Bringing Integrity, Bangladesh can mitigate drinking water crisis in southwest coast
Bangladesh has made considerable progress over the past 17 years in achieving water and sanitation goals, much needs to be done by 2030 to achieve the SDGs. But there are still about 71 million people do not have safely managed water. Proper water management with integrity can solve this crisis. Blog by Sohanur Rahman who awarded a youth led project on Youth for Water and Climate initiative of Global Water Partnership in southwestern coastal area of Bangladesh.
Bangladesh is one of the most disaster-prone and vulnerable countries in the world due to the adverse impacts of climate change and its coastal area is most vulnerable. South-Western coastal peoples have to struggle against natural disasters every year. The lives and livelihoods of the people in this region are at high risk by super cyclones such as SIDAR and Aila. They are facing many challenges, water crisis one of them.
Saline water intrusion from Bay of Bengal is increasing in the Sundarbans mangrove areas lack of the water flow in the river from May to November. Due to the lack of rivers flow, the sweet water availability has decreasing day to days. In this result, The Sea is steadily eating into the Sundarban’s, the world’s largest delta and mangrove forest, threatening an ecological disaster for the Bengal basin region.
``Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.” - Rime of the Ancient Mariner Like this most influential poems in the English language by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, In the dry season, 50 million people in 3 disticts of 16 sub-districts suffer from severe acute water crisis from the Sharonkhola front of the Sundarbans, in the west of Shyamnagar. Especially in the coastal sub-districts of Bagerhat like Sharankhola, Mongla, Chitalmari; Kaira, Dacope, Paikgacha of Khulna; This crisis in Shyamnagar subdistrict of Shatkhira is awful including Dumuria, Kaira, Batiaghata of Khulna; Ashasuni, Kaliganj, Debhata, Tala; And inhabitants of different areas of Bagerhat Sadar, Rampal and Morelganj still deprived of pure drinking water.
In Fakir Lalon Shah’s words, the most prominent figure in the Baul ( mystic minstrels from Bengal) tradition: `Sumudrer kinare theke jol bine chataki molo/ Hey re bidhi ore bidhi tor mone ki ehai Chilo? (Living by the shore of ocean, the Jacobin cuckoo , a monsoon bird, drinks only rain water or drops from leaves, can die with thirst but never drinks water from other source; cannot procure water. Oh my Sustainer! Did you have this in your mind?). Like this Chatak birds (Jacobin cuckoo) coastal people are waiting for rain drops to harvest because their tubewell water contaminated by salinity with arsenic and high level irons. The problem is particularly salient in salinity prone coastal areas and arsenic hot spots, where an estimated 43,000 Bangladeshis every year die of waterborne diseases, mostly but not exclusively in poor rural areas according the Independent.
The locals and water rights activist thinks that, Salinity is responsible for the water scarcity in the southwestern country with due to basically weak water resources management in the coastal region of greater Khulna are facing the severe insecurity of the drinking water. With an annual average rainfall of 1800–2000 mm in the coastal areas, Bangladesh is in a good position to handle this crisis to using the adaptive method rainwater harvesting provide precious potable water.
UN says, Water is at the core of sustainable development and is critical for socio-economic development, healthy ecosystems and for human survival itself. The Sustainable Development Goals address this issue in their goal number 6, which aims to: “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”. Target 6.1 specifies: “by 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all” and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally. Increasing the focus on rainwater harvesting and ensure integrity in water sector Bangladesh can achieving this target .
In focal group discussion, Local peoples and youth have identified the main root causes of negative impacts of Farakka barrage on the Gangya, the More than four decades after India built the downstream Bangladesh continues to face problems with rivers drying up, the introduction of salt water by cutting dams, unregulated shrimp cultivation, low motions of river –canal flows etc the crisis of drinking water is continuing for this period.
Impacts of climate change, sea level rise is rising and the flow of sweet water in the rivers is declining. Then the pond and other reservoirs have become saline in cultivating unplanned shrimp. As a result, the water crisis in coastal areas has increased. The main source of water including pond-canal and rivers, open water bodies, is increasing day by day due to the occupation and filling of political influential people.
