Tube wells everywhere but not a drop to drink in Noakhali coastal belt
Rita Rani Kahar and five neighbouring families in the Subarnachar upazila in Noakhali used to get water for drinking and other usages from a deep tube well set up by the government 20 years ago. However, during the summer for the last couple of years, very little or no water is available in the well.
The water crisis prevails in most of the unions of the upazila. In dire need of clean drinking water, people go far to fetch water from tube wells where women, men and children are seen waiting in long queues for hours to get some water.
Locals complained that the installation of unauthorised deep tube wells for Boro irrigation and continuous extraction of water has caused the water crisis.
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According to agricultural experts, extracting excess water with a deep tube well causes the underground water level to go down up to one kilometre in surrounding areas.
Usually, pipes with a diameter of 1.5 inches go up to 800-900 feet underground but in Subarnachar many deep tube wells have been installed with 4.5-inch pipes that go up to 1,200 feet beneath the soil, which is illegal.
Rita Rani said, "Every day, I have to walk more than one kilometre to fetch drinking water from a nearby tube well. Besides, we face problems in bathing, cattle feeding and other household work."
Zillur Rahman, 83 from Charbata union, said, "For the last three years during the summer, we have not been getting water from our tube wells. Having no alternative, I had to set up a shallow tube well even though I know the water is not safe as there is arsenic and salt in it."
The scarcity of drinking water has also caused health problems in the area. According to the Noakhali Civil Surgeon office, people in the coastal areas in Noakhali drink water from rivers, canals and ponds and use it for household purposes due to a lack of clean water and health awareness. Consequently, they suffer from diarrhoea.
Abdul Bari Bablu, the convener of the Subarnachar branch of the Coastal Environment Protection Movement of Bangladesh, demanded that a survey of the groundwater reserves be carried out as soon as possible to solve the water crisis of the people of the region. Otherwise, the coastal towns may become victims of water scarcity.
He added that people need to be discouraged from installing deep tube wells indiscriminately to protect groundwater. Advice and training should be provided on water conservation in canals, beels, and ponds, which may help retain groundwater.
However, regarding the water crisis, Noakhali Department of Agricultural Extension authorities said farmers relied heavily on groundwater as there was no rain this season. To protect groundwater, the department is working with local farmers to stop paddy cultivation during the robi season and produce other profitable crops.
Boro paddy was planted on 13,000 hectares of land in the district this year, which is 2,000 hectares more than the last year. Over 44 crore cusecs of water were used in the cultivation.
According to the Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC), 245 deep tube wells (irrigation pumps) were approved in two phases for cultivation in Subarnachar.
But farmers have installed over 1,000 deep tube wells for irrigation without any approval from the BADC. Up to 1,800 cusecs of water are extracted per hour from a deep tube well.
BADC Noakhali Executive Engineer Md Ali Ashraf said they would conduct drives against illegal tube wells and remove them.
Assistant Commissioner (land) of Shubarnochar Ariful Islam said he heard of unauthorised deep tube wells but he cannot take any action as there is no specific law regarding the installation of unauthorised deep tube wells.
Noakhali Deputy Commissioner Dewan Mahbubur Rahman said the matter has been discussed with the Department of Public Health Engineering. In addition, canals, beels, ponds, and especially Meghna canals will be rehabilitated and arrangements will be made to store water to be used during the dry season, which he thinks will reduce the crisis of potable water.
