Abstract
Bangladesh is one of the most flood prone countries in the world, with almost 80% of its area being floodplain of three mighty rivers—the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna. Over the years, many flood control projects have been built to safeguard its paddy crop from repeated floods in order to ensure food security for its ever increasing population. Large scale intervention in the fragile floodplain environment has however resulted in unintended consequences for physical and human environment, causing concerns for the long-term sustainability of such interventions. Physical consequences include silting up of surrounding rivers and waterlogging within the projects. Deterioration of water quality and loss of fish which is the major sources of animal protein in the country have direct consequences on human health. Recently two feasibility studies related to flood control projects have been carried out at the Institute of Water and Flood Management. The first study was on resuscitation of a river which became almost dead due to a regulator built about thirty years back at its mouth for flood control and the second study was on feasibility of a new flood control project. The lessons learnt in the first flood control project along with other flood control projects in the country were utilized in advocating and undertaking a fresher approach to flood control project focusing on sustainability issues. This new approach was accepted by the implementing agency—Bangladesh Water Development Board, opening up a newer direction regarding the future of flood control projects in the country.
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Acknowledgements
The author served as Team Leader of the two feasibility studies carried out for BWDB—(i) Feasibility Study with ESIA for Resuscitation of Ichamoti River in Pabna District and (ii) Feasibility Study for Flood Control, Drainage and Irrigation System at Gowainghat in Sylhet District. These studies formed the basis of this chapter. The support of BWDB towards adoption of newer approach in planning and design of FCDI projects in a floodplain context, propagated in these two studies is gratefully acknowledged.
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Rahman, M.R. (2022). Future of Flood Control Projects in Bangladesh Considering the Health of Its Floodplain and Inhabitants. In: Leal Filho, W. (eds) Handbook of Human and Planetary Health. Climate Change Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09879-6_4
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