET), Stichting Land Ontwikkelings Project Bangladesh (SLOPB), Action for Sustainable Green Development (ASGD), NGO Forum for Public Health, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), WASH Alliance Bangladesh (BWA), RAIN as well as few researchers/experts attended and shared their feedback on the research findings. A presentation on the findings on 3R practices and FIETS sustainability assessment of the

22 | P a g e technologies was made to share the study results from desk review and field visits. After the presentation, the participants shared their opinion on challenges and opportunities regarding up- scaling of 3R technologies in coastal region. The participants also provided their feedback on FIETS sustainability assessment.

The recommendations from the participants of the consultative workshop has been considered in the study and discussed in the following chapters of this report along with the findings from desk review and field visits.

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4. Groundwater Recharge and Storage

In this chapter, one of the four major techniques of 3R, groundwater recharge and storage is discussed in the context of the study areas. This is a “closed” storage system, and hence evaporation losses are smaller than under open water storage. Through this technique, surface runoff can recharge and replenish groundwater. This is conserved and stored to be re-used for extending water supply during growing periods (mainly wet season) and/or for supplementary irrigation during dry periods. In this technique, water is not directly available as wells are necessary to access it from the ground. This technique is especially beneficial where water table is declining. Also, it helps to store the runoff after rainfall for later use.

4.1 Technologies of groundwater recharge

Recharge of the groundwater often takes place under natural conditions which is called natural recharge. Enhancing the recharge can be achieved in many ways: by a variety of methods usually referred to as managed aquifer recharge (MAR). In addition, recharge can take place incidentally, for instance through infiltration of excess irrigation water and leakage from water mains and sewers.

Three basic methods of recharge are interception in the river bed, infiltration from the land surface and direct infiltration through wells (Tuinhof et. al., 2012). The water source can be rainwater, river water, surface water, storm water runoff or treated waste water. In all cases, the primary goal is to increase the recharge of groundwater (saturated zone) where it can safely be stored even for a relatively long period. A slightly different 3R technology under this category is riverbank infiltration, where use is made of the natural storage of groundwater around the riverbed, by inducing the infiltration through continued abstraction along the river bank.

The groundwater recharge techniques require a suitable aquifer to store the water. The aquifer may be shallow or deep. Shallow aquifers which are not covered by a clay layer (like dunes and alluvial sands) are particularly suitable for land surface infiltration like basin infiltration, ditches or furrows. Where aquifers are covered by clay or in the case of deep aquifers, usually a well injection system is needed to infiltrate the water – which adds to costs considerably. River bank infiltration systems are either at perennial rivers with adjacent sand layers or in dry rivers through subsurface dams or sand dams.

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4.2 Potential and practice of groundwater recharge

Whereas the total effect of storage in tanks or cisterns is small in terms of water quantity, it is different as far as the storage in shallow aquifers is concerned. This is a major – though not often well understood - part of the hydro(geo)logy of an area (Tuinhof et. al., 2012). Groundwater, both from shallow and deep aquifers, is one of major resources to sustain agricultural in Bangladesh. The most significantly affected areas in Bangladesh as far as declination of groundwater table is concerned lie in the north-west (e.g., Braind Tract) and north-central (i.e., Madhupur Tract) regions. These are areas of intensive boro cultivation and exhibit declining long-term groundwater trends (Shamsudduha et al. 2009). In the northwestern region, water tables are declining steadily but more slowly (0.1- 0.5 m per year), making the use of shallow tube wells (STWs) tapping shallow aquifers unsustainable for intensive boro irrigation (Shamsudduha et al. 2009; Dey et al. 2013). In contrast, groundwater levels are slowly rising in southern Bangladesh, a consequence of seawater intrusion and tidal movement (1.3–3.0 mm per year), creating waterlogged conditions (Brammer, 2014).

In the coastal zone, three groundwater aquifers are recognized: the shallow aquifer, lower shallow aquifer, and deep aquifer, within 20-50 m, 50-100 m, and 300-400 m of the ground surface, respectively. Shallow aquifers may consequently be salinity affected, whereas little concrete information is available for deep aquifers (Mainuddin, 2013). Unlike the north-west, water tables are generally shallow and remain consistent for most of the year in the coastal areas, except slight increases during the monsoon season. However, groundwater use in the coastal zone is largely unexploited due to salinity concerns in shallow and lower shallow aquifers, and the prohibitively high cost of deep tube well (DTW) installation (Qureshi et. al., 2014). Since water table is very high in coastal areas, which can be seen from Figure 5, necessity of groundwater recharge in few areas is often questioned by experts.

Among various technologies used for groundwater recharge, a couple of techniques have been found in Bangladesh; one is managed aquifer recharge (MAR) which is currently being tested in coastal areas. Another one is natural storage of groundwater around the riverbed by inducing the infiltration through continued abstraction along the river bank in Chapai Nawabganj, which is in the northern region of Bangladesh (outside the study area). In this study, the MAR technology was given focus as it has been implemented in the coastal areas. Also, this technology directly unlocks the use of re-charged water for drinking water, whereas other re-charge techniques only indirectly enhance the availability of drinking water

Managed aquifer recharge schemes provide a range of benefits. This includes the protection of water resources from pollution and evaporation and the distribution of water within the aquifer using the aquifer as an alternative to surface channels. There are also many environmental

25 | P a g e benefits related to enhancing groundwater levels which prevents saline groundwater intrusion (Tuinhof et. al., 2012).

Figure 5: Mean ground water table depth (m) for the height of the dry season (March, April and May). (BWDB)

A study is being carried out by DPHE and UNICEF in coastal areas to test the feasibility of MAR systems in coastal areas using rainwater from rooftop catchment and pond water. MAR has been implemented by infiltrating pond and rooftop rainwater into shallow, locally confined brackish aquifers in the southern deltaic plains of Bangladesh for providing safe drinking water. The action

26 | P a g e research on application of MAR with options to store pond water and rainwater into shallow, brackish aquifers in 20 sites on the coastal plains of Bangladesh through recharge well under gravity is currently being conducted in coastal areas of Satkhira, Khulna and Bagerhat (Sultana and Ahmed, 2014).

Figure 6 shows a MAR system installed in Mongla upazila under Bagerhat district. This system remains operational during rainy season when rainwater is abundant. The system uses pond water, which is stored rainwater and have been used for drinking and cooking by the families living around the pond. The pond water goes through a pre-treatment process in a chamber containing filter materials, and then is allowed to pass through the recharge wells. The users collect water from this system through tube wells for drinking, though exact number of families collecting water was not registered.

Figure 6: Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) system in Mongla upazila under Bagerhat district

However, after successful construction of the systems in the selected sites, their performance have not meet expectations or have failed entirely due to lack of proper management during operation. The reduction in hydraulic conductivity1 around recharge wells is still a frequent reason for abandonment of MAR schemes. A maximum infiltration rate of 6m3/day has been achieved at a number of sites where the average is about 3 m3/day. This raises a concern over the possible recharge rate through MAR systems (Sulatana and Ahmed, 2014). Clogging is a more significant issue for recharge well and can occur in the well screen, filter pack or aquifer and can have a physical, chemical or biological origin. Clogging issues related to aquifer material, design,

1 a property of soil that describes the ease with which a fluid (usually water) can move through pore spaces or fractures.

27 | P a g e drilling and construction methods have also been reported in the MAR sites (Sulatana and Ahmed, 2014). Observations at few sites showed that with only rainwater infiltration, the volumes were not enough to reduce the salinity and make the water drinkable, suggesting that further research is needed for intervention in high salinity sites (Tuinhof et. al., 2012). Though MAR scheme is focused mostly on water supply aspect, there are various scientific aspects need to be assessed for ensuring the long-term sustainability of the scheme for coastal region (Sultana and Ahmed, 2014).

4.3 FIETS Sustainability Assessment

The potential of MAR system in coastal region is still in research phase in Bangladesh. Therefore, adequate information to assess all five FIETS sustainability criteria were not available. Few recommendations on opportunities and challenges regarding the criteria of FIETS sustainability assessment are discussed here based on the findings from the study.

The financing mechanism is dependent on the typical size of the system, financial benefits to be captured, the socio-economic setting and who is capturing these benefits. If the benefits are mainly economic benefits, it will be hard to convince individual households to engage in financing recharge schemes (Tuinhof et. al. 2012). If the system can affect considerable financial benefits in rural settings, smaller schemes can be financed either through micro-financing schemes or savings, while bigger recharge schemes will have to be financed and managed and maintained at the community level.

Financing the maintenance and operations costs could take place through tariffs or fees in cases where financial benefits are made. Meanwhile, the investment costs may have to be financed through government budgets or external sources. If the financial returns are not adequate, budgetary allocation at local government level will also be needed for operating and maintaining these recharge schemes. External support might be required in case there is a lack of available budgetary means (Tuinhof et. al., 2012).

The site selection and design usually needs a specialist input but the implementation can largely be covered by local manpower (contractor, local administration, community) and with maximum use of locally available materials. The systems are usually characterized by a higher degree of technical complexity and a need for more professional expertise in design, construction and management. At present, it appears that the major challenge for the MAR system in coastal areas is proving its technological sustainability and maintenance problems for this area. There is not much argument about its environmental benefits (e.g., reduced pressure on groundwater extraction) and acceptance among local people, if proven successful. But its potential for scaling up in coastal region would largely depend on its performance and identifying the specific

28 | P a g e conditions (e.g., salinity level, catchment characteristics, depth of water table, etc.) where MAR would prove beneficial.

