A severe water crisis is posing a serious threat to the living and livelihood conditions of people in Rajshahi district as the ground water level in this region is decreasing at an alarming rate.
General people along with farmers are facing an acute water crisis in this dry season.
A drought-like situation has been prevailing in the region for the last couple of days.
Dhaka TribuneAmid this, the sufferings of the people of this region with the daily use of water including irrigation water are becoming worsening.
In Mahalipara village of Mundumala municipality of Tanore Upazila of Rajshahi, the municipality and local administration did not find the water level bearing up a 700 feet pipe, which made them very worried.
As the water level in Bagha in Rajshahi has gone down, people are not getting water in tubewells.
People are suffering from a lack of clean drinking water also.
Zayda Begum, a housewife of Bajubagha village in the upazila, said that in the last two weeks, her family has not been getting water from their tubewell installed in the house. They are now collecting water from the house next door.
Dhaka TribuneNasir Uddin of North Milik Bagha village said that he installed a 170 feet pipe in the tubewell of the house. Even then, he did not find any water.
Bagha Upazila Public Health Engineering Department Assistant Engineer KM Nasir Uddin said that the water level has dropped by 30 to 35 feet in some places. Water problems have arisen due to falling water levels. Submersible tubewells installed by the government are not facing any such problem. This situation has arisen due to lack of rain.
It is known that when the temperature rises above 35°C at the time of appearance of the paddy sheaf, the rice may become shriveled.
On Wednesday (April 19), the temperature rose to 39°C in Bagha upazila of Rajshahi. There is no rain. On the other hand, the groundwater level has dropped below the level compared to the previous years.
As a result, water is not available in the tubewells as before.
In such a situation, 'blast' disease has spread in the paddy fields.
Dhaka TribuneAmid this, farmers are becoming very worried.
This problem has become more serious in Tenthulia, Nautika, Dhandah and Amarpur areas of Bagha upazila.
Agriculture officials have started going to the fields of these areas with medicines.
They suggest keeping water in the land during this time. But there is no sufficient water in tubewells.
Even after watering all night, not all land gets wet or moist. In this crisis, the paddy of many farmers' land is becoming dry.
Farmer Nazmul Hossain of Amarpur village of Bagha upazila cultivated Bri-28, Bri-29 and Kataribhog paddy on five bigha of land. Of this, one bigha of land has just sprouted.
In such a situation, water does not come out in his tubewell for 10 days. There was a pond next to it. From that he was giving water to the land. With the amount of water in the pond, it can continue for two more days. In the meantime, there is a severe drought. In such a situation insect infestation has occurred in the paddy field.
Boyezul Islam, a farmer of Nautika village of Bagha upazila, cultivated paddy on 17 bigha of land in the western field of the village. In those paddy fields, sheaves of paddy are coming out, and they are drying up at the same time.
He said that during the day time, the water in his tubewell stopped coming out. The water which comes out at night is a quarter of what it was last year. The whole land is not wet with so little water. That which is wet, is drying up during the day time due to the heat of the sun. With this problem, insect infestation has increased.
Shafiullah Sultan, agriculture officer of Bagha Upazila, said that he was visiting the field with other officers, employees and people of the pharmaceutical company and farmers of his office. If the temperature rises above 35 degrees at the time of sprouting of paddy sheaf, there is a risk of rice rotting.
It was 39 degree Celsius when he came to the field. No one really has control over nature. Many people do not have water in their land. But at this time it was necessary to store water, he added.
According to the sources of Rajshahi Meteorological Office, the maximum temperature of 42.5 degrees Celsius was recorded in Rajshahi at 3pm on Wednesday. Besides, the minimum temperature was 27.5 degrees Celsius. Even at night there is no relief as the minimum temperature mercury also rises.
Dhaka TribuneThe temperature in Rajshahi has been above 40 degrees since April 13.
Before this, a moderate heatwave was sweeping over the region.
Abdus Salam, senior weather observer of Rajshahi meteorological office, said that the heat is continuously increasing. As the temperature rises, the exact equation of temperature is not understood.
