Water Security: The Threat Bangladesh is Facing

University of Dhaka
Assignment
On
Water Security: The Threat Bangladesh is Facing
Course title: Environmental Politics
Course no: 307
Submitted to
Sheikh Shams Mursalin
Lecturer
Dept. of International Relations
University of Dhaka

Submitted by
Mohammad Bashir Uddin Class Roll No: SS-51
Md. Khairul Bashar Bhuiyan Pavel Class Roll No: SS-44
Md. Ariful Islam Class Roll No: MM-62
Md. Abdul Halim Class Roll No: ZIA-35

B.S.S (hon’s), 6th semester, 3rd year
Dept. of international relations Date of submission: 10th January, 2010
University of Dhaka



Letter of transmission


Sir,
We are the students of the dept. of international relations; university of Dhaka. We are so much glad to inform you, that we have made our assignment on Water Security: the Threat Bangladesh is Facing of the Environmental Politics, course no: 307.

We worked hard for this purpose and became successful to finish our works and present our assignment nicely.
Therefore, we hope that you would be kind enough to accept our assignment on Environmental Politics




Sincerely yours
Mohammad Bashir Uddin Class Roll No: SS-51
Md. Khairul Bashar Bhuiyan Pavel Class Roll No: SS-44
Md Ariful Islam Class Roll No: MM-62
Md Abdul Halim Class Roll No: MM-35


Acknowledgement
First of all, we would like to thank almighty Allah for blessing us with this opportunity to do this work. Next we would like to thank our honorable course teacher Sheikh Shams Mursalin for this idea and for the chance he has given us and for all the support during the making of this paper. We also would like to thank Dr. Mohammad Didar-ul- Alam, dept. of soil, water and environment, university of Dhaka. And Dr. Imtiaz Ahmed, professor, Department of International Relations, University of Dhaka,

We tried heart and soul to fulfilling our assignment with required information. For this purpose we went through different places such as public library and our central library. In public library & central library we got some related articles and journals on water security of Bangladesh.
At last of all, we have spent a huge time in our central library cyber center to collect the latest information about our topic. But due to some limitations of gaining information our assignments may have some lacking. More over we tried to flourish our assignment with huge information.













Executive Summary

Water that synonym life is causing lives in terms of not being adequate according to the demand and again for being abundant in the form of flood. Bangladesh’s huge dependency on water shows the grievous picture of destabilizing the survival of the country which can crumble down the country and make the region unstable. So there is the need to understand the study of water from security perspective.

This paper gives a glimpse on the causes of water security challenges that Bangladesh faces besides being a river-reign county and analyze the security threats, its impact on the most dynamic deltaic country Bangladesh, in a national and regional level. We focused on Indian strategy about river linking project. We also discussed how to begin desertification in the northern region of Bangladesh. Then the paper discusses a few recommendations to solve this atrocious threat towards the nation.

It is a great irony that our planet that has 70% of its surface covered with water is facing an acute water crisis. It is alleged that the next world conflict would be for water. Water is very important for a nation to survive and to ensure their existence. Water is a strategic resource in the globe and an important element in many political conflicts. As water is a strategic resource, we try to find out how water is a strategic resource of Bangladesh.









Water Security: the threat Bangladesh is facing
Contents
 Introduction
 Case of Bangladesh
 Causes of water security in Bangladesh
o Sharing water of trans-boundary rivers
o Inter-river linking project
o Faraka Barrage
o Tipaimukh Dam
o Diminishing underground water
o Pollution
o Climate change
o Unplanned urbanization
 Indo-Bengal water sharing treaties
 Adverse impacts of water scarcity on Bangladesh
o Impact on domestic, municipal water demand
o Impact on agriculture
o Impact on fisheries and wildlife
o Impact on navigation
o Impact on environment/ecological imbalance
o Impact on groundwater
o Increases in salinity
o Impact on forestry
 A case study: begins of north Bengal desertification/ drying up Padma river
 The Indian Plans
 What must Bangladesh do to Survive
 What should be done?
 Conclusion








