Geo Factsheet

April 1998 Number 45

Flood Management in Bangladesh

The land of Bangladesh has been formed by the deposition of sediment from three great rivers - the Meghna, the Brahmaputra and the
Ganges. These sediments fan out and extend the country into the Bay of Bengal. 80% of the country occupies one of the largest delta
systems in the world and is criss-crossed by thousands of small rivers, creeks and canals. In addition, much of the country is less than
one metre above sea level and is therefore under continuous and increasing threat from flooding. The enhanced greenhouse effect is
raising global temperatures and thermal expansion of the oceans therefore poses a huge risk to the entire country. Despite all of this,
Bangladesh is a very densely populated country and one whose population is increasing rapidly.

Fig 1. Location Map: Bangladesh Flooding - The Benefits

Living on flooded land is a way of life for millions of Bangladeshi people.
During the monsoon between 30 and 50% of the entire country becomes
BHUTAN Bangladesh
NEPAL flooded. The flood waters are used to:
River
International 1. replenish ground water reserves;
boundary
2. provide nutrient-rich sediment for vegetable production in the dry
aputra

season;
INDIA
Brahm

3. provide a resource for aqua-culture - fish supply 75% of dietary

protein and over 10% of annual export earnings;

4. provide ideal conditions for growth of nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria

(blue/green algae) which reduces the need for artificial fertilisers;

5. flush pollutants and pathogens away from domestic areas;

Gange 6. provides some micro-climatic control.
s
Pa INDIA
dm
a Flooding - The Causes
There are five well-documented causes of flooding in Bangladesh:
INDIA
Me

1. River floods. Snow melt in the high Himalayas combined with

ghn

monsoonal rain leads to peak discharges in all three of the major

a

rivers which leads to deep flooding and complete destruction of

agriculture.

2. Outside the monsoon season, heavy rainfall on the hills and flood
plains of Bangladesh and adjacent areas in India also causes extensive
MYANMAR

flooding which is actually of great benefit to agricultural production

since it brings in new nutrients, removes pathogens and is used for
BAY OF BENGAL rice paddy.

3. Flash floods. These are caused by heavy rainfall in and flooding of

Indian rivers, eg. Teesta River in northern India. These are often
Almost all of Bangladesh’s rivers have their origins outside the country. exacerbated by the conversion of forest to row crops which
The drainage basin of the Ganges and Brahmaputra cover 1.75m km2 and decreases interception, decreases water retention and increases the
includes the Himalayas, the Tibetan Plateau and much of northern India. rate of surface run off.
Total rainfall within the Brahmaputra-Ganges-Meghna catchment is huge
and intensely seasonal - 75% of annual rainfall occurs in the monsoon 4. Storm surge floods. These are caused by cyclones and hurricanes
between June and September. In addition, the Ganges and Brahmaputra entering the Bay of Bengal. The great storm surges which result
carry snowmelt waters from the high Himalayas which usually reach the destroy everything in their path.
delta in June and July. Peak discharges of these three great rivers are 5. Drainage congestion. Attempts to decrease flooding by building
immense; 100,000m3 per second (i.e. 100,000 cumecs) in the Brahmaputra, embankments and polders have prevented the back flow of flood
for example. water into the river, actually causing drainage congestion and back
flooding. In this way, embankments have sometimes led to the
All three rivers carry vast quantities of sediment, which is periodically increase siltation of drainage channels and this has created extensive
deposited to form temporary islands and sand banks. River bed erosion and sometimes deep flooding. Precisely the same problem is being
may be rapid and extensive and shallow flooding of the plains annually caused by road embankments, constructed with little thought to
extends to hundreds of kilometres. their effect on flood waters.

