Hydrology and morphology The hydrological and morphological characteristics of the Ganges and its distributaries in Bangladesh were severely impaired during the post-Farakka years. The flow reduction had caused excessive siltation, a rise in riverbeds and consequent reduction of the conveyance capacity of the river channels, resulting in aggravated floods during the monsoon. The offtake of the gorai , the main distributary of the Ganges in Bangladesh, got choked every year as early as January, making this important river high and dry throughout the dry season.
Salinity during the post-Farakka years the advancement of the saline front in Khulna became a major cause of concern. The salinity intrusion, concentration and duration in the region depended mostly upon the quantity and duration of upland flow received in the area. The Gorai-Madhumati received a very low discharge in the dry months. As a result, the salinity and tidal limits penetrated well inside the country. In , the micro-mhos salinity line reached about 13 km north of Kamarkhali and up to km inland from the mouth of pasur river and 17, micro-mhos salinity was also observed at Khulna.
A few scientists recorded Moreover, reduction of fresh water supply during the dry season caused invasion of salt water into underground aquifers. Agriculture It is the worst-hit sector. The drastic fall in water level of the Ganges during the post-Farakka years seriously impaired the operation of the pumping plants of the largest irrigation scheme in the area, the ganges-kobadak irrigation project G-K Project with more than , ha under its direct command.
The pumps of this project were forced either to remain idle or operate with drastically reduced capacity. Severe stress in soil moisture, soil salinity, and non-availability of fresh groundwater affected agricultural productivity of the entire southwestern region.
Fisheries Scarcity of water in the main Ganges and its distributaries disturbed the flow pattern, velocity turbidity, total dissolved solids TDS and salinity levels on which fisheries thrive. The Gangetic water system supports over species of freshwater fish and 18 species of prawns in the area. Fish catches dwindled and thousands of fishermen were consequently left without jobs.
Navigation During the post-Farakka years the Ganges flow reduction affected the navigation sector as well. More than km of major and medium navigable waterways were rendered inoperative during the dry season.
As a result, hundreds of boatmen were thrown out of their occupation. Utpal Bhaumik, a retired divisional head of the Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute of India, told the Times of India that the Hooghly estuary mouth is fast losing depth, mainly because of the Farakka barrage and a lack of proper dredging.
The Indian newspaper reports that India has to import Hilsha fish to meet its demand during Durga Puja celebrations. As part of a goodwill gesture, the Bangladesh government has approved the export of tonnes of Hilsha to India on the occasion of Durga Puja this month.
While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Skip to main content. Farakka now boomerangs on India. Environment Sadiqur Rahman. Related News Killing of Bangladeshis along border area shameful for India: Momen Among world's 10 most polluted cities, 3 are from India. Since , water extraction from the Farakka upstream has led to a drop in groundwater as well as surface water levels in the vast Barind Tract region along the River Padma and its tributaries in Bangladesh Sadiqur Rahman.
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Finance loss and damage to address displacement: Climate activists. More Videos from TBS. Foreign jobs rebound on brighter Gulf economies 23h Videos. A guitarist rickshaw puller 23h Videos. Under the Treaty India may divert this flow when the incoming flow is 75, cusecs, leaving 35, cusecs for Bangladesh. The permitted diversion is reduced gradually as the incoming flow reduces to 70, cusecs and below that the flows are shared equally.
This flow of 70, cusecs is exceeded 60 per cent of the time in the dry season, based on the —88 measurements of flows arriving at Farakka. Thus for 40 per cent of the dry season period covered by the treaty, the flows are shared equally Brichieri-Colombi and Bradnock If the flow falls below 50, cusecs, the two Governments will enter into immediate consultations to make adjustments on an emergency basis, in accordance with the principles of equity, fair play and no harm to either party Bangladesh India Water Sharing Treaty The water-sharing agreement was the first success in a series of foreign policy initiatives undertaken by the then Awami League government to improve relations with India.
The above section shows that how the changes in governments impact negotiations over water issues. In the early s, Bangladesh Nationalist Party BNP , popularly known as anti-Indian political party in Bangladeshi politics, formed the government and started negotiations with India to get equitable share of Ganges water but failed to reach to solution. Like post-Mujib governments, BNP also tried to internationalize the issue and did not succeed.
So in the context of politics within and between Bangladesh and India, it can be argued that when two less friendly governments are in the power, negotiations over water sharing issues seemed to be stagnant. Finding no hope from bilateral negotiations Bangladesh being the lower riparian state tried to internationalize the issue to get the equitable water share of the River Ganges but failed.
The situation changed when Bangladesh Awami League, popularly known as friendly to India, assumed power in Finally, a thirty-year treaty was signed between two countries regarding water sharing of the River Ganges. It reiterates our previous argument that friendly relationship between the governments is very important in reaching any solution regarding water issues.
Although this treaty put an end to the long drawn negotiations between Bangladesh and India since the erection of Farakka Barrage, it failed to minimize the impact of the Barrage on the ecology of Bangladesh as the flow of water at Farakka is gradually decreasing due to upstream water withdrawal.
Bangladesh is sensitive to diversion of Ganges water through Farakka barrage which adversely affected her ecology and economy.
As a result of reduced flow of Ganges, Bangladesh has faced problem in the field of agriculture, industry, fisheries, navigation, salinity and ecology, etc. About one-third of the total area of Bangladesh is directly dependent on the Ganges basin for their livelihood.