Water Security: The Threat Bangladesh is Facing
 Introduction
In addition to the food, energy and physical security issue, Bangladesh and its people will soon be facing a massive water security problem which will outweigh all other problems in gravity because without sweet-water (the water we drink and wash with, farm with, grow fishes in, water our plants, vegetables and fruits with) nothing gets done; without sweet-water life and living is impossible. Sweet-water, provided with by rains and snow, carried by rivers, stored underground in natural reservoirs and stored over ground in both artificial and natural reservoirs is quite literally the life-line to survival of all living beings including humans.
Water is considered as one of the most crucial non-traditional security issues. Water security is an elusive concept, but consensus is beginning to emerge in the world community. Water security is essential for human access for health, wellbeing, economic and political stability. It is essential to limit risks of water related hazards. A complete and fair valuation of the resource, sustainability of ecosystems at all parts of the hydrologic cycle and an equitable and cooperative sharing of water resources is very necessary.
For Bangladesh that survival is at stake because ever since 1972, right after Bangladesh became independent, India has been damming off our rivers in its upper reaches, starting with the Farraka Barrage which went into operation in 1974. Bangladesh, because it is one of the world's largest and dynamic deltaic countries, is particularly vulnerable to this threat.
 Case of Bangladesh
The sources of water in Bangladesh are rivers and ground-water. Bangladesh is a lower riparian, river-reign country. There are 808 rivers in Bangladesh where most rivers rise from Himalayan reign and falls into the Bay of Bengal. There are 57 trans-boundary rivers that Bangladesh shares with her neighboring countries; 54 with India and 3 with Myanmar.
Each year about 2.4 billion tons of sediment from the Himalayas is carried by the rivers of Bangladesh to the Bay of Bengal. This sediment is deposited on the continental shelf causing accretion of land to the coast of the country. The high sediment load results in a net accretion about 35 square kilometers of land per year to Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is situated in the deltaic part of the region. Huge volume of water enters into the country from outside and flow into the Bay of Bengal through three mighty rivers and their tributaries and distributaries, namely the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna drain. The Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna river systems drain a total catchment area of about 1.72 million sq km through Bangladesh into the Bay of Bengal. Out of this large catchment area, only 7% lies in Bangladesh. The other co-riparian countries are India, Nepal, Bhutan and China.
 Causes of water scarcity in Bangladesh
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, such as dams and barrages in India. Water scarcity in Bangladesh has various dimensions. An external dimension has the impact for being a lower riparian country, the upper riparian country like India can withdraw water by creating dams and embankments. The internal dimension of water scarcity addresses contaminated ground and surface water. Ground water supply 80% of water that people use. 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. Pollution caused by throwing waste into the water, continues the pressure on water that is yet available.
This creates a class division reaction which can be harmful in the long run. There is again regional dimension on scarcity of water by withdrawal of water from other upper riparian countries like China, Nepal. So considering the causes of water shortage in Bangladesh there are various causes. A glimpse of the causes has been addressed bellow.
 Sharing water of trans-boundary Rivers:
During each monsoon season of June to September, one third of Bangladesh is gripped with flood calamities; two thirds of the country is vulnerable to flood. During the dry months water flow in major rivers decrease drastically. Fresh water becomes scare for use in agriculture, fisheries, navigation, industries, drinking or domestic purposes. As India surrounds Bangladesh from three sides, all the main rivers, especially the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna gets water that comes from Himalayan reign and flow through India, then enter Bangladesh.
Thus the total water system of Bangladesh depends on sharing water with India. Rivers of Bangladesh are both snow-fed and rain-fed, which is the cause of getting water flow into these rivers during the lean season.