5. Soil Moisture Storage

Soil moisture has advantages comparable to groundwater because it is a relatively ‘closed’ type of storage with less evaporation losses as compared to open water storage. Soil water is stored in the upper part of the soil, which coincides with the root zone. Therefore, the water stored as soil moisture is available at the location where it is used by the crops. The findings from the study on different technologies and practices of soil moisture storage is presented in this chapter.

5.1 Technologies

Soil moisture is available where crops need their water, which is in the root zone. Therefore, increasing the amount of soil moisture can be very beneficial for agriculture. However, the water is captured in the soil and is not freely available for other purposes or locations, as the water cannot easily be abstracted from the soil. Therefore, soil moisture retention is best used in agricultural areas. General guidelines for application of these techniques are (Tuinhof et. al., 2012):

• Terraces and bunds are suited for areas with hill slopes (e.g. slopes > 0.5% with bunds); • Spate irrigation, mulching and soil improvement can be combined with terraces or bunds; • Mulching and soil improvement techniques are applicable either on flat terrain or on slopes; • Regular topography is not required (e.g. semi circular bunds); • Most options employed for increasing soil moisture are easy to construct; • Because of the ease of construction, they are suitable for remote areas.

Soil moisture storage can be accomplished either by increasing the amount of water that is added to the soil by slowing down the surface runoff, or by increasing the amount of water that can be stored in the soil by increasing its water holding capacity. It reduces the water that is escaped from the soil by evaporation. Increasing the amount of water added to the soil can be accomplished by reducing run-off and thus increasing the amount of time for which water is retained on top of the soil and allowed to infiltrate. Options for run-off reduction include terracing, which locally reduces the slope of the hill. Another less costly option is to construct contour bunds, which provides obstacles to the water that runs downhill, so that it accumulates

29 | P a g e behind them and its run-off velocity is decreased. They can be applied in various shapes along hillsides over the length of the field or more locally (Tuinhof et. al., 2012).

Additionally, they can be combined with planting pits to create a micro-environment for plants or specific trees. Also, the amount of water added to the soil can be increased by spate irrigation, a technique in which water from a river is diverted to flow over the land during peak flows, thus increasing the amount of water that infiltrates in the soil and increases thereby soil fertility (see www.spate-irrigation.org).

The amount of water that infiltrates the soil depends on the soil conditions. These vary naturally, but can be managed to optimize the amount of water that is able to infiltrate. Mismanagement, or over-exploitation can reduce the infiltration capacity of the soil, and thus its fertility. By maintaining more water in the soil, its water holding capacity can be increased as well. This can be done by increasing the amount of organic matter in the soil, for example, by composting, adding fertilizer or conservation tillage (in which more of crop residues are left on the field). Roots and litter from plants also increase the infiltration capacity of the soil. This is used when reduced or zero tillage is applied, where part or all the vegetation is maintained, and can be strengthened by the planting of trees. With the latter methods, a possible increase in evapotranspiration should be taken in account. Evapotranspiration losses from the soil and crops can be reduced by mulching. In this practice, the soil is covered by natural or plastic materials. Since the coverage material may be scarce, often only the soil around individual plants is covered (Tuinhof et. al., 2012).

Soil moisture conservation practice can be applied independently, or in combination with other techniques. For example, flood or spate irrigation can be combined with contour bunds or terraces hence the spate water remains longer in the fields and can infiltrate. Soil moisture conservation methods can also be successfully combined with methods of other water retention categories. Irrigation water storage can be optimized when combined with soil water retention methods. For example, less irrigation water will be lost (or will be needed) when the soil’s water holding capacity is improved, or when mulching is applied. Terraces may make efficient irrigation possible at locations that were previously to steep. For efficient agricultural practice, soil moisture optimization techniques often form a relatively cost effective basis (Tuinhof et. al., 2012).

5.2 Potential and practices of soil moisture storage

In Bangladesh, it is required to increase the agricultural water availability in rain-fed regions to enhance the global food production (Pandey and Biswas, 2014). Approximately more than 80% of the global crop land is rain-fed, which produces more than 70% of global food productions

30 | P a g e currently (Human Development Report, 2010; Rockstrom et. al., 2009; Rockstrom et. al., 2003). For improving food production further, additional water resources capable of providing the irrigation to crop lands is required (World Bank, 2010). One option is increasing the facilities/structures for rainwater harvesting in the crop land itself (Pandey et. al., 2011; Panigrahi et. al., 2001). In many rain fed regions, for instance, in Bangladesh, more than 76% of rainfall occurs in rainy season (May to October); however, a major portion of it losses as runoff. Due to insufficient water storages, farmers often face irrigation water shortages during dry seasons. Providing the facilities capable of storing the rain water during rainy season can potentially facilitate water availability for irrigation. Previous studies have shown that harvested rainwater in on-farm reservoirs during rainy season can enhance crop yield considerably (Pandey et. al., 2006; Pandey et. al., 2013). In Bangladesh, application of three types of agricultural water storages are observed, of which the first two ones help to increase soil moisture storage. Other practices such as composting, fertilization or conservation tillage can be found as part of existing farmer practices, which are promoted by farmer training programs (such as Farmer Field School, Blue Gold Program).

5.2.1 Contour Bunds on Fields

One type is used to store water on plots which are slightly inclined; water accumulates in the low-lying portions of the fields or in a low-lying areas nearby. The water is stored with help of contour bunds. In arid or semi-arid regions, these bunds are part of soil moisture techniques. However, in Bangladesh these bunds actually create open surface water storage options. In Bangladesh, much more water is stored between the bunds because of the abundance of water available (see Figure 7). Water stored using this method is used for both land preparation for Aman paddy cropping (Aman is transplanted in June/July and harvested in October/November) and during the growing/milking stage of paddy farming when the water requirement is most critical.

5.2.2 Ditches and Depression Storage

The other type of agricultural water storage involves the storage of rainwater in ditches or depressions located outside bunds or in land depressions beside road embankments. Water is carried from these depression to the fields in buckets/pitchers whenever it is needed. In some cases, if the water body is large enough, water may be used to irrigate a Rabi crop or for fishing during the period of monsoonal inundation. In some upland areas of Bangladesh (North Central zone), rainwater is stored in low lying plots between two hills for use in times of necessity (UNEP, 1998).

Rainwater stored using this technology may be transferred between fields by overflowing successive plots and may be collected in the lowest fields in a given area. In the West-Central

31 | P a g e region of Bangladesh, rainwater is harvested from lands situated at higher elevations and conveyed to retention ponds through culverts. In this region, because farm lands are situated at lower elevations than the storage ponds, stored rainwater may also be used for irrigating farm fields during the dry season. The specific location of the catchment area and its elevation relative to the fields to be irrigated are important factors in determining the potential for using these types of rainwater harvesting technologies (UNEP, 1998).

Rainwater storage in low lying portions of farms or in neighboring plots is possible only when the locations and elevations of the plots are suited to such storage. No detailed data on the extent of use of this technology were identified, but the field survey suggested that, if such opportunities exist, farmers will make use of these technologies. In upland areas, nearly all farms having access to rainwater stored in depressions within hills made use of such water for irrigating Aman paddies. In saline areas, this practice was observed on lands located within polders or embankments erected to obstruct the intrusion of saline water. In these areas, there is a conflict between aquaculture (saline water-based shrimp culture) and agriculture (freshwater-based crop), which has led to violent confrontations (UNEP, 1998).

5.2.3 Small Farm Ponds

Rainfall dominates the cropping in the coastal regions of Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, about 2,000 mm rainfall occurs in the monsoon, which is more than the optimum water requirement for successful cultivation of Aman rice. But in most cases, rainfall is not uniformly distributed and for that only a portion of total rainfall is effectively utilized in crop production. The remaining portion goes out as surface runoff from the rice field due to lack of proper management practices. Rainfall could be utilized more beneficially if it is stored and managed properly. Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) reported that 90% of the total rainfall can be conserved in the paddy fields by constructing and maintaining 15 cm levees around the fields. This technique of rainwater harvesting is sufficient to stabilize Aman rice yield in moderate drought scenarios. BRRI also reported that in drought-prone areas, construction of 2 m deep farm ponds in 5% of the land areas (farmer area) is sufficient for supplemental irrigation to stabilize rice yield. This is economically viable even if there is a drought once in five years (Mandal, 2010).

Intensification of agriculture in this region largely depends on the extent of irrigation facility during post monsoon period. Groundwater is not suitable for irrigation and river water remains saline during dry season. The alternative source is rainwater that can be harvested for crop cultivation. Many farmers of the coastal districts constructed farm reservoir for fish and rice cultivation. A study conducted by Khulna University showed that about 20% reservoir area is sufficient to conserve rainwater for cultivation of short duration high yielding rice (like BRRI dhan28) in the dry season (Mandal, 2010).

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Figure 7: Rainwater based agriculture and aquaculture on same land in Voroshapur 5.2.4 Case Study: Contour Bunds

In VoroshaPur village of Ujalkur union in Rampal upazila under Bagerhat district, Mr. Salam Sheikh has planted boro rice on his one acre land. His land gets inundated by rainwater during every monsoon. He traps rainwater by raising embankment on the sides of his land when water starts to drain out and uses the stored rainwater for aquaculture. Moreover, before planting the boro rice, he uses the stored rainwater for preparing the fields and also during plantation of saplings (figure 7). This technique of small scale infrastructure on farm level is quite similar to the techniques used in semi- and arid countries to capture flood water (spate irrigation, flood recession Farming amongst others). The process starts from early November and he can use the stored rainwater in his land till the end of January. Then he uses diesel pumps to irrigate the field using groundwater. Almost 700 farmers in this union use this same approach of irrigating their lands using stored rainwater in depressions/ponds, which is also used for aquaculture.

