A GRADUAL decline in the water level of the River Padma, the eastern and main stream of the Ganges that flows southwest for 365 kilometres to its confluence with the River Meghna near the Bay of Bengal, in Bangladesh鈥檚 northwest is worrying. Researchers believe that the situation has resulted from intensified groundwater depletion in the High Barind Tract, which is known for severe water scarcity, and over-exploitation upstream. An analysis of the Water Development Board data shows that the water flow in the river during the dry season of January鈥揗ay in the past five years declined to 1,076 cubic metres per second in 2024 from 2,093 cubic metres per second in 2019, which is almost by a half. The river had a flow of 3,685 cubic metres per second in 1974 before the Farakka Barrage, 18 kilometres upstream from the border in Murshidabad, was commissioned. The yearly minimum water level declined to 2.98 metres in 2024 from 4.59 metres in 2020 and the yearly maximum to 12.38 metres in 2024 from 13.37 metres in 2019.
A study led by a University of Rajshahi geology and mining teacher on the eastern bank of the river with the simulation of groundwater flow characteristics and dynamic exchanges with surface water for the period of 1980鈥�2020, published in the Netherlands-based journal Biodiversity and Conservation this January, suggests a declining trend in the groundwater level in the Barind Tract, an area generally higher than other places and with much less rainfall, in the dry summer season. Whilst the groundwater level almost recovered to its original state during the monsoon season before 2000, the groundwater level in the regions has been declining at an alarming rate since then as it fails to return to the previous level even during the monsoon season. The groundwater level is found to have declined by 5.22 metres over the four decades, putting the deficit between groundwater recharge and discharge in the river basin at 2,044,000 litres a year. The study conducted along a 58-kilometre stretch, from the river鈥檚 entry point at Chapainawabganj to Ishwardi in Pabna, spanning 12 upazilas of the three districts, predicts that in the next four decades, the annual deficit could reach 81,760,000 litres a year, noting that the deficit would increase if the water flow of the river kept declining and groundwater extraction increased for irrigation purposes.
It is, therefore, time that the government implemented, as the study suggests, coordinated water and land resource management strategies such as harvesting rainwater, capturing rain into the ground, improving irrigation, ensuring crop diversification and regulating groundwater extraction. The government should also look into the water flow of the cross-border river.