Figure: 1 Red balls in the map shows the common/ border rivers of Bangladesh
Source:Oxford school atlas by scan
South Indian Rivers like: Krishna, Godavari and Narmada are only rain-fed, for which they becomes dry during the lean season. India supplies water to these rivers by creating dams, embankments and linking the rivers to transfer the flow. Thus most of the rivers of Bangladesh do not get the proper flow of water that she supposed to get in her rivers. The main problems with sharing water of trans-boundary Rivers are related to Ganges water sharing, India’s plan for Tipaimukh dam, and India’s river linking project.
 Inter-river linking project
India initiated the Inter-River Linking Project which created controversies even in India. The huge inter river linkage program has been taken to link 37 rivers by thirty one 9,000km long lakes to give water access to 150 million lands within India. According to this plan the water of Brahmaputra would be taken to Ganges, from Ganges to Mahananda and Godabari. Water from Godabari would be taken to Krishna and from there to Penar and Cauvery River. The water of
Narmada would be taken to Sabarmati. In dry seasons Bangladesh gets 85% of its sweet water flow from Brahmapurta and Ganges water. Only from Brahmaputra she gets 65% of her water flow. This project would keep Bangladesh to an acute straiten towards her socioeconomic and environmental ecology. Rather there would be structural changes to the rivers.

Figure: 2 the map shows the Inter-River Linking Project of India

 Tipaimukh Dam:
Another ominous factor for Bangladesh is the Tipaimukhi Dam which was initiated in 1948. Indian President Manmohan Singh established the foundation stone of this project in 23 November 2005. A high capacity dam would be created in the Tipaimukhi Hydroelectric project of India having a height of 162.8 meter. The water containing power of this dam is 15.5 billion cubic meter and electricity produce capacity is 1,500 megawatt. 226 big dams would be created in their convenient places in south east of India to produce 99,000 megawatt electricity within the next 50years. It would be created align the border of Karimganj of Assam above the River Borak. This Borak River is the main stream of the Branch Rivers; Surma and Kushiara. Both these rivers conjointly created the big Meghna in Bangladesh. The Tipaimukhi High Dam is situated very adjacent to Bangladesh border.

If the rivers Surma and Kushiara die there would be no Meghna River in Bangladesh. Thus it is not only Sylhet and the Hawor localization that is in danger but also the localization around Meghna is in big risk. Economy of the country and the normal life of the people of Bangladesh would be paralyzed.

Figure: 3 the map shows the part of Bangladesh that would get affected by the Tipaimukh Dam Project by India
 Diminishing underground water:
Under-ground water is the second large source of fresh water for Bangladesh. Before the discovery of arsenic contamination in Bangladesh, in 1994 (officially) groundwater used to be considered a safer source of drinking water. People get 80% water of their total need from underground. Annual ground water produced in Bangladesh is 21.09 km-cube/year and the surface water is 83.91 kmcube/ year. Nearly 97% people are dependent on groundwater sources.
Arsenic contamination of groundwater in Bangladesh is now considered the world's largest case of water pollution. Groundwater in Bangladesh is also polluted by a number of anthropogenic and natural sources. The most widespread anthropogenic sources are the infiltration of industrial and urban wastes disposed on the ground or in surface water bodies. Also intrusion or infiltration of saline water contaminates groundwater.
 Pollution:
Pollution is one of the important and alarming elements of water scarcity. We have a short supply of water hence that is being contaminated for many reasons. Therefore the scarcity and the demand for fresh water are increasing. 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.
Pollution water causes chlorine induced diarrhea. Sources of pollution are factories, power plants and sewage treatment plants because they emit pollutants at discrete locations, usually through a pipe that leads to a lake or stream.
 Climate Change
Climate is a very significant factor as Bangladesh is an agro-based country and is largely dependent on nature. The fertile land and soil helps to grow grain that feed the huge population. Lives of people are largely dependent on climate, as a huge population lives in river banks and coastal areas. Thus any reaction of the environment would create a large number of environmental refugees that would destabilize the country. The Himalayan glacier is melting which increases water flow of the rivers. But India’s withdrawal of water from trans-boundary Rivers does not let the rivers of Bangladesh get proper flow of water.
The World Water Development Report, published in March 2003 reveal, that by the middle of this century (2050), 7 billion people in 60 countries including Bangladesh are likely to face acute shortage of water. Only 50cm rise in the sea level would engulf two-thirds of the country. 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 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) The global watchdog on climate change has identified South Asia as the most susceptible region in the world to climate change. The international community also recognizes that Bangladesh is especially vulnerable due to hydro-geological and socio-economic factors that include: geography, flat deltaic topography with low elevation, extreme climate variability governed by monsoons, high population density, poverty, dependency on crop, agriculture, highly influenced by climate variability and change.

