Bangladesh is getting drier every year due to India's unilateral withdrawal of water from the common river Ganges

flowing upstream from India. The quantity of water down the Farakka point has been critically declining due to taking out of the Ganges water by upper riparian India through various canals by violating the water sharing agreement. Over and above, there are other unresolved issues and irritants between India and Bangladesh, one of which is the long outstanding border issue. Bangladesh had long ago handed over its Berubari enclave to India but has been waiting for more than 34 years to get the Mujib-Indira Border Accord ratified by Indian parliament for the handover of Tin-Bigha corridor to Bangladesh. But the irritant which remains singularly thorny since long between Dhaka and Delhi is the water sharing issue of the common rivers flowing from India to Bangladesh. The flow of the oncemighty river Ganges (Padma) has decreased alarmingly due to withdrawal of water at Farakka point in India, leading to drying up of at least 15 of its tributaries. It is now a mere memory that the fishermen living along the river Padma used to catch hilsa fish near Rajshahi city but in last couple of decades waters has dried up giving rise to sandy islands on the dried bed of the Padma.

GORAI River in dry season

GORAI River in Rainy season

Unilateral withdrawal of the Ganges water during the dry months resulted in serious adverse effects in the south-western and western districts of Bangladesh, covering almost 20 per cent of country's area. It has adversely affected the environment, agriculture, industries, fisheries, navigation the river regime and salinity culminating in the surface and ground water.

Impact of the withdrawal of water: The impact of the withdrawal of water is very
dangerous for our live. Water is a very important natural thing that we are depending on water in every sector in our life. Food crop production, fisheries, irrigation, water table, soil quality and food security. The impact of withdraw of water is given below:

Crop Production: For the crop production water is the main resource. If the water is
unavailable, then the production of crop is destroying.

A dry crop field

Irrigation: Irrigation is the main matter for crop production. If the irrigation is does not exists
properly then the crop is not survive. Crop is related to our live hood. Farmers are collect water in two ways. 1. Rain water and 2. River water. In dry season river water is the biggest resource of water.

Arsenic Problem: Now a days arsenic problem is very much dangerous for us. People are not
get water from river in dry season. For this reason they are collected water from underground water for irrigation of their crop. For this reason the arsenic is come through the underground water and mixed with the cultivated land as well as with the crop.

Arsenic is mixed with crops through underground water Water Table: The water table is the level at which the submarine pressure is far from atmospheric pressure. It may be conveniently visualized as the 'surface' of the subsurface materials that are saturated with groundwater in given vicinity. However, saturated conditions may extend above the water table as surface tension holds water in some pores below atmospheric pressure. Individual points on the water table are typically measured as the elevation that the water rises to in a well screened in the shallow groundwater. Aquifer drawdown or over drafting and the pumping of fossil water increases the total amount of water in the hydrosphere that is subject to transpiration and evaporation thereby causing accretion in water vapour and cloud cover which are the primary absorbers of infrared radiation in the earth's atmosphere. Adding water to the system has a forcing effect on the whole earth system, an accurate estimate of which hydro geological fact is yet to be quantified.

Water table Navigability: experts in BIWTA and EDB state that massive sedimentation has reduced navigability of Bangladeshs classified waterways to less than 1000 km from 6000 km in the 0506 lean periods i.e. navigability of waterways drops to 176th. Only two major waterways, DhakaMongla and Dhaka- Chittagong. Having total length of about 600 km are full navigable. The remaining waterways particularly in northern region, have reached a serious pint. The trend of sedimentation shows the situation going out of control and all major waterways will lose navigability with the start of lean period every year. We had lots of river. We used these rivers to transport our different types of goods like diesel, jute, fertilizer, rice and many other things. But now the number of river is decreasing and the a lot number of shoal here and there in the river. For this reason the navigability is decrease. And the cost of the products are increase.

A shoal near the Jamuna River

Fisheries: in recent years the fisheries sector has been playing an increasingly important role in
the economic uplift efforts of Bangladesh. It is a labor- intensive and quick- yielding sector which augments growth and alleviated poverty. Around 1.3 million people are directly employed in the fisheries sector alone.

Bangladesh had nearly 1000 rivers and tributaries before the Farakka barrage and now the figure has come down to 100. So it is very alarming for our fisheries sector.

Soil quality: Soil quality is the capacity of a specific kind of soil to function, within natural or
managed ecosystem boundaries, to sustain plant and animal productivity, maintain or enhance water and air quality, and support human health and habitation. Soil quality is very important for production of crop. So if we draw underground water than for our irrigation, then the quality of soil is damaged. The typical urban household uses water for drinking and sanitation. But rural areas use water for a wide range of purposes. Even in irrigated areas water is used not only for the main field crops but also for domestic use, home gardens, trees and other permanent vegetation, and livestock (Bakker et al. 1999). Other productive uses include fishing, harvesting of aquatic plants and animals, and a variety of other enterprises such as brick making. In addition, irrigation systems can have a positive or negative effect on the environment. Thus, the withdrawal of water affects the rural household, rural economy, and environment in a number of ways. In this way many people are unemployed and the food security is also damaged. Unilateral withdrawal of the Ganges water during the dry months resulted in serious adverse effects in the south western and western districts of Bangladesh, covering almost 20 per cent of country's area. The effects of this have been severe for Bangladesh where the salinity front have moved some 280 kilometers upstream northward from the coast in the south and the salinity level in surface water has increased almost six times. It was also evident that the Sundarbans, one

of the world's largest mangrove forests, is being degraded due to increased salinity in the estuarine rivers. Agriculture is the main mode of livelihood in Bangladesh where over 65 per cent of the population is dependent on farming. That is why the people's livelihood is inextricably linked to water. Bangladesh's water, both above and below the ground, provides a multitude of services to its population: water to drink, water for agricultural production, fishery and river transport. Water is Bangladesh's lifeline that is now under stress putting the nation in a bad situation.

References:
1.http://www.google.com/search?
hl=en&biw=1360&bih=640&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=dry+river+of+bangladesh +picture&btnG=Search

2. www.facebook.com 3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_table#Effects_on_Climate 4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_quality 5. http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=121930