Surface water irrigation appeared to be a best tool to mitigate the gradually mounting pressure on underground water in the drought-prone Barind area having scores of natural water bodies which currently remain in uncared and derelict condition.
Prof Niamul Bari said surface water conservation can be the crucial means of mitigating the water crisis, which is being deepened due to deficit rainfall, in the region, including its vast Barind tract.
Inadequate rainfall has been escalating the crises in the region for the last couple of decades.
Prof Bari who teaches at the Department of Civil Engineering in Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology (RUET), said there are enormous scopes of enriching the surface water resources through proper management of the water bodies.
Prospects of boosting irrigation by surface water are very bright as it has scores of natural water bodies which remain in uncared and derelict condition at present.
Referring to various research findings Prof Chowdhury Sarwar Jahan said there are around 10,000 ponds, 200 canals and 10 other big sized waterholes in the barind areas comprising Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj and Naogaon districts.
He cited the instance of Beelbhatia, a vast water body and wetland of around 6,388 acres, at Bholahat Upazila in Chapainawabganj district. Tens of thousands hectares of farmlands can be irrigated round the year through using conserved water of the Beel if it was re-excavated.
Prof Chowdhury who teaches at the Department of Geology and Mining in Rajshahi University (RU) has been conducting research on both surface and groundwater resources in the drought-prone Barind area for a long time.
There is another four to five-kilometer-long water body at Rohanpur in Gomastapur Upazila of the same district. If it was re-excavated, around 10,000 hectares of land of 25,000 farmers can be brought under surface water irrigation.
Apart from this, the two-kilometer Chowdala-Boalia canal remained in derelict condition for a long time. Around 150 hectares of farmlands can be irrigated with water from the canal if it was re-excavated, Prof Chowdhury added.
Transforming all the existing underground water-based irrigation into surface water ones can be the crucial means of lessening the gradually mounting pressure on groundwater tables.
He mentioned that the gradually declining water resources are posing a serious threat to the living and livelihood conditions of the marginalized and other less-income group families in the water-stressed area.
Meanwhile, Barind Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA), an ever-largest irrigation-providing state-owned entity in the country's northwest region, has been implementing a project titled "Small irrigation through pond re-excavation and surface water augmentation" for the last couple of years.
BMDA Additional Chief Engineer Abdur Rashid said the five-year project is being implemented in 43 drought-prone Upazilas of Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj, Naogaon, Bogura and Natore districts with an estimated cost of around Taka 128.19 crore.
Around 715 more derelict ponds and 10 other big closed water bodies will be brought under re-excavation aimed at making those suitable for use to both irrigation and household purposes in the region including its vast Barind tract within near future.
Upon successful implementation by December in 2023, the project will create scope of providing irrigation to 3,058 hectares of farming fields for yielding around 18,348 tonnes of additional crops yearly.
In addition, the scope of producing 1,088 tonnes of additional fish will be created through the conserved water.
The initiative will contribute a lot towards improving surface water resources besides aquifer recharge in the drought-prone areas.
It will also help reduce the gradually mounting pressure on underground water side by side encouraging the people to boost the farming of fish and duck after the best uses of the conserved water.
Earlier, the BMDA had re-excavated 3,098 ponds, 2,011-kilometer canal and 413 dug-wells through implementation of various other projects in order to promote surface water-based irrigation till June last, Engineer Rashid said.
"We have a plan of elevating the surface water-based irrigation to 30 percent from the existing 10 percent by 2030 in order to lessen the gradually mounting pressure on underground water," he added.