Figure 4: The map shows the affect of sea level rise Source: global warming art. Com
The climate change threat for Bangladesh is related to development, which causes the most threatening impacts on the natural, social, and economic systems of the country. 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.
 Unplanned Urbanization:
The way to development in name of urbanization creates pressure on water. For the process of urbanization and growing population increases houses and high rises, which is created by filling marshy lands, ponds or lakes. The wastes from housing constructions creates blockage in the drains, which hampers rain water flow during rainy season and causes flood.
 Indo-Bengal water sharing treaties
The River Ganges, originating from the glaciers of the Himalayas at a height of about 7,000 metres, flows 2,550 km down through the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal before joining the Jamuna (Brahmaputra) at Goalandaghat in Bangladesh. India first planned to build a barrage at Farakka in 1951, and since then Pakistan government began to point out its likely adverse effects on East Pakistan (Bangladesh).
After the liberation of Bangladesh in December 1971, to ensure an equitable sharing of the water resources of the region, the Bangladesh Prime Minister Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi made a joint declaration on 19 March, 1972 to set up a permanent Joint River Commission. In pursuit of that declaration a Joint River Commission was formed in November 1972.
In May 1974, the prime ministers of the two countries in a joint declaration acknowledged that there was a need to augment the dry season flow of the Ganges at Farakka to meet the full requirement of Bangladesh and of Kolkata port. Before the Farakka Barrage was put into operation there was a need for an acceptable agreement between the two countries. In 1975, an interim agreement was signed to allow India to operate the feeder canals of the barrage experimentally for 41 days from April 21 to May 31.
In 1976 and 1977, India unilaterally withdrew the Ganges water despite strong protests from Bangladesh. The efforts at negotiation broke down in September 1976, and Bangladesh decided to internationalize the issue.
Following the formation of the Janata Dal government in Delhi a more favorable atmosphere for talks was created and in November 1977, a five-year treaty with the Ziaur Rahman government of Bangladesh on water sharing was concluded. The term of the treaty expired in 1982. On 4 October 1982, the government of Hussain Muhammad Ershad signed with India a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on water sharing for two years. On 22 November 1985 another understanding for three years was signed.
Following the formation of the Awami League government, negotiations resumed and finally, a 30-year treaty on sharing of the Ganges water was signed between India and Bangladesh on 12 December 1996 in New Delhi. According to the treaty, the Ganges water would be distributed from Farakka for the two countries between January 1 and May 31 each year on the basis of an agreed formula, and that India would make every effort to maintain the flow at Farakka at the average level of previous 40 years. At any critical period Bangladesh would get the guaranteed flow of 35,000 cusec. The two countries also agreed to the need for mutual cooperation in augmenting the flow of the Ganges on a long-term basis, and for entering into similar accords in sharing the flows of other common rivers.


Figure: 5 Impact of water scarcity in North of Bangladesh Source: globalwarmingart.com

In spite of the long term treaty Bangladesh still do not getting the amount of water that she supposed to get according to the treaty. The Gorai, which is the main tributary, carrying water to the south west region becomes totally dry at the beginning of lean period.
 Adverse Impacts of water scarcity on Bangladesh
Bangladesh is a river-reign country. Her huge population is largely dependent of water. The Ganges has been flowing through Bangladesh from time immemorial. The lives and livelihoods of people, together with flora and fauna, are conjoined. The rivers provide drinking water, sustains agriculture, forestry, fisheries and inland navigation, helps to operate a quarter of the county’s industrial activities, prevents salinity intrusion from the Bay of Bengal and plays the most significant role to maintain the ecology and bio-diversity of the country. There impact of water scarcity has a major impact on individual life and on the country as well.
According to a UN climate report, the Himalayan glaciers that are the sources of Asia's biggest rivers - Ganges, Indus, Brahmaputra, Yangtze, Mekong, Salween and Yellow - could disappear by 2035 as temperatures rise. Approximately 2.4 billion people live in the drainage basin of the Himalayan Rivers. India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar could experience floods followed by droughts in coming decades. In India alone, the Ganges provides water for drinking and farming for more than 500 million people.


