SWIBANGLA: Managing saltwater intrusion impacts in coastal groundwater systems in Bangladesh

Deltares, BRAC and IRC joined forces towards an integrated approach based on salinity monitoring, modelling and stakeholder participation to improve water safety plans. SWIBANGLA – Managing salt water intrusion impacts in Bangladesh, contributes to the theme salt water intrusion. The final report is available. There appear to be no unified national groundwater monitoring network and database in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is densely populated and it is expected that the population increases significantly in the coming decade, up to 60% more by 2050 according to IIASA (2013). Demand for drinking water will increase accordingly. These developments may cause significant changes in the hydrological system, e.g. leading to a drop of groundwater pressures. Moreover, climate change and a sea level rise are predicted by the scenarios drawn by the International Panel of Climate Change (IPCC, 2013). This leads to, among others, an increase of salt water intrusion, in surface water as well as in groundwater.

The goal of the BRAC WASH II programme is to contribute to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals by providing integrated water services, sanitation and hygiene promotion expanding to hard-to-reach areas and to under-served populations, in collaboration with government and other stakeholders. As part of the programme, innovative research is addressed in six relevant themes, one of which is the theme salt water intrusion. This project, SWIBANGLA – Managing salt water intrusion impacts in Bangladesh, contributes to the theme salt water intrusion.

In this project, the focus is on salt water intrusion in coastal groundwater systems, as groundwater is the main resource of drinking water.

The goal of the project is to investigate the impacts of salt water intrusion in Bangladesh, the main salinization processes, possible mitigation strategies, and the needed tools to provide input to the Water Safety Plans (WSP). The main outcomes of the project are: Key components on salinization issues for Water Safety Plans, suitable mitigation strategies to mitigate the impacts of salt water intrusion, a regional 3D variable-density dependent groundwater model, a Water Quality Monitoring kit, a Smart Phone App to measure Electrical Conductivity, Leaflets containing salinization processes information and Workshops on Modeling and Monitoring.

 

acrobat icon Final report

» More information on Deltares’ website