Water level drops alarmingly in Jashore
Most of the tubewells in the district have dried up as the underground water level has dipped alarmingly there
Kamal Ahmad, a resident of Bejpara area in Jashore town, has not been getting water from his tubewell for one month.
Zakir Hossain, a resident of the town's Barandipara area, said not only tubewells but also the municipality's water supply system had failed to provide water for the residents of the town. Most of the time, they do not get water from the taps.
Most of the tubewells in the district have dried up as the underground water level has dipped alarmingly there.
Md Azmal Hossain, secretary at Jashore Municipality, said there were 230 hand tubewells and 29 deep tubewells under the municipality.
"The demand for water in the town per day is two crore litres, which is being supplied by the municipality. But due to the drop in water level, water is not available, especially in the houses of the area. However, residents of the town sometimes do not get water as the electricity goes out when the prepaid metres have no balance. We are trying to resolve the issue," said Md Azmal.
Md Mahabub Alam, executive engineer at Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (Irrigation) in Jashore, said the water level dropped below 26.9 feet now whereas it had dipped below 25 feet in 2020.
The normal level of underground water is between 15 and 20 feet, according to Md Abdullah Al Rashid, superintendent engineer at Jashore BADC (Irrigation).
The crisis has arisen due to the extraction of water by tubewells and filling of ponds and canals in an unplanned way, according to the people concerned. The situation will worsen if there is no rainfall soon, they think.
Md Mahabub Alam said, "The groundwater level starts receding from January. The water level drops to the lowest in April. But this time, it happened in March. Usually, the average annual rainfall is 203 centimetres. The water level is receding due to relatively low rainfall now. That is why the tubewells have gone dry."
The water level also went down due to irrigation in agricultural work, Md Abdullah Al Rashid said.
Now the Boro season is going on, he continued. Underground water has been lifted through deep tubewells and shallow tubewells in an unplanned way, he further said.
The water level would return to normal when it would start raining, he added.
According to the BADC office (irrigation), the number of deep tubewells in the district is 1,567. Through these deep tubewells, water is supplied to 25,223 hectares of land.
On the other hand, the number of shallow tubewells is 63,793. These tubewells provide water to 1,23,482 hectares of land.
A lot of water was wasted during Boro rice cultivation in Bangladesh. It takes 3,000 to 3,500 litres of water to produce one kilogramme of rice here whereas it costs half of the amount of water in Thailand and Vietnam
Officials of the BADC said a lot of water was wasted during Boro rice cultivation in Bangladesh. It takes 3,000 to 3,500 litres of water to produce one kilogramme of rice here whereas it costs half of the amount of water in Thailand and Vietnam.
They prevent wastage of water by using advanced technology in agriculture. They deliver water to the land through buried hoses or pipes. In Bangladesh, water is supplied to agricultural fields through ditches and canals. As a result, the surface of the land sucks half of the water.
However, supplying water to the agricultural land through buried pipes in several upazilas of Jashore has already started on a pilot basis.
