As Bangladesh now experiences a heat wave, a diarrhea outbreak occurs. These regular outbreaks mainly affect children and are caused by eating rotten food and drinking polluted water; they escalate in summer when drinking water is in short supply, forcing people to use contaminated sources. There are 808 rivers in Bangladesh where most rivers rise from Himalayan reign and falls into the Bay of Bengal. The sources of water in Bangladesh are rivers and ground-water. Each year about 2.4 billion tons of sediment from the Himalayas is carried by the rivers of Bangladesh to the Bay of Bengal.
In the case of ground-water resource the presence of Arsenic in ground-water is affecting the people of rural areas those who are largely dependent on this source of water for drinking, agriculture and livestock. Again the contaminated water and the increased salinity is affecting human health and living massively. According to the World Health Organization, arsenic-contaminated water directly affects the health of 35 million people in Bangladesh.
Similarly water crisis in the capital city Dhaka has worsened due to frequent load shedding and fall in groundwater level. According to WASA in the demand of 2100 million liters of water, only 1,600 million liters supply is ensured. The city of Dhaka experiences acute shortage of water all the year round. The city dwellers have taken it as part of their life.
Water crisis and contamination: Causes….
As the demand for water increases, share of water per person will decrease, gradually it would result in greater demand for water. It was reported in media that 80 rivers are about to die out in Bangladesh, while 100 have lost their natural characteristics due to withdrawal of water in the upstream by structures. The internal dimension of water scarcity addresses contaminated ground and surface water. For constant floods, shortage in surface water, inadequate tree plantation, the level of under-ground water is depleting. This increases arsenic presence in under-ground water. The situation which liable for scarcity-
Huge populations of Bangladesh are in a land of 133,910 square kilometers. Only in Dhaka where daily need of water is about 2100 million liters. But the actual supply is nearly 1,600 million liters. The situation in other cities does not differ from this. So on for huge population crisis become more complex.
Human activities alter global water systems. Burning, deforestation, overgrazing, agricultural practices, chemical disturbance, air pollution, over-pumping of groundwater, urbanization, industrialization liable for shortage of pure drinking water.
Diminishing underground Water and arsenic contamination of groundwater in Bangladesh is now considered the world’s largest case of water pollution.
Water gets polluted by wastes from industry, agriculture and human generated wastes. About 2 million tons of wastes are dumped everyday into rivers, lakes and streams, with one liter of waste water sufficient to pollute about eight liters of fresh water. Seepage of agro chemicals also pollutes the water for human and animal consumption.
Lives of people are largely dependent on climate, as a huge population lives in river banks and coastal areas. A rise of only 1.5 m would have the impact on Bangladesh a 17 million (15%) affected population and 222,000 kmsquare (16%) affected land. The impact on the Bangladesh economy of climate change would be extremely adverse: an annual loss of $1 billion of GDP by 2010, $5 billion by 2070 noted in BIPSS article.
….Adverse Impacts
Water is the key element of life, when the water mixed with slow poison then how dangerous this is-
About two thirds of the cultivable land at Bangladesh is prone to flood damage every year. Thus flood control and drainage improvement are crucial for the national economy in order to reduce or prevent damage to crops and infrastructure.
The climate change impacts on the natural, social, and economic systems of the country. The UNESCO report indicated that by the middle of this century (2050), almost 2 million children die each year for want of a glass of clean water and adequate sanitation.
Food production depends on availability of water. According to BIPSS article in 2000 the data water is as such: 96% for agricultural use, 3% for domestic use, 1% for industrial use. Sources of Irrigation water in Bangladesh are: Surface water 30.8% and Ground water: 69.2%. 63% water is used in Agriculture which provides 19% of GDP. But for present shortage and crisis of acute water hampers those activities.
Contamination of surface water bodies and groundwater aquifers by agricultural pollutants, industrial discharge, domestic pollution, all these endangers both natural ecosystem integrity and public health.
Arsenic pollution becomes great threat to the future generation of the country. According to the latest surveys conducted at Government levels, at least 53 out of the total 64 districts of Bangladesh are affected with Arsenic pollution. It is the number of people at risk of arsenic pollution is estimated to be 90 Million on a population of 150 Million people.
Agriculture also directly impacts the arsenic crisis, most notably through its impact on human nutrition, which is probably the major influencing human resistance to arsenic – toxicity.
Environmental problems that causes water shortage includes: excessive soil erosion and sedimentation, water logging and salinity of agricultural land, groundwater depletion, watershed degradation and deforestation, reduction of biodiversity, wetland loss, saltwater intrusion and coastal zone habitat loss. The devastating hurricane attack (Sidr) on the south and south-west of Bangladesh killed about five thousand people, millions of trees, thousands of wild animals and millions of cultured chickens and prawns.
The quality of ground water has also deteriorated. Out of 150 million population of Bangladesh nearly 80 million people are exposed to aquifer contamination caused by a metallic element called arsenic, the white, tasteless metallic powder which can cause skin cancer, kidney and liver failure and in extreme cases death.
Today, one person in five across the world has no access to safe drinking water, and one in two lacks to safe sanitation, more than 30,000 children die before reaching their fifth birthdays, either by hunger or by easily-preventable diseases. 1.8 million People die every year from diarrhea diseases. 3 900 children die every day from water borne diseases. 90% of all deaths caused by diarrhea diseases are children under 5 years of age. Each year more than five million people die from water-related disease in the world. Similarly due to acute water crisis diarrhea in summer season become unpreventable.
…step forward
Bangladesh should take fast and foremost steps to develop the existing situation that threatens her existence. National awareness, national and international cooperation is essential to help the country and its people build the necessary capacity and resilience.
If collecting abundant rain water, producing hydroelectricity and navigation routes, ensuring providing flow to Padma, Active Joint River Committee, adapting technology to desalinize the ocean water can be done successfully Bangladesh can satisfy the thirsty people and can supply adequate water to the agricultural, industrial, domestic purpose.
Conservation of ground water, preserving the environment, to rescue the natural cycle, maintain the ground water level and prevention of arsenic, Dredging of rivers, creating embankments is a good remedy, proper urbanization, sewerage dumping are also be ensured.
The value of fresh water as a commodity has continued to grow because of its increasing scarcity. It is this crisis that has encouraged multi-stakeholders to consider alternate strategies for overcoming the problem. There is need today to act together so that we can carry on our fight in Bangladesh against poverty, hunger, poor health, lack of access to clean water and sanitation and sustainable energy. The means life and on the other hand a threat to livelihood during extreme situations arising out of flood or drought. We have to successfully tackling of these issues by common political will and understanding based on flexibility and harmonious water sharing and active role to keep eco-balance.
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