In many areas of coastal region, especially in Barisal division, rainwater is used for Aman rice production which is shown in figure 8. Also stored rainwater is used for winter crops in many areas of this region.

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Figure 8: Harvesting of Aman rice (left) and vegetable garden (right) where rainwater was used 5.2.5 Case Study: Dyke Cropping Practice

In many sub-districts of the South-Western coastal region of Bangladesh, shrimp farming has been so dominant that cultivation of crops is almost absent since the mid-eighties. Salinity intrusion into agricultural land is increasing because of sea level rise due to climate change. Thus the practice of agriculture has been almost stopped in the coastal areas except for shrimp farming. The introduction of cropping on the dyke of shrimp gher has been an important innovation by Practical Action in these areas, although it was practiced a while back. However, dyke cropping was neither very common, nor systematic. Practical Action, Bangladesh, under its Climate Change Programme in the South Western Coastal District Satkhira demonstrated some livelihoods technologies in 2013 including Dyke Cropping following an improved method.

Mr. Zillur Rahman (35) of Kalikapur village in Satkhira district, a small holder demonstrated vegetable cultivation on the dyke of his shrimp farm (figure 9). He had prior experiences of dyke cropping. In October-December 2011, he did ‘dyke cropping’ with Practical Action’s technical support on 4 dykes of different lengths (25-30 to 130 feet). The dyke’s width was 3 feet and height above the flood water level. Mr. Rahman cultivated vegetables on the dykes in winter (October- December 2011) and during the monsoon (May-September 2012). Monsoon cropping required no irrigation as there was sufficient rain, while drip irrigation technology was used for winter cropping in the pits made on dykes. Drip irrigation is a form of irrigation that saves water by allowing water to drip slowly to the roots of many different plants, either onto the soil surface or directly onto the root zone, through a network of valves, pipes, tubing, and emitters. The water for the drip irrigation schemes was stored in small depressions.

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Figure 9: Dyke cropping using drip irrigation system in Satkhira

Using drip irrigation in the dyke cropping, Mr. Rahman harvested 2.5 times more vegetables compared to earlier practice. The dyke cropping using drip irrigation could suitably be expanded and replicated at other locations in Bangladesh, where vegetable production is almost absent or very poor due to salinity increase,. These initiatives could benefit the shrimp farmers by bringing extra income along with household consumption.

5.2.6 Case Study: Small Farm Reservoir for irrigation

Agriculture in Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh is predominantly rain-fed with an average 2,210 mm monsoonal rain, but rainfall during dry winter period (December–February) is inadequate for winter crop production. The natural soil water content (as low as 7 %) of hill slope and hilltop during the dry season is not suitable for shallow-rooted crop cultivation (Islam et. al., 2016). A study was conducted to investigate the potential of monsoonal rainwater harvesting and its impact on local cropping system development in Khagrachari district (Islam et. al., 2016).

It was found from the study that irrigation facilities provided by the managed rainwater harvesting reservoir increased cropping intensity from 155 to 300%. A simplified sketch of the rainwater harvesting reservoir system is provided in figure 10. Both gravity flow irrigation of valley land and low lift pumping to hill slope and hilltop from rainwater harvesting reservoir were found much more economical compared to forced mode pumping of groundwater because of the installation and annual operating cost of groundwater pumping. The improved water supply system enabled triple cropping system for valley land and permanent horticultural intervention at hilltop and hill slope. The perennial vegetation in hilltop and hill slope would also conserve soil moisture. Water productivity and benefit–cost ratio analysis from the study showed that vegetables and fruit production were more profitable than rice cultivation under irrigation with harvested rainwater. Moreover, the reservoir showed potentiality of integrated farming in such adverse area by facilitating fish production. The study provides water resource managers and

35 | P a g e government officials working with similar problems with valuable information for formulation of plan, policy, and strategy.

Figure 10: Sectional sketch of the rainwater harvesting reservoir system studied (not to scale) [Source: Islam et. al., 2016]

5.3 FIETS sustainability assessment

An assessment was made based on the field assessment, FGD and interviews on sustainability of using stored rainwater for agriculture in the study areas using FIETS criteria. Options considered are both storing rainwater in the top soil layers as well as in small ponds. The questionnaire that was used to assess the sustainability during field visits are attached as Annex-1. The major findings of FIETS criteria assessment are presented here.

In areas where soil is not saline and sweet water aquaculture is practiced, use of rainwater for agriculture could be a source of income which will make the local people and relevant stakeholders interested. The mechanism for financial measures are typically taken at community- level, because of the limited scale of interventions. The measures could be implemented and financed through, for example, users’ associations, community groups or farmers’ associations. There will be sufficient appetite for these measures to be financed and implemented, if there are sufficient financial returns in terms of increased agricultural production. In that case, the financing could take place through loans or funds from the government budget. But a clear policy or strategy in terms of "financial sustainability" of soil moisture measures is absent yet. Moreover, there is limited involvement of local banks, local companies or social entrepreneurs as the issue between saline water based aquaculture and sweet water based agriculture/aquaculture is yet to be solved in many parts of the coastal region.

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The agriculture department as well as other government organizations should encourage soil moisture storage using the above techniques in non-saline areas of the coastal region. These government organizations and as well as NGOs working in this area should also focus on local capacity building through training on storing rainwater in soil and ponds to be used for irrigation in the dry season.

Considering the environmental benefit, to keep the soil quality favorable for cropping, use of rainwater is beneficial as it helps reducing soil salinity by washing the salt off the soil. This practice would keep the soil quality favorable for agriculture in saline-prone areas. But lack of training on management of storage of rainwater for irrigation in dry period is a major challenge. There is also lack of initiative from the government to focus on the environmental benefit (both short and long term) of using stored rainwater for soil moisture storage.

As far as the technology part for soil moisture use is concerned, the technology is simple and local communities can easily maintain the system without any significant external support, if trained properly. Lack of training often results in poor management practices, which causes damage of the system due to natural and man-made hazards.

To make the practice of soil moisture storage using stored rainwater familiar and socially accepted among the local communities, involvement of local stakeholders should be given priority. Campaigning for increasing use of rainwater for agriculture, where possible, especially for low income group, should be emphasized as this practice requires very limited resource. Women can benefit more from such schemes as homestead gardening which requires less water, which can be stored easily in depressions/bunds, can be an income generating source for them that will help empowerment of women in the society.

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6. Closed Tank Storage

Closed tank (or cistern) storage of rainwater provides a method to store water in a very clean manner, close to the location where it is used as drinking water. The volume of the tanks is often limited and therefore the scale of use is relatively small, generally limited to providing drinking water or water for livestock. In slightly larger tanks, the water can be used for supplementary irrigation. Rainwater harvesting systems in Bangladesh? are sometimes a fully local initiative, but in most cases they are part of rainwater harvesting projects with funding and implementation support from NGOs or other development agencies at the international, national or local level. Rainwater harvesting is a recognized water supply technology in use in many developing countries. In the coastal districts, particularly in the offshore islands of Bangladesh, traditional rainwater harvesting for drinking purposes in a limited scale (cistern size) is a common practice for long time (Hussain and Ziauddin, 1992). This chapter discusses the different types of closed thank storage options and its practices in Bangladesh.

6.1 Technologies

The classic example of this category of 3R technology is the collection of rainfall from roofs and its storage in a tank. Alternatively runoff water can be harvested from prepared surfaces (including storm water runoff in urban areas, roads) and stored in underground reservoirs and cisterns. A rainwater harvesting system usually consists of three basic elements: the catchment system, the conveyance system, and the storage system. Catchment systems can vary from the rooftop of a domestic household to a large ground surface catchment area that recharges an impounding reservoir. The classification of rainwater harvesting systems depends on factors like the size and nature of the catchment areas and whether the systems are in urban or rural settings. The appropriate storage capacity of a rainwater harvesting system is related to the amount and distribution of rainfall. For example, in a region with abundant, steady rainfall all- year round, smaller tanks would be sufficient to hold a few days of rainwater will be enough to meet the demands for most of the year. On the other hand, drought-prone regions will need a significantly larger catchment area and storage tank to meet the water demand. Calculations take into account design parameters, based on a series of monthly rainfall data and sometimes supported by simple models for the dimensions of a system.

A point of attention in small tanks systems is the quality of the water. Common measures are avoiding the first foul flush to enter the tank, installing filters and screens, and regular cleaning (Tuinhof et. al., 2012).

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6.2 Rooftop rainwater harvesting in coastal areas

Rooftop rainwater harvesting is one of the feasible options for fresh water in the coastal areas of Bangladesh (Karim et al., 2015). In the salinity affected coastal rural areas, rainwater is the most preferred source of water for drinking and cooking. A lot of initiatives and programs have been undertaken to promote rooftop rainwater harvesting systems both in the coastal and arsenic affected areas in Bangladesh (Karim et al., 2015). In the recent years, both government organization and NGOs with the financial support from international donor agencies tried to promote and install several types of household and community based rooftop rainwater harvesting systems as an alternative water supply source. However, in areas where groundwater is easily accessible and is of good quality, people are not willing to use rainwater. In areas where fresh groundwater is available at a shallow depth, people prefer groundwater than rainwater as the perception among people is groundwater quality is better than stored rainwater. But where groundwater is saline, people store rainwater for drinking and cooking.

