The country of Bangladesh will never be able too stop its flooding problems without assistance from the Indian government

Introduction

As you can see in the map above, there are many rivers in Bangladesh. Bangladesh has huge rivers flowing through it such ganges, brahmaputra, jamuna nad meghna. Bangladesh is a delta, basically it is a deposit of silt, clay and sand which is shaped at the rivers mouth. This delta is situated on the eastern part of Indian subcontinent.

The country of Bangladesh will never be able too stop its flooding problems without assistance from the Indian government.

There are various reasons why flooding takes place in Bangladesh. India’s Farakka Barrage is a part of it, it does have an impact on the flooding but there are other reasons too. Therefore I don’t think the assistance from the Indian government will stop the flooding totally.

There are different reasons for flooding in Bangladesh such as deforestation, change of climate, global warming and the result of low lying countries. The water coming from the Himalayas due to the snow melting is also swelling up the rivers. The heavy rain during the monsoon and deforestation in the highlands and mountains are all causes of flooding. Bangladesh is the biggest delta in the world and most of Bangladesh is less than 5 meters above sea level. Even the storms go over 7m to 10m. Bangladesh is a delta therefore it is near the sea and any type of change in the temperature resulting the water level to rice in the oceans will have a great impact on the flooding.

Global warming is another cause of flooding and global warming makes the sea level rise. The flood water can no longer be pulled down towards the sea. Regardless of the flood being small the water will stay for a period of time. The sea level changes frequently and long term changes in sea level occur due to global climate. The rise of temperature will cause the expansion of the seawater and melt the polar ice. Since Bangladesh is a delta, the rise of sea level will have a devastating effect on it; in addition the sediments deposited by the rivers will lead to elevation of land. Nevertheless the mass of the sediment will outcome compaction of soil. Due to the deposition of sediments the sea level will rise.

Deforestation is another reason why flooding take place, the rapid destruction of forests, soil, and water has a great impact on flooding. Bangladesh is a small country with a extremely large population, due to this the reduction of forests and farming on high areas cause soil erosion. The soil that gets eroded reduces the depth of rivers. Thus if the population was controlled in Bangladesh the soil erosion wouldn’t take place and gradually the flooding in Bangladesh would decrease.

There are huge rivers in Bangladesh and the joint yearly flood wave starting from ganges, meghna and bramaputhra ...

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There are huge rivers in Bangladesh and the joint yearly flood wave starting from ganges, meghna and bramaputhra the rivers passes through one channel along with that, the tide levels from lower meghna with the bay of Bengal. Most of Bangladesh gets affected because of these high water levels in the river. The drainage blockage seems to be everywhere apart from the hilly areas and highland. This is located in the eastern and northern part of Bangladesh.

The effects of these high river water levels extend over most of the country and are the main determinant of the drainage condition and capacity. Flooding caused by this drainage congestion exists nearly everywhere except in the highland and hilly areas in the northern and eastern parts of the country.”().

As a result of all these reasons flooding takes place. The Farakka Barrage does have an impact on the flooding. When the monsoon season comes, India opens the gates, and the water comes to Bangladesh. This is a huge fault, and the Indian government should certainly do something about it. Nevertheless even if the Indian government did something about it, will all the other reasons vanish? Won’t the global warming, melting of ice, and deforestation still take place which would cause flooding.

The country of Bangladesh is comprised of flood material and silt and as such will increase significantly in size over the next thousand years.

Bangladesh is comprised of flood material and silt hence there will be an increase of size over the next thousand years. This is due to the fact that two billion tons of sediment are carried by the rivers yearly. The silts are increasing per year more and more. Every year there are new shoals, even the landmass in the Bangladesh coastline is increasing.

I think soil erosion has an impact on this as well because soil erosion is irreparable; it is known to be one of the main causes of soil degradation. “An estimated soil loss is 4.2 tons per year and 7-120 tons a year on 30-40% and 40-80% slopes, respectively due to shifting cultivation. Besides soil loss, significant quantities of plant nutrients are also depleted from top layer causing tremendous soil degradation. In addition, the country is losing its forest area at the rate of about 3% annually due to deforestation. The deforested area is also becoming susceptible to severe water erosion, which is about 102 tons a year. In Bangladesh, bank erosion is caused due mainly to strong river current during the rainy season. “

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Predicting what is going to happen to Bangladesh regarding the flood material and silt is hard. However, there is a possible way to hypothesize this, by observing sediment rating curve and stream discharge.

The rate of a stream’s flow over a time period is called the stream discharge. Along with that is the sediment curve which shows the bond between sediment that has been transported. Comparing this we can find out about the flood material and silt.

The experts that looked into this issue, has actually predicted that the rate of volume will grow. Therefore as a result there will be change in the country size with in the next thousand years.

If the major rivers of Bangladesh could be controlled it would have a devastating effect on the fertility of the soil and agriculture over a period of time.

If the major rivers of Bangladesh are controlled there would be surely a devastating effect on the fertility of the soil. To a certain extent controlling the rivers would mean no flood. Although flood causes a lot of destruction, there is advantage to it which related to the fertility of the soil and agriculture.

The floods in Bangladesh actually help in a way. The flood leaves behind fertile silt. In the fields and fish roe in pond fertile silt is deposited. “The rice crop which is planted before the flood thrives after this fertile silt”( ) Obviously there are ways to stop the flood, however one way or the other there is advantage to it. The floods even leave a good amount of water to.

If flooding stops there will severe consequences on crops and fish. Bangladesh has lots of areas consisting flood plains and therefore a lot of flood water tend to go over it. However, when flood water moves away, there is a vast amount of silt and fertile soil left. Hence, it helps agriculture.

In conclusion, I agree with the statement, I think there would be a devastating effect on the fertility of soil and silt. This is because of that fact that the flood leave behind nutrition’s which are extremely good for agriculture.

Mariha

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