Environmental Critique on Water Sectoral Environmental Impact Assessment of Bangladesh

Abstract

The water resources sector of Bangladesh relies on the Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) to assess the possible positive and negative impacts on the environmental and social components of the project affected areas. The motivation of this research was to identify the key environmental components, gaps and lapses of current EIA practices in water resources sector of Bangladesh. Under the motivation, this study has determined the effectiveness of a water resources EIA (Gorai River Restoration Project) for sustainable implication of water resources development and management projects in Bangladesh. Component-based checklist method and effectiveness review framework were used in this study to draw conclusions and to make environmental decisions on the important sections of the studied EIA. Review of the key aspects and the analysis of the effectiveness framework disclosed that the studied EIA is well performed and have considered sufficient information for decision making, but the residual and unavoidable impacts were not identified for all the important environment components in the construction and operation phase. Inclusion of important environmental and social components under different intervention scenarios, consideration of alternative flow regimes, suggestions and analysis of different project interventions ensuring public participation were the key strengths of the studies EIA. The considered environmental issues and aspects of this study can be used as guidelines for the future EIAs under the similar geo-environmental contexts. The developed review framework can be implemented in water resources EIA review process to ensure longterm sustainability of water resources projects.

Spatial and Temporal Variation of Soil and Water Salinity in the South‐Western and South‐Central Coastal Region of Bangladesh

“…The most severely affected area is the south‐western coastal area of Bangladesh (Cemek et al, ; Mondal et al, ; Mukhopadhyay et al, ). Soil salinity level in the south‐central part shows some variations due to the upstream freshwater flow from three mighty rivers (Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna) and complex sediment deposition (Mondal et al, ; Rahman, ; SRDI, ). In this research, soil salinity is used as a robust parameter to visualize the extent of salinity intrusion, as surface and groundwater salinity varies significantly during the summer and monsoon.…”

“…Increased monsoon flow has introduced changes in the annual flooding pattern in Bangladesh (Khan, ). There are concerns that the reduced dry‐season flow may have significant socio‐economic impacts through altering the hydrological system, inducing accelerated sedimentation in the Gorai River (an offtake of the Ganges) and facilitating the penetration of saline water further inland (MoEF, ; Rahman, ; Swain, ). For Bangladesh, salinity ingress is likely to be more severe with decreasing freshwater flow from the upstream rivers and sea‐level rise (Mondal et al, ; Rahman, ).…”