Rainwater is available in adequate quantity in Bangladesh and higher amount of rainfall received in coastal areas is favorable for rainwater harvesting. A very high precipitation occurs in the monsoon season and low precipitation in the winter season. The geographic distribution of annual precipitation shows that the coastal zone experiences around 1,800-4,000 mm of precipitation, but it is relatively higher over the southeastern coastal zone and gradually decreases towards the west. From analysis of rainfall data of 30 years (1984-2014), the average annual rainfall of Khulna, Barisal and Chittagong divisions were found from the study as 2,366 mm, 2,987 mm and 3,369 mm respectively.

The seasonal distribution shows that most of the precipitation occurs in the monsoon season (June-September) amounting to 71% of the total annual precipitation. The pre-monsoon season (March-May) receives about 18% of the annual precipitation. The post-monsoon season (October-November) occupies 10% of the annual precipitation. The winter (December-February) is relatively dry and receives only 1% of the annual precipitation (Rahman and Akter, 2011).

In most part of the country, people can have access to rainwater for about 6-8 months (Rahman and Dakua, 2012). Since fresh water (surface or groundwater) is very scarce in many villages of the coastal districts of Bangladesh, rooftop rainwater harvesting systems, both at household and community level, are very popular. As average annual rainfall is Bangladesh is high, most of households can get enough water for drinking and cooking purposes from rooftop rainwater harvesting if they can store the water in a reservoir large enough to fulfill their yearlong demand (Ahmed and Rahman, 2010).

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However, rainwater is not available throughout the year and need preservation for the yearlong use. There is almost no rainfall for 4 to 6 months of scarcity period (November to March/April), which denotes the longest period between two significant rainfall events (Rahman and Dakua, 2012). This long dry spell makes storage of rainwater for the whole year difficult for families with low affordability as it needs large rainwater tanks to store water for the scarcity period. Therefore, many households in the coastal area cannot afford to store rainwater for the whole year (Dakua and Redwan, 2013).

Collection and storage of rainwater in the proper way and maintaining the quality of harvested rainwater from bacteriological and other pollution especially during the dry period is a significant problem (Karim et al., 2015). In some years, the prolonged dry period causes water scarcity as the stored rainwater cannot fulfill the demand for the whole dry period. But the overall benefit of rooftop rainwater harvesting in salinity affected coastal areas is very significant as this has become the main source of safe water for people living in hundreds of villages.

Several techniques of rooftop rainwater harvesting have been used under different projects to address the water scarcity in Bangladesh. Some of the examples in the coastal rural areas that were visited during the study are presented here.

6.2.1 Household Rainwater Harvesting System

The households rainwater harvesting system that catches runoff from the rooftop and stores it for subsequent use is very much popular in salinity affected areas of coastal region in Bangladesh. In such areas, people tend to build their own rooftop rainwater harvesting system in their houses as per their need and affordability. Many households use the 1,000 L plastic tank to store rainwater for drinking and cooking. There are also plastic tanks of 500 L, 2,000 L, 5,000 L and 10,000 L capacity in the market. In areas where rainwater is the only source of freshwater, people with higher financial capacity can buy tanks as per their need. There are also rainwater storage tanks made of other different materials, e.g., reinforced concrete cement (RCC) tank, ferro- cement tank, earthen tank (motka), etc. People who cannot afford to buy a tank from the market, are found to be using buckets, jars, pots and other containers to store rainwater as much as possible.

There is no specific government policy regarding providing rainwater harvesting system in water scarce coastal rural areas, especially for drinking purpose. Although Rainwater Harvesting Management is addressed in the Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC) - especially for kitchen water - in rural areas these codes are not mandatory to follow, unless buildings are constructed (which are rare in coastal rural areas).

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Department of Public Health Engineering, through Government funded projects, sometimes distribute rainwater tanks to poor people in these areas for storing water for drinking. There are a large number of I/NGOs (World Vision, WaterAid, Practical Action, OXFAM, Caritas Bangladesh, Prodipon, Muslim Aid, Uttaran, and many other) working in salinity affected areas to support the poor people who cannot afford to buy tanks from the market. But overall the combined support provided by government and I/NGOs is inadequate, hence the is demand of this system is still significant.

In most of the donor funded projects for providing access to safe water to poor people in these areas, rainwater harvesting tanks are provided for free. There were also few projects where people had to pay contribution money (5-20%) to get the support from donors/implementing organizations.

Figure 11: Ferro-cement (left) and brick-made (right) rainwater reservoirs of 3,200 and 3,600 L capacity respectively

Figure 12: Household rooftop rainwater harvesting system of 1,000 L capacity in Satkhira

Figure 11 shows two rainwater storage tanks made of ferro-cement and brick of 3,200 and 3,600 L capacity respectively. These tanks were installed by Practical Action Bangladesh. Figure 12

41 | P a g e shows a 1,000 L plastic tank used in a house to store rainwater. The tank was provided by Caritas Bangladesh. This family has 4 members and they use the stored rainwater for drinking and cooking purposes only. They get enough water for the whole rainy season and then the stored rainwater in the tank can supply for 2-3 months of the dry season. Due to the limited capacity of the tank, the stored water cannot fulfill the demand of the family for the whole dry period. According to the them, the family needs 16-20 L water daily for drinking and cooking purposes, which means the tank can store water for 50-60 days. Therefore, unless there is early rainfall in the next year, they have to look for other options for drinking water as groundwater is saline in this area. They think that a 2,000 L capacity tank would store sufficient amount of water for the whole family for the dry period. According to the family members of this house, rainwater is clean and safe for use, while they also mentioned that insects and dusts are often found in the tank. During the interview, it was found that communities are not much aware of the bacteriological contamination in drinking water (both in rainwater tanks and other sources, e.g., pond water) and its health impact.

Figure 13: Us of "Motka" for storing rainwater during rainy season in Khulna

Figure 14: Use of "Motka" for storing rainwater at household level in Bagerhat

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Figure 13 and 14 show use of earthen jars (Motka) in households by people who cannot afford to buy plastic tanks or have not received any tank from any organization. They use indigenous techniques to collect rainwater from their roofs. These stories also indicate how important rainwater is in this area to the people.

One household shown in figure 14 was found using five Motkas for storing rainwater. The capacity of each of these Motkas was about 100 L. They said that they can use rainwater during the rainy periods in the year using these Motkas. But once the rainy season is over, they collect/buy water from other sources, e.g., ponds. The 5 Motkas that can store maximum of 500 L rainwater can only provide water for one month to this family which has 6 members. They use the stored rainwater only for drinking and cooking purposes. Since fresh water is very scarce in these areas, people cannot use the limited stored rainwater for other purposes, e.g., agriculture, cattle, except those who have large size tanks.

While these Motkas are cheap, these are also fragile and does not last for more than 2-3 years. They also reported about the poor water quality which was due to following unhygienic method of collection of water and also for not being able to place the Motkas is hygienic places. According to them, insects grow inside the tank after few weeks as they cannot take adequate measures to protect the water quality. While interviewing the members of the families who store rainwater for drinking and cooking purposes, it was reported by them that rainwater is abundant in this part of country, especially during rainy seasons, which would be sufficient to fulfill the year-long demand if stored in larger tanks. But unfortunately they cannot store enough rainwater due to limited capacity of their storage tanks. Therefore, they depend on water from pond/canal for dry season, which sometimes they need to buy in some areas. They reported that poor families need support from government or NGOs to buy a large size tank (which would store sufficient amount of water for the whole year) from market as the market price of rainwater tanks is too high for them.

6.2.2 Community-based Rainwater Harvesting System

Rooftop rainwater harvesting systems at community scale is also practiced in salinity affected coastal areas or in areas where other sources are not available. The major difference of community based system from household systems is the size of the tank where the tank of community based system stores water for more than one family. The size of the tank depends on the number of target beneficiaries and purpose of use. Community scale rainwater harvesting is mostly supported by I/NGOs and Government funding, while initiative of local communities to install such systems is very rare as the ownership and maintenance of community managed systems is a common problem.

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Community based large scale rainwater harvesting systems are mostly installed in schools, bazars (market), government owned properties and institutions, and on lands that are common property of a group of people. However, such systems are also found in few areas on private lands where the land owner is willing to give his land for installation of the system. The community scale large rainwater tanks are mainly large plastic tanks of 5,000/10,000 L capacity, and RCC/ferro-cement tanks which are constructed as per the requirement.

Figure 15: Community scale rainwater harvesting system in Bagerhat near a temple

The rainwater harvesting system shown in figure 15 is built on a land of a temple (the piece of land the temple is using now was provided by a villager) in Vojpatia union of Rampal upazila under Bagerhat district which was provided by the authority of the temple considering the need of fresh drinking water in this area. The capacity of the tank is 18,000 L and 15 families can collect rainwater from this tank throughout the year. Approximately 75 people use this rainwater for drinking purpose only. The tank was designed assuming that 75 people will need 2 liter water per day for drinking where the design period (scarcity period) was assumed to be four months. However, this may vary for other areas where people use more water for drinking and also collect water for cooking from these tanks. Some organizations use longer design period (6-7 months) and assume a demand of 2.5-3 liter water per capita per day. In the above case (figure 14), it was reported by local people that the stored rainwater was sufficient for them for the whole dry season, as they tried to not misuse the stored rainwater. For cooking water, they collect water from a nearby fresh water pond. The beneficiaries are supposed to pay BDT 25 every month to the caretaker of the system which would be used to pay caretaker salary and for maintenance of

44 | P a g e the system. But the temple authority said that they collect money for maintenance and other causes once in a year now. The system is managed by a committee consisting of the members of temple authority. Some of the members of the committee are also beneficiaries of the system while others have their own rainwater harvesting system. This system was funded by DFID in 2014 where the local people contributed 5% of the total installation cost.

