Moving from Resource Development to Resource Management: Problems, Prospects and Policy Recommendations for Sustainable Groundwater Management in Bangladesh

Increased groundwater accessibility resulting from the expansion of deep and shallow tube wells helped Bangladesh attain near self-sufficiency in rice, with national output increasing over 15 million tons in the last two decades. However, problems associated with the excessive exploitation of ground...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Water resources management Vol. 29; no. 12; pp. 4269 - 4283
Main Authors:	Qureshi, Asad S., Ahmad, Zia Uddin, Krupnik, Timothy J.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01-09-2015 Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:	Agriculture Arsenic Atmospheric Sciences Carbon Cereal crops Civil Engineering Corn Crops Cultivation Dry season Earth and Environmental Science Earth Sciences Economics Environment Food Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences Grain cultivation Groundwater Groundwater irrigation Groundwater management Hydrogeology Hydrology/Water Resources Irrigation Literature reviews Policies Quality Resource development Resource management Rice Seasons Self sufficiency Surface water Sustainability management Triticum aestivum Water availability Water demand Water quality Water resources Water shortages Water table Water use Water use efficiency Zea mays ISW, Bangladesh Bangladesh Groundwater management Boro rice Bangladesh Water use efficiency Arsenic contamination Tubewell
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Summary:	Increased groundwater accessibility resulting from the expansion of deep and shallow tube wells helped Bangladesh attain near self-sufficiency in rice, with national output increasing over 15 million tons in the last two decades. However, problems associated with the excessive exploitation of groundwater notably declining water tables, deteriorating water quality, increasing energy costs and carbon emissions are threatening the sustainability of Bangladesh’s groundwater irrigated economy. The forefront challenge, therefore, is to shift the focus from development to management of this precious resource. To ease out pressure on groundwater resources, attention must be diverted to further develop surface water resources. In addition to increasing supplies, water demand also need to be curtailed by increasing water use efficiency through the adoption of water conserving practices such as reduced tillage, raised bed planting, and the right choices of crops. Decreasing water availability both in terms of quantity and quality suggest that the unchecked expansion of dry season boro rice cultivation may not be a long-term option for Bangladesh. Therefore less thirsty wheat and maize crops may be promoted as feasible alternatives to boro . In addition to technical solutions, strong linkage between different institutions will be needed to evaluation strategic options and effective implementation of national policies for the management of groundwater resources.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0920-4741 1573-1650
DOI:	10.1007/s11269-015-1059-y