A silent ecological devastation is taking place in Bangladesh as a result of the dehydrational Impact of the river Ganges, known aa the Padma in this country.
A slow, almost Inexorable process of desertification has set in in the northern part of the country while the southwestern region is getting more and more salinated.
A major river, the Gorai. is almost dead while the huge Ganges-Kobadak Irrigation Project, which pours fresh wa ter into the dry croplands of Kushtia. Meherpur. Chuadanga. Rajbari, Jhenidah. Magura, Jessore and Narail districts, faces a collapse.
A newsprint factory and a powerplant in the coastal Khulna district are now forced to bring fresh water from up-country because the high salinity in the river Passur has made it difficult to keep the plants operative.
The Sundarbans. the wor Id s largest estuarian swamp, is also threatened by high salinity with the tops of the Sundart trees of the forest wilting.
Home of the endangered Royal Bengal ligers, the 6000 sq km Sundarbans provides half of the country’s forest products, besides being used as a critical wildlife sanctuary.
About 17 per cent of the total Sundari trees in the aquatic forest have already fallen victim to the top-daying syndrome. the officials said.
All these have occurred because of a barrage on the mighty Ganges at Farakka in the Indian state of West Bengal — only 19 kilometers from the Indo-Bangladesh border.
Bangladesh's ecologists and water experts warn that fresh water diversion by the Farakka Barrage will deteriorate the agricultural capacity of 1 1 south eastern district of the country, entailing a catastro-phy for the country.
"It is a bad time for us." sale Sona Mia of Kushtia* northwest Mirpur thana. "Our life ft linked to the Padma's waters .. no water means no work, no food." he said.
A ferryman by profession. Mia had Je-dock his boat or th< whole dry season from March through June. During this period he works as a menial
labourer In a sand quarry
Fifteen piers of the Hardinge railway bridge up north from Mirpur now stand on a sand bank as a caravan of carts and people,on foot or on bicycle take to the sandy trails to cross the river during the four dry months.
The total water width of the Padma near the bridge has reduced to a mere 0.6 kilometers from 16 kilometers dur Ing winter, the BWDB officials said
In the coastal Khulna and Satkhlra districts, dally morning treks lor fresh drinking waler has become a tedious but unavoidable chore.
Most of (he tubewells in these areas have either become Inoperative either due to low ground water level or salinity.
Officials of the WDB in Dhaka explained that the Gorai. the Rupsha and the Passur rivers are the only fresh water sources for the whole south-western part of the country.
These rivers supply drinking and irrigation water, bedsides keeping the local wetlands alive, they said.
Health officials of Khulna district said the people of Balthaghata. Dakop and Paik-gacha areas have developed acute diarrhoea because of regular saline water consumption.
Saline water is a safe haven for ihe diarrhoeal germs, the officials point out.
The highest tolerance level of salinity for drinking water in the Khulna region Is 500 micro-mhos and 2000 micromhos per centimeter for agriculture.
With dwindling discharge of fresh water because of the Farakka Barrage, there has been a successive build-up of salinity in 16 southwestern coastal districts over the past ten years.
Latest figures available from. the Irrigation Ministry show that with increasing diversion bf water at Farakka. the salinity front has moved 220 kilometers inland.
Due to the high salinity in the river Bhairab, the 48,000 tons production-capacity Khulna Newsprint Mills (KNM) has to spend about Taka two crore every -year for bringing
fresh water from 30 miles up stream.
Carrying of water by barges costs the mills Taka 125 for every ton of newsprint It produces. The Mill* require* about 400 ton* of water a day. according to reports received in Dhaka
Other than the cost of carrying water, the salinity is also causing serious damage to the plant machinery.
Fresh water Is also brought for the Goalpara thermal power station ■ from the northern areas to keep the plant operative.
Open waler fishing has been seriously affected in Khulna Division because of leanflow in the Bhairab, Pashur and the Gorai rivers.
Production of capture fishery in the Ganges-dependant areas ha* reduced from 277.000 metric ton* in 1974 to 185,000 metric ton* in 1991. The loss I* estimated at Taka four billion at 1991 prices.
The fishing season has also been squeezed from the previous May to February period to the current May to December period, according to report* available from the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC).
People of Kushtia. Jhenidah and Magura now report fall of ground water due to the upstream diversion by the Farakka Barrage.
Early morning chill and an unprecedented dry wind in Meherpur, Chuadanga and Kushtia districts were nothing but signs of the desertlflcation set in motion they pointed out.
The shallow irrigation units and tubewells in these districts no longer pump adequate water these days, said Deputy Commissioner of Kushtia Md. Nazrul Islam.
Irrigation Ministry officials explained that due to the decreasing surface water, the ground water was flowing to the rivers.
Agricultural production has also gone down significantly due to the loss of soil moisture. BARC officials said.
They spelled out that direct loss of agricultural products due to soil moisture depletion, delayed planting, price hike and salinity has been estimated at Taka 500 crore.