Figure 16 shows another community scale rainwater harvesting system installed on a school premises in Dacope union of Dacope upazila under Khulna district. 116 school students and 5 school teachers are the beneficiaries of the system. Before installation of this system, the school authority had to buy water every week. In 2016, Rupantor (a local NGO) with support from WaterAid installed the system which collects rainwater runoff from the rooftop and stores the runoff in three tanks, each of which is of 5,000 L capacity. During the installation of the system, the school committee contributed 5% of the total cost of the system.

Figure 16: Rainwater harvesting system in Dacope union of Khulna district

During the interviews and FGDs, people’s perception and acceptance of different rainwater harvesting systems in a coastal area in Bangladesh have been found very favorable to scaling up of the technology as rainwater is the main sources of drinking and cooking water in the study area. They also mentioned rainwater as their first choice of water sources. Though rainwater quality is an issue as bacteriological contamination was found in studies of water quality of stored rainwater, as per the findings from different studies (Karim et al., 2015), local people are not very

45 | P a g e aware of this problem because of their perception of the visual quality of the harvested rainwater, which is very satisfactory.

Most of the rainwater harvesting systems are running very well due to high community participation in operation and maintaining, and social acceptance of RWH systems is very high in this area. However, people were found more willing to have household rainwater harvesting systems than community based systems as management of community based systems are often reported to have negative impact on sustainability of the system. Where communities were not found very willing to manage the systems, the systems often failed or became a personal property of the land owner which the development organizations think is a problem for up scaling of community based systems.

6.3 FIETS sustainability assessment

Rainwater harvesting typically takes place at individual households and at the village level. Demand of stored rainwater in salinity affected coastal areas is very high. People are willing to pay for the system, although their affordability will vary for different income groups. Affordability of low income group is a major concern as the cost of available tanks in the market is high for them. There is no clear budget allocation from the government to support people living in water scarce areas until now as government (neither at the local level union council nor at level of Department of Public Health Engineering) also waits for support from development partners in WASH sector. Financial assistance could be made available via micro credit schemes at union or district levels. In other cases, the installation of rainwater harvesting systems will have to be subsidized from other sources, such as the government, NGOs and donors. Local entrepreneurship could be encouraged to make the scheme financially sustainable in the long run. Moreover, local research needs to be carried out for bringing low-cost reservoirs considering the affordability of marginalized groups.

Due to high demand of the system and the users willingness to have their own systems, the stakeholders should find it easier to institutionalize the practice in this area. Many I/NGOs are working in this area and have a good network which would help in this regard. However, there is no mandated party/institution who represents the stakeholders in these areas until now. There is also a lack of a clear plan as far as "institutional sustainability" of this technique is concerned. The organizations working in this area seem to lack in focus on institutional sustainability of the systems they implement beyond the project period.

Considering the environmental benefit of this technology; scaling up of the technology would reduce focus/pressure on groundwater, which is scarce in many areas and will utilize the rainwater effectively, especially when it is abundantly available. But inadequate training and

46 | P a g e awareness raising programs results in lack of awareness among the target people. Lack of initiatives from the government to focus on the environmental benefits of RWH, both short and long term, is also a reason for people not scaling up this technology.

The rooftop rainwater harvesting technology is simple and local mechanics have already good expertise on it. However, maintenance of the system has been found a major problem, especially for community scale systems where roles and responsibilities for maintaining the system is not often clearly distributed among the beneficiaries. Apart from that, water quality control is a big challenge for stored rainwater, mainly for two reasons. The first reason is lack of awareness among people regarding presence of bacteria in stored rainwater, which may cause due to bird droppings in the catchment, insects inside the tank, etc. The second reason is absence of any low- cost, easy-to-maintain and effective disinfection technology in market. This should be addressed by arranging more awareness programs and promoting low-cost disinfection systems in the market.

Collection of water for drinking and other household purposes are mainly women's responsibility. Installing rooftop rainwater harvesting systems would reduce burden on women as by using this system they will be able to store water near their houses. But it is often observed that during implementation of projects, participation of women are not appreciated in many areas. It affects design and sustainability of the system as women are the main user group of the system. Therefore, the implementing organizations should consider including women during project design phase. The system should also consider easy access to the water collection point for people with disability, if any, in the community.

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7. Open Surface Reservoir

Open surface water storage provides a method to store larger volumes. It has the advantage of being directly available. However, its large open surface is prone to relatively large evaporation losses and has a relatively higher risk of contamination compared to the other systems discussed in previous chapters. This chapter discusses use of rainwater stored in open surface reservoirs in Bangladesh.

7.1 Technologies

Surface water reservoirs, often known as retention ponds, are characterized by a large variety in size and scale. Small reservoirs usually meet the demands within a period of a few months. Many surface reservoirs also provide recharge to the groundwater underneath the reservoir and into the banks. Large numbers of small reservoirs can be found throughout semi-arid areas. While the hydrological impact of small reservoirs is individually quite small, the existence of several hundreds of such structures may have a notable impact on a regional scale. On a local scale, the hydrological impact of small reservoirs is relatively small as they only capture parts of the total runoff at the head of a watershed. In terms of food security, economic development, and income diversification, small reservoirs have a significant impact on rural communities. On a regional scale such structures can alter hydrology, e.g., base flows, basin water yields, regulation of flows etc. (Tuinhof et. al., 2012). Examples of such techniques include retention ponds that store rainwater received from surface runoff from surrounding areas and from direct precipitation.

7.2 Retention ponds in coastal areas

The water supply in some of the rural areas of coastal districts is heavily dependent on pond water, especially during dry period when no rain is available. It has been observed in many areas of Satkhira, Bagerhat and Khulna districts where salinity problem is acute, the fresh water ponds, which are mainly rain-fed, are the only source of water during dry season. Rainwater stored in large retention ponds are the main source of drinking and cooking water in hilly areas too, where extraction of groundwater is very difficult due to complex hydro-geological profile (Dakua et. al., 2016). Therefore, protection of these ponds from hazardous events, both natural and man-made (e.g., washing, bathing, aquaculture, etc.), is very important in order to maintain its quality.

While the rainwater retention ponds can provide sufficient water that people use in this area during rainy season (June to September), these sources become limited and scarce during dry period. Therefore, availability of rainwater, rainfall pattern and storage capacity of these

48 | P a g e reservoirs are critical in terms of water supply in dry period in these areas. During this study, few retention ponds were visited and studied to understand its impacts in water supply in coastal areas which is presented here.

7.2.1 Case study: The Jholomoliya Pond

Jholmoliya pond (figure 17) is in the Hurka village of Hurka union2 in Rampal upazila (sub-district) under Bagerhar district. The total area of this rain-fed pond is 8 acre. The pond is surrounded by water bodies and a canal from all four sides that are saline. The Hurka union council mainly tries to look after the pond on behalf of the district commissioner of Bagerhat district. People of two upazilas under Bagerhat district, Mongla and Rampal, drink water of this pond. People of four unions (Hurka, Rampal, Perikhali and Rajnagar) of Rampal upazila and one union (Burirdanga) of Mongla upazila heavily depend on this pond. It was reported by local authority that approximately 40,000 people collect water from this pond for drinking and cooking water during dry period. Apart from drinking, people of Hurka union use this pond water for homestead gardening during summer. A survey carried out by Caritas Bangladesh under a DFID-CAFOD funded project revealed that approximately 150,000 L water was collected in a single day from this pond during dry period, when people from remote places collect water from this pond and transport it on water carrying vehicles.

Figure 17: The Jholmoliya pond that is the source of water for more than 40,000 people during dry season

During the rainy season, the pond becomes full with rainwater. To protect the pond from polluted surface runoff, a protection wall has been constructed with support from Caritas Bangladesh,

2 Smallest rural administrative and local government units in Bangladesh.

49 | P a g e where local people contributed 5% of the total construction cost. The whole construction work was carried out under supervision of union Chairman and staff of union council. The protection wall is of 2 ft height which can stop polluted surface runoff from entering into the pond, but cannot prevent cattle from entering which was reported as a source of contamination according to some users. Every year, the union council takes initiative to clean the pond and to do necessary maintenance works. Apart from this yearly maintenance, the union council does not play any other role in pond water management.

It has been reported that local water vendors carry water of this pond on paddle vans and sell water to people living in remote areas (cost varying from BDT 5-30 per jar where capacity of each jar is approximately 30 L) based on distance from the pond). The union council do not earn any money from selling water from this pond. The local people drink this pond water without any treatment. According to local people, water of Jholmoliya pond is of very good quality, though they could not tell anything about bacteriological/chemical contamination in water.

7.2.2 Case study: The Gasi Pond

The Gasi Pond is a fresh water pond (figure 18) on 15 katha land in South Chandpai Village of of Chandpai union in Mongla upazila under Bagerhat district. Five years back, local people excavated the land to use it for a pond when the objective was to get water for bathing, washing, cooking etc. After the rainy season, the local people found that the pond water was very sweet and they started using it for drinking also as the groundwater in this area was saline. Eight owners of the land on which the pond was excavated manage this pond, who provided land for free for the pond. All the 160 families who live in the South Chandpai village use water of this pond for drinking and cooking. The pond water is used for free by the people. During dry period, people from other neighboring villages also come to collect water. From interviewing local people, it was found that the users drink water of this pond without any treatment or disinfection.