 Impact on Domestic, municipal water demand:
Fresh water is a fundamental requirement of all living organisms, crops, livestock and humanity. According to World Health Organization (WTO), each human being requires 20 liters of fresh water per day, though this figure varies from country to country. 1 billion people live without clean drinking water. In Bangladesh population with access to water supply is: Urban 99%, Rural
97%.
The Gorai River is the main tributary; carrying water to the southwest region is becoming dry because of not getting proper water flow for India’s waters withdrawal from Ganges. Gorai plays a vital role as it passes through the industrial belt of Khulna, linking Rupsa-Passur and Sibsa river system and eventually emptying into the Bay of Bengal. The sweet water supply through the Gorai is vital for pushing back the salinity and keeping an overall environmental balance. This shrinks the supply of fresh water to the region. In Dhaka city the daily need for water is 2billion liters where the supply is 1600- 1700 liters only. Access to fresh water is decreasing day by day for shortage of fresh water, for population growth and for contaminated water.
 Impact on Agriculture:
Food production depends on availability of water. The interdependency of these two areas is evident. Crops in hot countries need 70% of all the water use in the world. It is alleged that to produce 1kg of wheat needs 1000 liters, rice 1400 liters, and beef 13,000 liters. Thus we see that there is a huge demand of sweet water to grow crops.
Agriculture contributes about 30% of the GDP in Bangladesh. However, the agricultural production is heavily dependent on irrigation, which in turn depends on the availability of water. The availability of water has been affected by the global environmental changes in the region since water flows are controlled by tri state, Bangladesh, India and Nepal. Out of total water available, agriculture alone withdraws 86% in which 73% comes from ground water and the rest 27% from surface water sources in Bangladesh. In case of total irrigated area, surface water covers 31% and ground water covers 69% of irrigated area.
As the salinity is increasing more lands are becoming barren. Most of the agricultural work uses water from rivers, wells, tube-wells. For the presence of arsenic and using that water in agriculture the vegetables that Bangladesh grows is losing actually food value.
 Impact on Fisheries and Wildlife:
Fisheries sector takes 9% water of the country that contributes 4% in the GDP. Total number of species available in the water bodies estimated in 1990s is of 260 kinds. From fresh water every year 510,509 metric tons of fish was caught in 1990 and 810,832 metric tons in 2000. Freshwater aquaculture production was 135,442 metric tons in 1987 and 387,223 metric tons in 1997.
Fisheries and wildlife are integral aspects of economic development in Bangladesh and strongly linked to the advancement of the country. Fish supplies 75% protein to Bangladesh people.
The people who are dependent on water for their livelihood and living would try to find an alternate for survival. They would start resettling into the cities which are already over populated. This huge number of people would remain jobless, thousands of mouth without food, and a place to live. It would completely destabilize the country gradually.
 Impact on Navigation:
Inland navigation holds one of the most important economic assets of Bangladesh. The water ways provides the cheapest mean of transportation. But the growing sedimentation and siltation from the upper riparian rives disrupted communications in many water channels. It would again create joblessness and resettlements and would result in the high prices of goods in the market.
 Impact on Environment:
It is very important to preserve and protect the natural environment to have a sustainable development. All the environmental resources are linked to water. Water is essential for the protection, restoration, and preservation of the environment and its bio-diversity including wetlands, mangrove and other national forests, endangered species, and the water quality. Water is life and is necessary for all ecosystems to survive. Sound ecosystems ensure balanced communities of species and rich livelihoods. Rich and diverse livelihoods are fundamental for our well-being and for the survival of the poorest. Currently, around 1, 9 million species are described in the world and millions of others are still to discover.



