Accepted Papers - 3.pdf - UNESCO

years. These beels can also be converted to water
reservoirs through modifications and adding water
retention structures. These will also help in
increasing fish cultivation, groundwater recharge,
improved environment and poverty reduction in
addition to water conservation for agricultural and
household uses.
Atrai Basin : The Atrai river basin broadly covers
the Lower Atrai river basin. The major internal rivers
coming into the basin are Atrai-Gur-Gumni
(commonly known as Atrai River) and its tributaries:
Little Jamuna, Tulshi Ganga, Nagar, and Badai on
the left bank and Sib-Barnai and Nandakuja on the
right bank. Fakirni is a link channel between the
Atrai and the Barnai and the Baral is the spill
channel of the Ganges to the Atrai River. Besides,
there are many other smaller channels draining the
isolated basins formed between the fore-going main
regional channels. Atrai, the major channel of the
area, rising from the Himalayan foot hill in India
flows through part of Bangladesh (Panchagar and
Dinajpur districts) and again to India then to the
Chalan Beel area at Mohadevpur in Bangladesh.The
catchment’s area following the second entry of the
Atrai river in Bangladesh is considered Atrai river
basin and is also called Chalan Beel area or Lower
Atrai river basin. The river Atrai is subject to
occasional spillage from the Teesta at times of
exceptional high flood. Gross area of the basin is
about 600,000 hectare (ha). About 14 flood control,
drainage and irrigation (FCDI) projects have been
developed in this area which cover net area of about
500,000 ha. However, these projects are not able to
provide full benefit to the area since those are not
complete and are not inter-linked with each other.
In this paper an attempt has been made to
explore opportunities for potential development of
the Atrai river basin through comprehensive
development of its land and water resources. In the
Atrai river basin, 20 to 90 percent areas are subject
to annual flood, sometime during June to October.
Whereas, the annual average rainfall of the area is
about 125 cm compared to national annual average
of about 200 cm. About 90 percent of the annual
rainfall occurs during June to October, which is the
possible period of floods in the area. River water
starts receding from November and by the end of
February most rivers of the area become unsuitable
479
for navigation and become completely dry during end
of March to May. Therefore, without access to
irrigation, crop production in the area during
November to May is uncertain and crops grown
during June to October may be damaged if flood
control and drainage (FCD) facilities do not function
properly. Therefore, water conservation in the rivers
for the dry season uses are of utmost importance.
Effective flood control during the monsoon/rainy
season will provide opportunities for water
harvesting and agricultural development of the area.
Rivers in the area can be compartmentalized to
series of seasonal ponds during November to May
through appropriate water conservation structures
like weirs and rubber dams. Community based
fisheries management system can be introduced in
the seasonal ponds following the Common Property
Resource management procedure of the country.
Fisheries experts confirmed that these seasonal
ponds could be brought under profitable fish
cultivation program through stakeholder
participation and on an average 0.5 to 1.0 ton fish
can be harvested per hectare of water body.
Moreover, water stored in the seasonal ponds/
riverbeds will be a continuous source for
groundwater recharge, which subsequently can be
used for irrigation using deep and shallow tubewells
without severe lowering of groundwater table. River
water conservation will also contribute to
afforestation program along the riverbanks,
irrigation development using low lift pumps for the
lands adjacent to the rivers and availability of
drinking water and bathing place for cattle. Success
of this approach in the Atrai river basin may be
replicated in other area of the country, which will
contribute to its overall development.
Coastal Area
Coastal area consists of about 2.0 Mha
cultivable area and falls under SW, SC, RE and SE
regions. The entire area is mostly under single crop
(Aman) due to limited sweet water, which is most
often considered suitable for irrigation. The coastal
area can be a potential area for increasing crop
production through better management of land and
water resources. On an average, Bangladesh faces
annual food deficit by about 2 million ton (however,
the situation has improved since 2000). If an
additional crop can be harvested in the coastal area