Due to high demand of pond water in this area during dry period, the pond used to get dried up in February every year. In 2015, US Embassy through its AEIF grant re-excavated the pond to increase its capacity and also supported some maintenance works. Among the maintenance works, raising embankment on the sides of the pond to protect it from tidal surges, fencing around the pond to prevent cattle from getting into the pond and installation of a tube well for collection of pond water so that pond water do not get contaminated by human contact were the major activities. The local people reported that the pond is a very popular source of drinking water in this area and demand of water of this pond will increase in future with fresh water ponds becoming scarce. Therefore, they recommended to increase the capacity of the pond to fulfill the growing demand of other people living around this area.

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Figure 18: The Gasi Pond that is used as source of drinking and cooking water for the villagers 7.2.3 Case study: Water reservoirs in hilly areas

As far as water supply and sanitation facilities are concerned, most part of the hilly areas in Bangladesh fall into the hard to reach (HtR) category, as identified by the government. The drinking water and sanitation challenges in the hilly areas result primarily from different geographic, socio-cultural and hydro-geologic conditions. Surface water sources in hilly areas, e.g., springs, charra and streams have seasonal fluctuations that exacerbate due to climate change as apparently observed during the past decades. These surface water sources, despite subject to heavy pollution, are mostly used for drinking and other purposes by the people living in hilly areas. Groundwater extractions are not successful everywhere in the hilly areas due to varying altitude and rocky formation, and the water level also fluctuates seasonally. Therefore, developing water reservoirs at appropriate altitude for capturing and storage of spring and/or rainwater for distribution to downhill community through small pipe network could be adopted as a strategy (National Strategy, 2011).

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Figure 19: Nayapara refugee camp reservoir in Teknaf upazila under Cox's Bazar district

Teknaf upazila is in the southeast corner of Bangladesh, where both hills and coastal ecosystem are prominent. Figure 19 shows the surface water reservoir of Nayapara refugee camp, which is surrounded by Bay of Bengal and Naf river, where dearth of water is acute due to absence of fresh water aquifer at shallow depth in and around the camp area, leaving no other option for people of this camp rather than depending solely on surface water sources like large reservoirs. This water reservoir is the prime source of water supply in the Nayapara refugee camp for approximately 20,000 refugees, which is mainly fed by rainwater runoff from the surrounding hilly areas. As this reservoir's water storage totally depends on rainfall, it is critical that the amount of stored rainwater at the end of rainy season is equal or more than the demand of the whole dry period. If post monsoon (October-November) rainfall is not high in this area in a year, it is very likely that the reservoir will get dried out in the last part of the dry season, during the months from March to May, which leaves the refugees with very limited fresh water.

In the Nayapara refugee camp, initially the water supply system was fully dependent on a canal from where water was pumped into a 21 ft diameter reservoir and treated before distribution. In 2003, a reservoir was excavated in the camp on 2 acres land. In 2005, extension of area as well as re-excavation of the reservoir was done to increase its capacity. Further re-excavations were needed in 2008 and 2012, which have been the two largest maintenance works done by the camp authority, supported by UNHCR, till now to increase the capacity of the reservoir. Surface runoff from the catchment mainly feeds this reservoir. But this runoff carries huge amount of sediment, which reduces the capacity of the reservoir every year as it settles onto reservoir bed. During heavy rainfall events, the runoff brings a lot of sediment into the reservoir which results in

52 | P a g e significant reduction of volume of reservoir every year. Last time excavation was carried out in May 2012, but the reservoir was completely dried out in early part of April, 2013, as the demand of water was very high compared to the. After that, water was supplied in the camp by water trucking for the remaining period of dry season, which is also a troublesome job as the daily demand is huge. Since Nayapara refugee camp is a government registered camp, the government is in charge of management of the water supply system as well as providing other basic services to the refugees where UNHCR and other NGOs are supporting the government.

7.2.4 Case study: Retention pond in Dacope: earning money by selling pond water

In Bajua village of Bajua union of Dacope sub-district under Khulna district, Mr. Prashen Boiragi has started his own business of selling rainwater to local villagers after treatment. He took lease of a four bigha (1 bigha = 52 decimal) land for ten years for BDT 700,000. The he excavated the land and created a pond of 220' X 220' X 10' m? (L X W X D), where he stored only rainwater (figure 20). Mr Boiragi worked in NGOs for ten years where he learned about harvesting rainwater using different indigenous methods, which helped him gain understanding of rainwater harvesting. After pond excavation and storing rainwater in the pond, he contacted Rural Development Academy (RDA) in Bogra, from where he took loan of BDT 10,000,000 for Biogas Plant and Water Treatment Plant. Using the treatment plant (figure 20), he is supplying treated rainwater since October, 2015.

Figure 20: Rainwater retention pond in Bajua village of Dacope union in Khulna district

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The water treatment plant is capable of producing 40,000 L water per day. Currently he is selling 50 jar water (capacity of each jar is 20 L) at a rate of BDT 20 per jar in Mongla, Dighraj, Bajua market and Chalna village. He is currently earning BDT 30,000 per month and the total production cost (including electricity bill, salary etc.) is BDT 20,000 per month. Currently the pond has a storage of 15,600,000 L water from which he expects to sell water is dry period worth of BDT 10,000,000.

Figure 21: Treatment plant used for treating rainwater stored in retention pond

7.2.5 Case study: Mini Pond Excavation for Fish Culture and Watermelon

Starting in June 2014, Blue Gold agricultural and food security component organized a watermelon farmer field school (FFS) with 25 farmers from Sayedkhali village in Deluti Union of polder 22 of Paikgacha Upazila under Khulna district. The selected farmers had the opportunity to excavate/renovate a mini pond within their land. In polder 22 due to lack of non-saline water during the dry season a vast area remains fallow. The main objective of this activity was to increase the productivity of the land by conserving sweet water for using in the dry season.

Through FFS, it was shown to the farmers that digging a mini pond inside a crop land could be an option for storing sweet water during the rainy season and using the water for fish culture and watermelon cultivation following the rain fed T. Aman crop. The farmers received training on improved technologies of watermelon cultivation and fish culture. The size of mini ponds varied from 0.73 decimal to 2.29 decimal, with a depth of 2.75 to 3.00 meter. The water was harvested during rainy season in July and August. After excavation of mini pond, two different types of fingerlings (Tilapia and Raz puti) were released in the pond in July and harvested during November to January. Watermelon was cultivated during February to May 2015.

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As calculated by a farmer, he received 33 kg fish worth Tk. 2,460 from a 1.15 decimal mini pond. The cultivation of watermelon in 33 decimal brought in a net income of Tk. 18,700. This is an additional income besides an income of Tk. 5,250 from cultivating T-aman in the same land.

Figure 22: Mini pond in Deluti Union used for aquaculture and water melon production

7.3 FIETS sustainability assessment

Since the demand of pond water is very high for drinking/cooking purposes, there is huge scope of developing pond water based water supply systems in saline affected areas. Few individuals/organizations have started making business by selling pond water after treatment in few areas. There are also some NGOs who provide support for excavation of ponds. But government at local level do not have any strategy to support pond protection activities till now and there is no yearly budget allocation from the government in this regard. Involvement of local company or social entrepreneurs is also inadequate as far as the demand is concerned. The choice of financing mechanism would depend on the size of the water reservoir system. If it involves a large-scale storage dam, the financing mechanism will most likely go through the national government and a dedicated authority should be established to manage and operate this dam and reservoir. Investments in the construction should generally be financed by government budget or from external sources, while maintenance and operations costs could be financed through user contributions. If it is a small-scale dam, the system could be managed and operated at a more local level.

Due to high demand of pond water, the users of ponds understand the necessity of managing the ponds they use for drinking and other household purposes. Therefore, stakeholders would find a suitable environment for institutionalization of the practice of using pond-based water supply systems in this area. But till now there is a lack of adequate focus from most of the organizations on importance of pond water based water supply systems which needs to be

55 | P a g e addressed by training and programs. Lack of any mechanism for institutionalization often leads to poor management and hence the ponds become more vulnerable to natural and man-made hazards. Local government, DPHE and I/NGOs should formulate a plan to better manage and protect the rainwater retention ponds which has huge potential of becoming a source of drinking water for the whole year.

While rainwater retention ponds could become a long term solution to the problem of fresh water in salinity affected areas, this would also help better management of surface runoff. Lack of awareness raising programs on these scarce water resources in affected areas is a reason for not having significant attention on its environmental benefits. Initiatives from local government, DPHE and I/NGOs on the environmental benefits (both short and long term) of retention ponds would help its environmental sustainability.

The technology used in retention pond-based water supply systems is simple and local communities, if trained properly, would be easily able to maintain the system without any significant external support. Lack of training often results in poor management practices, which causes damage to the ponds due to natural and man-made hazards. Local government and other stakeholders do not offer much support when technological problems occur, e.g., subsurface saline water intrusion, tidal surges, etc., which could be due to lack of understanding among the stakeholders. Proper management, protection and improvement of water quality need more priority from stakeholders, which should be addressed jointly by DPHE and I/NGOs working in WASH sector.

Since collection of water for drinking and other household purposes are mainly women's responsibility in most of the families, solutions to this problem would help reducing workload on women. During implementation of project, participation of women are still not appreciated in many areas, which may affect the user-friendliness of the system as women are the main user group. Therefore, women participation in designing the system as well as in the management of the systems should be encouraged.

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8. Conclusion and Recommendation

8.1 Conclusion and key learning from the study

In the coastal districts of Bangladesh, all four techniques of 3R (water recharge, retention and reuse) are practiced, where the application of different techniques depends on demand of users as applicable for different purposes (e.g., drinking, cooking, agriculture etc.) in different areas. Though all types of technologies for each of the four techniques, shown in figure 2, were not found in the study area, few of them are very well known to the communities. The key learning from the study on each of the four techniques of 3R are is described in this section.

