Bangladesh is faced with a double whammy, if local environmental activists are to be believed.
With sea levels slowly rising, supposedly due to global warming, low-lying coastal areas of this South Asian country look set to get flooded and water tables near the sea look set to suffer from the seeping in of salt water.
On the other hand, increasing bouts of drought and the overuse of groundwater, is setting many areas of the largely rural country up for a water crisis.
Heavily populated
Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries on Earth. Over 150 million people live in a country a quarter the size of Texas in the USA. And with around two-thirds of the population being farmers, water and the right climatic conditions matter.
Activists issue warning
Disaster looms if the situation is not addressed. Participants said many areas in the north of Bangladesh, particularly the largely agricultural Barindra area that covers several districts in Bangladesh, and areas in neighboring India, face a potential crisis. The whole area covers about 7,770 square kms with millions of people depending on agriculture for a living.
Sharifuzzaman Sharif, 43, a human rights activist and researcher, spoke at the recent seminar, noting that the level of groundwater is depleting fast in Barindra area. “It is largely because 90 percent of agricultural fields use groundwater for irrigation,” he said. “We have come to know that in Nachole (in Rajshahi district) groundwater layer went down to 100 feet in 2011 from 52 feet in 1992. With groundwater declining the temperature in the north is rising high, one year ago it reached record 42 degree Celsius.”
Sharif, general secretary of Dhaka-based NGO Nagorik Songhati or Citizens Solidarity was addressing a gathering of about 50 socio-political leaders, government officials, educationists, agriculturists, farmers and media persons arranged by his organization. He added that indiscriminate extraction of water through deep tube well and pumps should be stopped to hold back major environmental and health disasters in the area.
Recipe for disaster
The situation is getting desperate. Extracting water from groundwater for agricultural purposes is a recipe for disaster. Underground aquifers are very slow to replenish.
Mihir Biswas, joint secretary of country’s leading environmentalist group Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (BAPA) echoed the concerns. “People are unaware that too much pulling of groundwater contributes to natural imbalance and increases risks for earthquakes,” he said. “It’s high time to launch extensive campaigns to encourage people to use water from alternative sources.”
As local reporters tell Earth Tribe, the country is under pressure to produce additional food for such a large population, and the northern region is a major food grain producer that unfortunately relies largely on groundwater. The weather being extreme, surface water sources dry up during summer and winter which is often severe with prolonged drought and cold over several months. As Joachim Purti, 45, a farmer in Rajshahi district explained, “During winter, the groundwater level falls deep down that even water pumps can’t function when we try to extract water.”
Not just Bangladesh
This pattern of groundwater extraction is not just confined to Bangladesh, pushed to feed a large population. All across Asia, and particularly in India, groundwater levels are slipping lower and lower. Even Britain, noted for its wet weather, is facing localized droughts, according to recent reports.
Bangladesh is trapped in a vice – too much water, due to gradual sea level rise, and too little water due to overuse and climatic conditions that bring droughts.
Serious groundwater depletion is a hidden crisis that needs to be addressed.
Sources from UCA News in Bangladesh contributed reporting used in this blog post.