“But I think it may rain after April 20. If it rains, the temperature will drop.”
Chowdhury Sarwar Jahan, member of Rajshahi-Chapainawabganj Region Groundwater Availability Verification Committee of Water Resources Planning Organization (WARPO) and Professor of Geology and Mining Department of Rajshahi University said that the groundwater level in Barind region drops by one foot every year. Next year it does not rise again.
He also said that the water level in the Barind area is decreasing every year. This is very alarming. Climate change is one of the reasons. Again due to less rain, excess use of groundwater is also responsible. The problem could be solved by increasing the use of surface water. This can lead to a steady state. But the level that has fallen, cannot be overcome.
A long-term sustainable program needs to be undertaken soon after researching this issue, he added.
The region experienced less rainfall last year. Due to this, the water level has dropped to two feet. For this reason, the farmers of Bagha Upazila are not getting water at the same level as they got water last year. To get water, the farmers have to go to a lower level.
In this intense heat, there is a severe shortage of food and water in Charghat upazila of Rajshahi district. Loadshedding has made the problem acute. According to the data of Charghat Upazila Public Health Engineering Department, there are about 17, 500 deep and shallow tubewells in the upazila.
The Department of Public Health has installed 462 deep tubewells at union level in the last three years.
There are two layers for these tube wells. The first layer has a water withdrawal capacity between 800 and 900 feet and the second layer between 1,000 and 1,100 feet. With the climate change, the underground water level has gone down abnormally due to the installation of deep tube wells for various purposes including fish production.
Afroza Begum, a resident of Charghat Upazila Sadar, said that even though she is a resident of upazila sadar, there is an extreme shortage of water at this time. They do not get water all day. Water is not available even at night.
Charghat Upazila Public Health Engineering Department Officer Golam Mostafa said that since 2006 there has been such a water crisis. Now it has become a very serious issue. Rivers, canals and lakes are drying up. The water level is constantly going down. This situation has arisen due to unplanned installation of deep tubewells and simultaneous extraction of excess water.
The situation is the same in Mohanpur of Rajshahi district. There is a shortage of irrigation and clean drinking water.
Mohanpur Upazila Barind Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA) Assistant Engineer Golam Farooq said that the current season is very droughty. That is why deep tube well operators are facing problems irrigating the boro paddy. However, some deep-rooted problems have been remedied by technological advances.
Due to the going down of water level, there has been some shortage of water in residential houses with irrigation systems.
Meanwhile, loadshedding has increased in Rajshahi this time. Electricity supply is falling to 30% against demand. Meanwhile, a continuous drought is going on. Last Monday, the temperature rose to 42.6 degrees Celsius, which is the highest in 9 years.
In this situation, the water that is giving on the land in the gap between loadshedding is drying up. Water could not be supplied to all the lands.
According to BMDA sources, they have 725 electricity-operated deep tubewells in Godagari upazila. On the one hand drought, on the other hand this load shedding of electricity is causing damage to paddy. Abdur Rashid, executive director of BMDA, said, now the paddy sheaf is sprouting. The paddy cannot be saved if there is no electricity at this time.
General Manager (GM) Ramendra Chandra Roy of Rajshahi Palli Vidyut Samiti said that 48% of the electricity demand is being received at this time. Demand rose to 105MW last Sunday evening. In contrast, only 30% of the electricity was received. They have nothing to do with Rajshahi in this regard.
They are trying to make proper use of what is being given to them, said the official.
BMDA has three deep tubewells at Mohrapur Mouza in Godagari Upazila of Rajshahi. Among them, the condition of the paddy fields under the Mohrapur-1 deep tubewell is getting worse. Due to lack of water, the soil of the farmland has turned white. The soil of some land has been cracked.
Amjad Ali, a farmer of Mohrapur village, cultivated paddy on three bighas of land. The soil of his land is cracked. Paddy plants are drying up.
The farmers of the same village said that the paddy of the lands was dying due to not being able to give water. The land was turning white and the soil was bursting.
Faharul Islam, the operator of Mohrapur-1 deep tube well, said that there is a maximum of six-seven hours of electricity in 24 hours.