Groundwater recharge

Though managed aquifer recharge (MAR) is increasingly being considered as a good option for water supply in Bangladesh as it provides large storage capacity to capture intermittently available excess seasonal water for useduring dry season, the system is yet to prove its effectiveness in the context of salinity affected coastal districts. From the results of the research currently being conducted in 20 sites in coastal districts, it appears that the major challenge for the MAR system in coastal areas is proving its technological sustainability and solving maintenance issues. There is not much argument about the environmental benefits (e.g., reducing pressure on groundwater) of MAR and its acceptance among people, if functions successfully. Its potential for scaling up in coastal region would largely depend on its performance, and identifying the specific conditions (e.g., salinity level, catchment characteristics, depth of water table, etc.) where MAR would be beneficial.

Soil moisture storage

Even though agriculture is an integral part of rural livelihoods of communities in many areas of the coastal districts, there are instances when farmers in water scarce areas are unable to succeed in their agricultural ventures due to the unavailability of water at right time and in right amounts. By storing rainwater in low lands and retention ponds, farmers can avail water for irrigation needed during dry season. Since groundwater is not suitable for irrigation (saline and arsenic pollution) and river water also becomes saline after the monsoon, stored rainwater can be an alternate source for crop cultivation. In areas where soil is not saline, soil moisture storage could help increase of crop production. Additional use of stored rainwater in reservoirs to further enhance soil moisture could be a solution where people cannot practice winter cropping under current conditions, which was also found in the study in a few areas. This option can also be

57 | P a g e adopted in hilly areas where natural water bodies cannot store enough water for irrigation in dry season.

Considering the environmental benefit, to keep the soil quality favorable for cropping, use of (sweet) rainwater is also beneficial as it helps reducing soil salinity by washing the salt off the soil. This practice would keep the soil quality favorable for agriculture in saline-prone areas and also beneficial because with small low-cost farmer level intervention, less water from external source is needed, limiting infrastructure needed for irrigation. But lack of training on management of storage of rainwater for irrigation in dry period is a major challenge. There is also lack of initiative from the government to focus on the environmental benefit (both short and long term) of using stored rainwater for soil moisture storage. As far as the technology part for soil moisture use is concerned, the technology is simple and local communities can easily maintain the system without any significant external support, once trained properly.

Closed storage tanks

Rooftop rainwater harvesting could be a good solution to the drinking/cooking water scarcity issue in the coastal area. The technology is simple and well-known to local people. If rainwater tank of adequate capacity can be provided to the users, this technology can fulfill the year-round demand as seen in community rainwater harvesting systems installed by WaterAid and ITN-BUET. Though government and I/NGOs are providing support for installation of rainwater harvesting systems through different projects, there are still many families who are in need of better rainwater harvesting system that will fulfill their demand for the whole year. While people are willing to pay for such system, their affordability will vary for different income groups. Affordability of low income group is a major concern as the cost of available rainwater storage tanks in the market is too high for them. Maintenance of the system has also been found a major problem, especially for community scale systems where roles and responsibilities for maintaining the system is not often clearly distributed among the beneficiaries. Apart from that, water quality control is a big challenge for rainwater in closed storage tanks.

Open surface reservoirs

Since the acceptance of pond water is very high for drinking/cooking purposes in absence of fresh groundwater and/or rainwater during dry season, there is scope of developing pond water based water supply systems in saline affected areas. Few individuals/organizations have started making business by selling pond water after treatment in few areas. There are also some NGOs who provide support for excavation of ponds. But government at local level is yet to develop any strategy to support pond protection activities until now.

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Due to the demand of pond water, the users of ponds understand the necessity of managing the ponds they use for drinking and other household purposes. Therefore, stakeholders would find a suitable environment for institutionalization of the practice of using pond-based water supply systems in this area. But till now there is a lack of adequate focus from most of the organizations on importance of pond water based water supply systems.

While rainwater retention ponds could become a long term solution to the problem of fresh water in salinity affected areas, this would also help better management of surface runoff. Lack of awareness raising programs on these scarce water resources in affected areas is a reason for not having significant attention on its environmental benefits. Local government and other stakeholders do not offer much support when technological problems occur, e.g., subsurface saline water intrusion, tidal surges, etc., which could be due to lack of understanding among the stakeholders. Proper management, protection and improvement of water quality need more priority from stakeholders, which should be addressed jointly by government and private sector.

8.2 Recommendation

This study was carried out focusing on assessing the existing 3R practices in Bangladesh so as to come up with recommendations for up scaling of 3R technologies. Here recommendations are made to implement different techniques of 3R concept in the coastal areas to address the local need as well as to making those techniques sustainable.

Groundwater recharge through MAR:

1. The outcome of the action research on MAR technology in coastal districts will be critical in making any decision on implementation of this technology at large scale. The findings from the study on its performance in different site conditions and identification of measures to address the operational and maintenance issues must be made available before its larger application at field level. 2. Once the mechanism for sustainable MAR technology in the context of coastal areas of Bangladesh is established, training should be arranged for local mechanics and implementers for capacity building. 3. If the system can show considerable benefits in rural settings of the coastal areas of Bangladesh, financing the maintenance and operations costs could take place through tariffs or fees in cases where financial benefits are made. Meanwhile, the investment costs may have to be financed through government budgets or external sources. External support might be required in case there is a lack of available budgetary means for implementation in future.

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Soil moisture storage:

1. Government should encourage soil moisture storage using the current practices (retention ponds, terracing, bunds, dams, etc.) in areas of the coastal region where soil salinity is low as well in hilly areas. Awareness campaigning for increasing use of soil moisture storage options for agriculture, where possible, especially for low income group, should also be emphasized. 2. To make the practice of soil moisture storage using stored rainwater more familiar among the local communities, the government organizations and I/NGOs working in this area should also focus on local capacity building through training 3. Research on using this technology both at small and large scales should be carried in local context for developing an operational guideline. 4. The measures are typically taken at community-level. The measures could be implemented and financed through, for example, individual farmers, users’ associations, community groups or farmers’ associations.

Closed storage tanks (rooftop rainwater harvesting systems):

1. Research on low-cost materials for rainwater harvesting system to reduce the installation cost for poor people is needed considering the affordability of the low income people. 2. Research on promotion of low-cost disinfection technology in the market should be given priority to address the water quality issue in stored rainwater. 3. Financial assistance could be made available via micro credit schemes at union or district levels. In other cases, the installation of rainwater harvesting systems will have to be subsidized from other sources, such as the government, NGOs and donors. Local entrepreneurship could be encouraged to make the scheme financially sustainable in the long run. 4. Capacity building of local institutions on rainwater management at household and community level will be needed and awareness raising events for communities should be arranged to help improving the institutional and social sustainability of the systems.

Open surface reservoirs:

1. Local entrepreneurship should be encouraged and supported by government and its development partners to promote pond- based water supply systems for drinking and cooking purposes in salinity affected coastal areas, as large number of villagers in certain areas depend solely on pond water during dry season.

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2. Capacity building of local institutions, entrepreneurs and local communities on pond water management should be given emphasis as it would help further initiatives of scaling up of pond water based water supply schemes at local level in future. 3. Government (Department of Public Health Engineering) and NGO representatives working on these issues should be trained on supervision of pond based water supply systems. The trainings should focus on methods of pond protection from natural disasters and man-made hazards and water quality protection.

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9. References

Ahmed, F. and Rahman, M. M., 2010. Water Supply and Sanitation, Rural and Low-income Urban Communities, ITN-Bangladesh, Center for Water Supply and Waste Management, ISBN: 984-31-0936-8. Basar, A., 2012. Water Security in Coastal Region of Bangladesh: Would Desalination be a Solution to the Vulnerable Communities of the Sundarbans?, Bangladesh e-Journal of Sociology. Volume 9, Number 2. Brammer, H., 2014. Bangladesh’s dynamic coastal regions and sea-level rise. Climate Risk Management, 1:51-62. Dakua, M., M. M. Rahman and A. M. Redwan, 2013. Rainwater harvesting system in coastal rural areas of Bangladesh at community level for low-income people considering socio- economic viability and climate change, Proceedings of the International Conference on Climate Change Impact and Adaptation (I3CIA-2013), Center for Climate Change and Sustainability Research, Department of Civil Engineering, DUET, Gazipur, Bangladesh, ISBN: 978-984-33-7884-2. Dey, N.C., Bala, S.K., Saiful Islam, A.K.M., Rashid, M.A., 2013. Sustainability of groundwater use for irrigation in northwest Bangladesh. Policy Report prepared under the National Food Policy Capacity Strengthening Programme (NFPCSP). Dhaka, Bangladesh. 89 pp. Hussain, M. D. and Ziauddin, A. T. M., 1992. Rainwater Harvesting and Storage Techniques from Bangladesh, Water Lines, Vol. 10, no. 3, pp 10-12 Human Development Report, 2010. The real wealth of nations: pathways to human development. United Nations Development Program (UNDP). http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_2010_EN_Complete_ reprint.pdf Islam, T. M., M. M. Ullah, M. G. M. Amin and S. Hossain, 2016. Rainwater harvesting potential for farming system development in a hilly watershed of Bangladesh, Appl Water Science. doi:10.1007/s13201-016-0444-x Karim, M. R., Sadik Rahman , Md. Asif Hossain , Md Atikul Islam , Shamsul Gafur Mahmud , Zahid Hayat Mahmud, 2015. Microbiological Effectiveness of Mineral Pot Filters as Household Water Treatment in the Coastal Areas of Bangladesh, Microbial Risk Analysis, doi: 10.1016/j.mran.2016.06.003 Mainuddin, M., 2013. Scoping study to assess constraints and opportunities for future research into intensification of cropping systems in Southern Bangladesh. ACIAR Report. Australia. National Strategy for Water and Sanitation Hard to Reach Areas of Bangladesh, 2011. Government of Bangladesh. Pandey, P. K. and S. Biswas, 2014. Modeling crop land soil moisture and impacts of supplimental irrigaiton in a rainfed region of Bangladesh. Journal of Agricultural Chemistry and Environment, Vol.3, No.1B, 16-19, http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jacen.2014.31B004. Pandey, P.K., Soupir, M.L., Singh, V.P., Panda, S.N. and Pandey, V., 2011. Modelling rainwater storage in distributed reservoir systems in humid subtropical and tropical savannah regions. Water Resources Management, 25, 3091-3111. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11269-011-9847-5