Figure 6: The map shows the areas affected by sea level rise Source:http://www.unicef.org/bangladesh/Arsenic.pdf
Global warming and the inadequate river water flow, creating dams in the upper riparian countries causes flood in Bangladesh. The alluvial lands go under water, the crops cultivation gets affected, a lot of people become homeless, epidemic breaks out that kills thousands of people, the ground-water level gets affected which cause arsenic problem in the water.
 Impact on Groundwater:
It has been observed that lowered river levels resulted in a reversal of the existing groundwater gradient affecting the availability of groundwater. The fall of groundwater about 10 feet has been observed in most of the wells along both the banks of the rivers the Ganges, the Mohananda and the Gorai-Madhumati The fall of groundwater level is maximum in the districts of Rajshahi and Pabna followed by Kushtia and Jessore. 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.
 Increases in Salinity:
The most devastating effect of the diversion of the Ganges water has been caused by increase in salinity, both in surface and ground water leading to higher soil salinity in the south-west region of Bangladesh. Since the Farakka withdrawals commenced, the salinity ingress pattern in the area has a tendency of cumulative increase due to residual deposits which would further aggravate if the present pattern of Ganges flow continues.
Water reduction in the dry season results the increased salinity in Khulna area from 380 micro-mhos/cm during the pre-diversion period (1974) to about 29,500 micro-mhos/cm in April, 1992. The salinity front of 500 micro-mhos/cm moved through the Passur Estuary from 90 miles to about 136 miles inland after the diversion.
 Impact on Forestry:
The Sundarbans extend about 50 miles north of the Bay of Bengal and are bounded on the east by the Baleswar River and on the west by the international boundary with India. With the increase of salinity, Sundri, the main species of Sundarbans, started drying and the regeneration of the species also decreased. Sundri may ultimately disappear if the salinity goes above the tolerance limit. Again a lot of people are dependent on Sundarbans for their living, which would make this people live a life below the poverty.
 Impact on Public Health:
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. And adequate safe water is key to good health and a proper diet. 1.8 million People die every year from diarrheal 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. For the first time, the number of people without improved drinking water has dropped below one billion.
 A case study: begins of north Bengal desertification/ drying up Padma river:
The effects of the Indian "River Linking Project", the dams and the barrages are already proving horrendous for Bangladesh and can be looked at under three broad heads:
Siltation of rivers, Periodic Desertification & Flooding: The artificially controlled reduction of water flows along rivers result in increasing siltation of all rivers in Bangladesh and with reduction of flows of major rivers, large tracts of land in the Ganges-Brahmaputra basin are turning into semi-arid regions unfit for habitation or cultivation; with the building of Tipaimukh dam and Fulertal barrage even more areas will turn inhabitable.

