Water experts at a seminar yesterday urged the government to assess immediately the impact of India's river inter-linking project on Bangladesh and place the issue before an international forum.

The Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) Teachers Association organised the seminar on the impact of water transfer from the Brahmaputra and the Ganges river basins at its Council Bhaban.

"Once implemented, the plan to withdraw water from the Brahmaputra and Ganges will have a detrimental impact on the country's agriculture, ecology, morphology, navigation, fisheries, and the entire natural geological features," said BUET Prof Jahir Uddin Chowdhury while presenting the keynote paper.

"During the low-flow season, Bangladesh requires 90 percent of its water from the Brahmaputra alone to prevent salinity intrusion in the lower Meghna basin," Prof Chowdhury continued, adding, "We must remember that a river also requires a certain minimum amount of water to maintain its navigability."

The areas that the proposed water transfer will affect include the condition during the low-flow season, the recharging of wetlands and the ground-water level, groundwater depletion, inflow to the Padma and lower Meghna, tidal propagation, and shoal land livelihood among many others, the paper said.

"The shrinking of the tributaries of the two mighty rivers will cause disastrous salinity intrusion in the haor eco-system, dry up wetlands and disrupt Dhaka city's water supply," Chowdhury said.

Water scarcity will also destabilise wild-life habitats, destroy aquatic plant-life, and, more critically, deprive those who make a living on the water.

Noted water expert Prof Ainun Nishat said, "We have to remember that India is a country that has the power to adopt any means it wishes to further its own interests regardless of the consequences to its neighbours."

"It will be difficult on our part to reach an acceptable solution to the water crisis unless and until a signif icant change takes place at the political level in India," he added.

Asif Nazrul, Assistant Professor in the Dhaka University Law department, said, "Legally, we should immediately call upon India to do a revision of the Ganges Treaty as a measure against the proposed transfer of water from other rivers."

Article 7 of the Ganges Treaty obliges India to come to a dialogue with Bangladesh as to water sharing of other rivers, said Ahsan Uddin Ahmed of Bangladesh Unnayan Parishad.

"Sharing the water of the crossborder rivers is an issue that concerns Bangladesh's national security," said Engineer Akhtar Hossain of Bangladesh Water Development Board, "Therefore, Bangladesh has to draw a national strategy on a war footing on the basis of national consensus to encounter the water diversion initiative."

Water Resources Minister Hafiz Ahmed said, "The government is fully aware of the gravity of the issue and intends to do whatever possible."

We must bring about national consensus and make diplomatic efforts to protect the national interest, the minister continued, adding that an agency under the ministry is carrying out a study to quantify the adverse impact of the plan.

Prof Jahir Uddin suggested the formation of a multi-disciplinary commission with the participation of all the countries lying along the same basin to quantify the adverse consequences of river inter-linking project.

BUET Vice-chancellor Prof Ali Murtaza, among others, was present at the seminar presided by Prof Imtiaz Hossain.