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Pandey, P.K., Panda, S.N. and Panigrahi, B., 2006. Sizing on-farm reservoirs for crop-fish integration in rainfed farming systems in Eastern India. Biosystems Engineering, 93, 475- 489. ttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2006.01.009 Pandey, P.K., der Zaag, P., Soupir, M.L. and Singh, V.P., 2013. A new model to simulate hydro- economic potential of rainwater harvesting and supplemental irrigation rainfed agriculture. Water Resources Management, 27, 3145-3164. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11269-013-0340-1 Panigrahi, B., Panda, S.N. and Mull, R., 2001. Simulation of water harvesting potential in rainfed ricelands using water balance model. Agricultural Systems, 69, 165- 182. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0308-521X(01)00013-0 Qureshi, A.S., Ahmed, Z., Krupnik, T.J., 2014. Groundwater management in Bangladesh: An analysis of problems and opportunities. Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia Mechanization and Irrigation (CSISA-MI) Project, Research Report No. 2., Dhaka, Bangladesh: CIMMYT. Rahman, M. M., Dakua, M., 2012. "A case study on Rainwater Harvesting for Drinking Water with Solar Disinfection System", ITN-BUET, Center for Water Supply and Waste Management, ISBN: 978-984-33-5331-3. Rain and NWP (Netherlands Water Partnership), 2014. Smart 3R Solutions, available at: https://www.nwp.nl/_docs/Smart-solutions-3R.spread.pdf Rockström, J., Falkenmark, M., Karlberg, L., Hoff, H., Rost, S. and Gerten, D. (2009) Future water availability for global food production: The potential of green water for increasing resilience to global change. Water Resources Research, 45, Article ID: W00A12. Rockström, J., Barron, J. and Fox, P., 2003. Water productivity in rain-fed agriculture: Challenges and opportunities for smallholder farmers in drought-prone tropical agro-ecosystems. In: Kijne, J.W., Barker, R. and Molden, D., Eds., Water Productivity in Agriculture: Limits and Opportunities for Improvements, CABI, Publ., Oxon, 145-162. Shamsudduha, M., Chandler, R.E., Taylor, R., Ahmed, K.M., 2009. Recent trends in groundwater levels in a highly seasonal hydrological system: the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna Delta. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 13, 2373–2385. Sultana, S. and Ahmed, K. M. (2014), Assessing risk of clogging in community scale managed aquifer recharge sites for drinking water in the coastal plain of south-west bangladesh, Bangladesh Journal of Scientific Research, 27(1): 75-86, 2014 (June), DOI: 10.3329/bjsr.v27i1.26226 Steenbergen, F. V. and Albert Tuinhof, 2010. Managing the Water Buffer for Development and Climate Change Adaptation, Groundwater Recharge, Retention, Reuse and Rainwater Storage, isbn: 978-90-79658-03-9, available at: http://www.bebuffered.com/downloads/3R_managing_the_water_buffer_2010.pdf Studer, M. R. and Liniger, H., 2013. Water Harvesting: Guidelines to Good Practice. Centre for Development and Environment (CDE), Bern; Rainwater Harvesting Implementation Network (RAIN), Amsterdam; MetaMeta, Wageningen; The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Rome. Tuinhof, A., Van Steenbergen, F., Vos, P. and L. Tolk., 2012. Profit from Storage. The costs and benefits of water buffering. Wageningen, The Netherlands: 3R Water Secretariat.

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Mondal, M., 2010. Rainwater Harvesting, article by Dr. Manoranjan Mondal, available at: ttp://archive.thedailystar.net/suppliments/2010/02/ds19/segment2/harvesting.html United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), 1998. Division of Technology, Industry and Economics, Sourcebook of alternative technologies for freshwater augmentation in some countries in Asia, Newsletter and Technical Publication, available at: http://www.unep.or.jp/ietc/publications/techpublications/techpub-8e/index.asp#1 World Bank, 2010. Water resource management. Washington, DC. http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTWAT/0,,contentMDK:216305 83~menuPK:460244 5~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:4602123,00. html

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Annex-1

Technical Assessment Data Sheet for Field Visits:

Technique Sl. Question No. 1. Size of the tank used for rainwater storage 2. Number of users Closed Tank Storage 3. How many months/days can they store water for in the tank 4. Water quality perception 5. Availability of rainwater 1. Amount of water recharged Managed Aquifer 2. Water quality Recharge 3. Number of users 4. Time of operation 1. Number of users 2. Availability of water in the pond throughout the year Retention Ponds 3. Water quality of pond water 4. Catchment of retention pond

FIETS Sustainability Assessment Data Sheet:

FIETS Criteria Sl. Discussion Points No. 1. Are the projects co-financed by local stakeholders. Do local entrepreneurs and companies take up an increasing 2. and serious role in the provision of WASH services. Financial Are projects and initiatives are based on a business (plan) 3. Sustainability approach, including operation, maintenance? After the project period, can WASH service provision be 4. sustained based on local finance, meaning based on payment for services by the end-users or tax revenues. Any mandated local party (local business or government), that is (or is made) responsible for the delivery of services and/or 1. products, and that represents especially the interests of the weakest stakeholders, has (or gets) a leading role. Institutional The interests of the different stakeholders in the WASH chain 2. Sustainability are structurally incorporated and met. Activities are in accordance with local policies, laws and 3. regulations. Transparency and accountability of planning, decisions use of 4. budget and results is met by all stakeholders involved.

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FIETS Criteria Sl. Discussion Points No. Training/capacity building of the local private sector are 5. structurally embedded in order to ensure sustainability of the service/product. The project has base knowledge of the hydrological, ecological 1. and socio-economic situation of the (smallest) relevant catchment level in which the intervention takes place. The project involves the analysis of the impact of the 2. interventions on the environment. Environmental 3. The project uses sustainable techniques. Sustainability The project strengthens capacities and increase knowledge and 4. awareness on linkage between WASH interventions and the natural environment. The project influences governmental key players in WASH to 5. make informed decisions and ensure integration of environmental sustainability in policies and programs. Sustainable availability of the hardware/ technology is based on a viable business model; that is, the activities of the actors in the 1. chain of supply, installation and maintenance do have enough financial incentive to sustain the services Proposed technology is produced or procured, installed and Technological 2. maintained by the local private sector (or in specific cases by end Sustainability user groups or cooperatives that could take over such a role). For new technologies, trainings are included to transfer all 3. knowledge and expertise needed for the continued functioning to the local level. For household level options, the technology can be acquired by 4. the majority of the intended users free of subsidy. The project is demand driven and aimed at provision of basic 1. services on the basis of rights based approaches and enhances empowerment (of women and marginalized groups). The project/program includes concrete actions to ensure that the interests of all groups in society, including women and especially the marginalized, are taken into account. The 2. project/program guarantees the interests of the marginalized Social Sustainability people are anchored in constitutions, bylaws, ownership agreements and consultation/coordination mechanisms. The project/program clearly guarantees good working 3. conditions, appropriate environmental measures and attention to include female employees and female entrepreneurs. The project/program takes into account socio-cultural and 4. religious believes, habits, practices.

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FIETS Criteria Sl. Discussion Points No. The project/program includes actions to stimulate behavior 5. change related to hygiene improvements.

Annex-2

Year Barisal (mm) Chittagong (mm) Khulna (mm) 1984 3,449 3,173 2,147 1985 2,445 2,630 2,295 1986 2,919 3,326 2,069 1987 3,665 3,405 2,542 1988 3,264 3,773 2,369 1989 2,794 2,647 2,338 1990 3,178 3,576 2,511 1991 3,192 3,481 2,383 1992 2,239 3,084 2,159 1993 3,366 3,679 2,354 1994 2,577 3,412 2,039 1995 3,058 3,859 2,810 1996 2,619 3,502 2,361 1997 2,558 3,317 2,181 1998 3,658 3,652 2,517 1999 2,755 3,617 2,614 2000 2,570 2,930 2,241 2001 3,028 3,715 2,769 2002 3,337 3,504 2,325 2003 2,595 3,657 2,255 2004 3,329 3,447 2,092 2005 2,743 3,503 2,648 2006 2,798 3,087 2,048 2007 3,128 3,657 2,531 2008 2,664 3,314 2,324 2009 2,620 3,109 2,389 2010 2,462 2,967 2,451 2011 2,709 3,214 2,492 2012 2,417 2,695 2,329 2013 3,121 3,458 2,440 2014 3,098 4,131 2,286 Average Annual Rainfall 2,987 3,369 2,365

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