With the River Linking Project completed, India will have complete control of waters of all rivers running through Bangladesh: during dry seasons withdrawal of waters from already silted up rivers will make of Bangladesh a desert and during the monsoons, release of excess waters will flood the whole of Bangladesh since silted up rivers will be unable to carry waters to the sea. Such periodic desertification and flooding will neither permit habitation nor cultivation, turning Bangladesh into hostile territory for any sort of permanent settlement - the nation-state of Bangladesh will, for all practical purposes, cease to exist.
 The Indian Plans
The Ganges-Brahmaputra basin is Bangladesh and the 54 or so major and minor rivers which flow through it to the Bay of Bengal, all originate in the Himalayas in Nepal, Bhutan and India, all pass through India and India has put into effect plans to garner all the waters of all these rivers to ensure its own water security, leaving Bangladesh high and dry, quite literally.
So besides the Farraka, Teesta and dozens of other smaller barrages along dozens of other smaller rivers, India is building the Tipaimukh dam and Fulertal barrage upstream of the Surma and Kushiara running through the Sylhet division. Since 2004 India is implementing its "River Linking Project" which will link up major rivers in India to their sources in Nepal and Bhutan where massive reservoirs would be built to hold up water. The canal systems developed or under development for the "River Linking Project" will divert waters of major rivers in the east to the much drier west of India. The barrages/dams at Farraka, Teesta and the upcoming ones at Tipaimukh and Fulertal are part of a well thought out plan, implemented in phases.
 What must Bangladesh do to Survive?
National interests being paramount, one doesn't see India backing out from its program of linking rivers through building dams/barrages/reservoirs and canals to garner waters from rivers, notwithstanding Bangladesh's profuse profession & rhetoric of undying friendship and love towards India. One must consider that such "friendship" did not prevent India from building and putting into operation the Farraka barrage in the period 1971 to 1974, when India-Bangladesh relations were at their zenith ever; neither will friendship & good neighborly relations now prevent India from going ahead with the Tipaimukh dam, the Fulertal barrage or the greater River Linking Project.
The only way to persuade India to giving us our rights to survival is to pursue an aggressive and sustained diplomatic and media offensive in every multi-lateral forum including the UN, the SAARC, the OIC, the EU, building world opinions, putting continuous pressure on India to desist from measures which will make Bangladesh uninhabitable.
 What Should be done?
Bangladesh can solve this problem in three ways. Such as
 Adaptation
o Bangladesh should increase her susceptibility and its ability to manage environmental threats. National awareness, national and international cooperation is essential to help the country and its people build the necessary capacity and resilience.
o There are a few methods that we can take to solve the situation like: collecting rain water. During the monsoon Bangladesh have plenty of water which goes waste and in dry season she lacks to survive.
o There is abundant water in the monsoon season, but the scarcity of water is in dry seasons. So if the abundant water can be used in productive sectors like: reservation, producing hydroelectricity and navigation routes, irrigation facilities within tri-partite arrangements, and all the countries of the region can be benefited. On Bangladesh’s claim to India of not getting proper flow of water in Padma for the Farakka barrage, India continuously deny the fact.
 Bi-lateral negotiations
o Bangladesh to get in action, to make the Joint River Committee more active and get the proper data and if there occurs any problem there should be open or non-governmental governmental bi-lateral discussions and rapid actions.
 Raise the issue in international arena.
o Bangladesh can also solve this years old dispute by taking the issue to the International Court of Justice.







 Conclusion:
Bangladesh is a developing small nation with a huge population of over 150 million. This country, since her birth has been fighting so many challenges. People of this nation always fight back whenever there is an external, internal or natural threat. Scarcity of water is creating human life miserable. This country is still largely based on nature. Discussing various dimensions of water security it is possible to face the challenges and live in a sound environment. Considering all the consciousness, internal dimensions can be changed. It is the upper riparian countries who need to understand that de-stabilizing one country in the region would de-stabilize the whole region.
People would constantly try to find their way out which would turmoil the tranquil environment. India should understand the impacts of withdrawal of water from the trans-boundary Rivers. The water that flows within India is not only India’s water. Even India is facing the same consequences when the upper riparian country China also planned to withdraw water from her river, which would make the whole region unstable. Tibet has the world largest river systems. Its river waters are a lifeline to the world’s two most populous states China and India as well as to Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan, Nepal, Cambodia, Pakistan, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. These countries make up 47% of the global population. To reserve the bounteous water reserves that the Tibetan plateau holds, China implemented a plan that has dammed rivers not just to produce hydropower but also to channel water for irrigation and other purpose, and is currently toying with massive inter-basin and inter-river water transfer projects.

In terms of playing global politics it’s again the strength of unity that this region can have to face the world besides being a threat to each other. If the home, the region is not supportive no one nation can play a stronger part in the global politics. So to maintain the peace of the region it is very important that this small land country with huge population remains safe.






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 The Daily Star Magazine.Dhaka,volume-14 issue,646 , 13 February 2009
, Available at, http://www.thedailystar.net/magazine,Accessed on 1 January 2011

Interviews:
 Dr. Imtiaz Ahmed, professor, Department of International Relations, University of Dhaka,
 Dr. Mohammad Didar-ul-Alam, professor, dept. of soil, water and environment, university of Dhaka.