Although, the peoples has facing the lack of sufficient water this coastal region from many decades. Besides, the sources of drinking water on the coast almost completely destroyed in 2007, SIDAR and the 2009 cyclone ‘Aila’, due to the formation of super-water, it moved a high level crisis . Due to climate change, the amount of salinity in the coastal river has almost doubled to the acceptable level. As a result, life and livelihood of the coast has become extremely at stake. Salinity, temperature rise and tidal flood have put negative impact in every part of the coastal community.
Coastal people are suffering from ingesting and cultivating with saline water. Hence, it is very important for these people to find alternatives for their needs of drinking water and land that can be irrigated with non-saline water. People are forced to migrate from these areas to nearby city or capital due to income and food poverty resulting from adverse impacts of climate change. These resource-poor people; constantly affected by frequent extreme events and slow-steady ingress of salinity; tends to move to new areas, preferably city. If these needs are met, these people will be able to run their livelihood and live healthy.
It is undeniable thing that, In the unfavorable environment of the country’s socioeconomic reality, women are forced to collecting drinking water for all the families. It is known that rural women and girls are getting drinking water at least two kilometers to walk. In many cases, they have to drink saline water due to the lack of clean water. Because of safe water crisis, Local Girls and women’s would have to run from one village to another to collect a pitcher of drinking water. Peoples are not only move to migrate others due to lack of their jobs, they are also at serious health risks, especially women and children for saline water has gradually consolidated the southern part of Bangladesh.
Researchers says, The saline water has a negative impact on the health of mothers and children also, including more cases of (pre)eclampsia and gestational hypertension in pregnant women, and a higher rate of infant mortality in this area. Hypertensive disorders in pregnancy are among the leading causes of maternal and PeriNatal Mortality (PNM) in low-income countries like Bangladesh. According to the report of Deutsche Welle (DW), Nearly 200,000 women and adolescent girls in the coastal area close to the Sundarbans, including Ashashuni and Shyamnagar upazilas in Shatkhira, Mongla and Sharankhola of Bagerhat, Dakop and Paikgacha of Khulna, are at risks. Maternal and child mortality rates are also raising their due to pre-eclampsia. Children’s are suffering from water born and skin diseases .
Other hand, the government-NGOs have such initiative which running to mitigate this crisis, but it is insufficient opposite to the needs. There have a lack of proper planning, coordination and monitoring including public participation in the water sector. As a result, if government or donors allocated WASH budget in this sector, targeted peoples are not benefited lack of transparency and accountability. The government’s discriminatory policies and city-wide water supply management are also responsible for the well-being of the coastal people, thoughts of local representatives and social movement leaders.
This opinions came from a discussion on rain water conservation in Sharankhola of Bagerhat by the speakers.In this meeting held in the auditorium of Rayenda area, Mir Sarwar Hossain, Chairman of the Sharonkhola Upazila NGO Coordination Committee presided over while keynote paper presented by the project’s director and international youth water and climate winner Sohanur Rahman. Youth of different unions , Sharankhola upazila took part in the dialogue phase, during the consultation moderated by youth activist Sultana Munni. In the meeting of the local people, the discussion of such a variety of deprivation and inconsistencies in the water sector comes in the discussion of the provision of safe drinking water by saving rain water in SharanKhola. In collaboration with Bangladesh Water Partnership and Global Water Partnership, the Social Economic Development Society organized this consultation. They also expressed their opinion that the youth can play a strong role in building the readiness of the water sector.
Because of Political influence of water management, the real vulnerable is deprived to access to drinking water. There is no government party or political/ religious identity in the water rights issue. Like voter rights are equal to the poor, the same access rights of water to all. Every people have access to safe drinking water. With the least importance to the mainstream, it is necessary to help the real miserable people behind the other regions. There are some overlapping, miss-coordination and monitoring of NGO activities. The citizen’s involved as token participation in the needs analysis but needed full and equal . It will not be possible to ensure the accountability without effective participation of the community peoples.
Therefore, in order to deal with the crisis, more effective and coordinated action is needed in the public and private sectors, including the increase of citizen and youth participation. Ensuring safe water supply to the affected people of the coastal areas, they have demanded a long-term plan.
