A competition to set up deep tube wells and shallow tube wells is continuing in the crop fields of Naogaon and Rajshahi districts.
No survey has ever been made of the depletion of the level of underground water reservoirs for lifting water from there.
Due to the unplanned lifting of water, the underground water level has gone at least 15 feet lower during the last one decade.
Environmentalists are worried that an imminent appalling water calamity awaits the Barind region if the indiscriminate lifting of underground water is not stopped immediately.
It is learnt that every year from the end of January, cultivation of crops starts in the Barind region of Naogoan and Rajshahi districts. At the start of the tilling of land and sowing of saplings of crops, water is irrigated in the soil from underground sources through the deep tube wells and the shallow tube wells.
Most of the deep tube wells in the region are set up by the Barind Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA) commercially to supply water to the fields of farmers. The BMDA deep tube well is connected through a policy and every deep tubewell is set up for a fixed area and no other deep tube well or shallow tube well is allowed to be set up within the area under the policy.
But in defiance of the policy fixed by BMDA, many deep-tube wells and shallow-tube wells are being set up privately beside or within the areas of the BMDA deep-tube wells.
There is no correct statistics on how much water is being fetched from underground sources during every season. But, during the season of irrigation, the use of underground water increases manifold.
As a result, environmentalists are apprehending a long-term negative influence on the environment of the Barind region. In a workshop held recently at Naogaon, a harrowing report of a survey of the depletion of underground water was revealed.
Mijnaur Rahman, Head of the Department of Geology and Environmental Science of Naogaon Government College informed that the day is running out to think about the optimum use of water and to check misuse of water.
Mahmudul Alam Shahin, Executive Engineer of Public Health Engineering of Naogaon informed that the water of the Barind region is depleting fast every year due to unplanned use of water. An acute shortage of water is being felt in the Barind region at the end of February every year.
Local people also organised a human chain in Naogaon in protest against the setting up of excess tube wells for conducting the irrigation business. They demanded an immediate stoppage of the irrigation business to save the Barind region from an imminent environmental disaster.
It is learnt, the tendency of setting up shallow-tube wells has been increased after the stoppage of the commissioning of the deep tube wells in 2012.
Matiur Rahman, Executive Engineer of BMDA informed that there would be an acute shortage of water in the Barind region if no policy is maintained in using water.
According to the last four years' survey, the underground water level of the Barind region dropped in December 2020 to 48.2 inches, in December 2021 it stood at 50.8 inches, in December 2022 the level was 53.5 inches and in December 2023 the level ran to 59.4 inches deep.