In these circumstances water diversion at Farakka is bound to have an impact as it was an attempt to introduce a new ecological system against the usual course of nature. A substantial number of studies compared the pre and post Farakka situations in Bangladesh. According to these studies, there is a huge contrast between pre and post Farakka water supply, where the situation was much better in pre-Farakka period even in dry season in the downstream, more particularly in the Bangladesh part Mirza and Hossian It was expected that situation would improve after the treaty but a substantial amount of studies showed that the situation has become even worser in some cases.
The water scarcity has brought much misery and hardship to the people of the affected south- western parts of Bangladesh that has resulted disruption of fishing and navigation, brought unwanted salt deposits into rich farming soil, adversely affected agricultural and industrial production, changed the hydraulic character of the rivers and brought about changes in the ecology of the Delta. Due to the Ganges diversion the minimum discharge of the river Padma at the point of Hardinge Bridge in Bangladesh fell far below.
The groundwater level in the highly affected area went down particularly in the district of Rajshahi, Kustia, Khulna and Jessore. The south-west region had been facing the critical problem of salinity intrusion from the Bay of Bengal because of the drastic reduction of fresh water flows in the Gorai river which is the major distributary of the Ganges in this part of the country Tiwary The ever decreasing dry-season flow has aggravated the excessive river bed situation on the Bangladesh side which has been instrumental in increasing the number of devastating monsoon floods in flood-prone Bangladesh.
A southern district of Bangladesh, Patuakhali which is commonly known as the daughter of the sea comes under the Ganges-dependent basin area. This entire area has been very seriously affected by river bank erosion and some of its adjacent areas are on the verge of extinction. The increased salinity of the river water has forced several industries to close down which has affected domestic water supply and resulted in the large scale damage of trees of the natural mangrove forest in the south-western part of Bangladesh Swain ; Tiwary Hundreds and thousands of farmers have become landless in some of the districts of the same region in the country.
Barguna is one of those districts where the river bank erosion played the key role in making some 50 per cent of the farmers landless. The ecological and environmental destruction created by Farakka has led to an irreparable loss of agriculture, fishing, forestry and ecosystem of Bangladesh.
A significant part of Rajshahi division and the whole of Khulna division are under the same threat. Because of the stagnant agriculture, closure of industries and navigation facilities, a drop in fish yields, the death of valuable forest resources, the disappearance of land due to river-bank erosion, the socio-economic condition of the above mentioned regions have also become quite vulnerable along with the environmental degradation Hossain The following table shows a devastating scenario in terms of financial and environmental loss in Bangladesh after the Farakka operation.
This loss even excludes the losses Bangladesh has incurred because of floods and river bank erosion which has become a regular phenomenon in the country Table 2. Immediately after the Water Sharing Treaty of it was discovered that the flow of the Ganges River at Farakka was far less than anticipated in the treaty.
The Ganges Water Treaty of was supposed to bring a long-term solution to the problem of Ganges water-sharing between India and Bangladesh. But the reality never sounds sweet in the context of the Indo-Bangladesh water sharing issues where the question of ecological sustenance of Bangladesh is closely related. Several factors raise doubts about the sustainability of the Ganges Water Treaty provisions in the medium to long term. Besides, the treaty has a provision for review, but unfortunately is, neither of the sides has ever called for this.
Due to the effect of freshwater withdrawals at Farakka the over-exploitation of fishing and forestry resources is a widespread problem in Bangladesh in the post period. The water table levels in the dry season have become lower everywhere in the country.
In this case the groundwater is being used over there and as a result the navigation depths are reducing due to polder construction in many rivers. In the true sense almost every problem in the country associated with water has been attributed to the impact of Farakka Brichieri-Colombi and Bradnock This is discernible that the very social, economic and environmental problems have become part and parcel to the Bangladeshi people which are gradually accelerated due to withdrawals of Ganges waters at Farakka.
In an environmentally interdependent world the environmental or ecological decline of one country or region is a problem for the entire community of nations on earth. With the emergence of post-colonial nation states, an array of demarcation lines was drawn on the common rivers according to the borders of newly established states. It developed a sense of individual ownership instead of collective ownership of the common rivers.
Rivers were no longer being considered as an integrated unit of resources. Upper riparian states started to use common rivers to the end of their own interests at the cost of the interests of the lower riparian states. And this can be identified as one of the major reasons that created problems among the co-riparian states around the world. A peaceful internal political atmosphere and a sound relationship among the co-riparian states act as the successful catalyst of bilateral negotiations that create an environment of peaceful coexistence and helps growing an attitude of sharing water resources of the common rivers.
Absence of such friendly atmosphere between the states might lead to a popular movement in the lower riparian state if deprived by the unilateral water withdrawal by the upper riparian state. This situation might also lead lower riparian state towards internationalization of the issue though it often does not earn much for the lower riparian state if the upper riparian state insists on bilateral solutions. A kind of cooperation is possible for a common interest for the countries concerned if the bilateral negotiations are tuned up.
It is important for the policy makers of both the countries to critically analyze how bilateral negotiations and their results reflect on the internal political and economic dynamics. This paper suggests that water governance and management is significantly influenced by the internal political economy of both the countries involved.
So it is important to consider historical development of political economy of both countries to reach an amiable solution over water sharing of the River Ganges.
As the flow of this river passes not only between West Bengal and Bangladesh, problem of water sharing cannot be solved until and unless the economic interests of other co riparian provinces of India are brought into the negotiation process because they are also diverting water from this river. It is also important to consider the whole river as an integrated unit to solve the ecological problems created by the basin states.
The Governor of Bengal appointed a Board of inquiry in headed by the Maharaja of Burdwan and the noted physicist Dr. Meghnad Saha as member. Tidal bore is the sudden rise of huge water, about one or two meters high which rushes up a river at tremendous speed and exposes ships to danger of capsizing and twists and uproots jetties.
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