1
Flood Management in Bangladesh Geo Factsheet

The Flood Action Plan 5. Compartmentalisation may reduce the flushing effect of the flood waters,
The underlying principle is that it is quite impossible to stop Bangladesh increasing the concentration of pollutants from domestic effluents and
flooding. The aim, then, is to minimise the damage and maximise the agro-chemicals.
benefits of the floodwaters and to ensure that the discharges of the three 6. By preventing back flow to the river, areas of stagnant water will be
great rivers reach the Bay of Bengal with minimum harmful effect. The created which may increase the likelihood of diseases such as cholera.
Flood Action Plan relies upon huge embankments which are meant to run 7. Embankments may cause some wetlands to dry out, leading to a loss of
along the length of the major rivers. However, they are not meant to be able biodiversity.
to withstand the catastrophic flooding incidents of, say 1987 and 1988, 8. There may be a decrease in dry season water flows and a reduction in
but are meant to provide some control of flooding to give a more regular ground water recharge.
regime. Thus, the embankments are fitted with sluices which can be used 9. Decreased flooding will decrease 'capture fishery', which many of the
to reduce river flow and hence, river bank erosion, and which can be used to poor rely upon as their major source of protein. Aqua-culture based
control the speed of damage caused by flooding. upon the compartments is likely to use a much reduced diversity of
fish which may have harmful nutritional effects
The embankments are set back from the rivers, essentially to protect them 10. Land acquisition for the construction of the embankments will lead to
from the erosive power of the rivers. This has the advantage that they are displacement of people and, since the majority of people are landless
cheap both to install and to maintain and that the area between the river and and depend on common property resources such as wetlands, a major
embankment can be used for cereal production. The area behind the concern is that such people will not have access to fishing grounds at
embankment would be compartmentalised into specially constructed all.
compounds where the flood waters will be deliberately contained and
used, for example, for shrimp production. Conclusion
The hydrology of Bangladesh is controlled by factors that are outside of its
Despite the fact that millions of pounds of foreign aid have now been boundaries. The economy of, and way of life in Bangladesh is dependent
diverted into embankment construction, opposition to this form of flood upon year-round flooding and although it is essential that catastrophic
control is increasing. The most serious criticisms of this approach are: events are avoided, agriculture and a large percentage of export earnings are
dependent upon inundation for long periods of the year. There is little
1. Embankments effectively increase the period of inundation, since they agreement among the international aid agencies as to how the peak discharges
prevent back flow into the rivers. Ironically, then, flood water damage of the three great rivers, the Meghna, the Brahmaputra and the Ganges, can
may be greater after embankments have been constructed. be controlled, but the current Flood Action Plan relies upon the
2. When the embankments are breached, damage will be greater because establishment of a series of embankments which, although not designed to
of the sudden nature of the inundation which is more harmful than withstand catastrophic flood events, are meant to give villages control over
gradual inundation. This was meant to have been prevented by the the speed of most flooding events. However, this approach has many
sluices, but in practice insufficient sluices have been built and there critics who believe that establishment of embankments along thousands of
have been long-running arguments about who should control the sluices. miles of these rivers will cause serious social, economic and environmental
3. Sudden breaches of the embankments may also deposit deep layers of problems.
infertile river sand over the land, dramatically decreasing fertility.
4. No research has been carried out on what effect this new hydrological Acknowledgements;
This Geo Factsheet was researched and written by Kevin Byrne
regime will have on nitrogen fixation by cyanobacteria. Reduced nitrogen Geo Press, 10 St Paul's Square, Birmingham, B3 1QU
Geopress Factsheets may be copied free of charge by teaching staff or students, provided that their school is
fixation may lead to increased need for artificial nitrogen fertilisers. a registered subscriber.
No part of these Factsheets may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any other form
Fig 2. The impact of the flood plan on inland fisheries or by any other means, without the prior permission of the publisher. ISSN 1351-5136

Pre Flood Plan

Fish movement and migration
Fish breeding, early growth and development
River Fish biomass contribution to river and beels
Beel

Medium flood Deep

land flooded lands

Post Flood Plan

Increased foodgrain production
Fish movement and migration inhibited
Loss of fish Fish breeding, early growth and development inhibited
biomass Reduction of fish biomass contribution to rivers and beels
River Flood contribution Reduced flushing of pollutants
control from floodland Increased damage because of large periods of inundation
Flood embankment Beel
control
embankment Zero to shallow Deep
flooding flooded lands