| dc.description.abstract |
Safe water scarcity is one of the most leading crises in coastal Bangladesh. Salinity
intrusion in both surface and groundwater is alarmingly augmenting and creating acute
drinking water and safe water paucity. This study was conducted to examine the existing
condition of safe water availability in Mongla Upazila (3rd level administrative zone) of
southern coastal area of Bangladesh based on both quantitative and qualitative
approaches. Spatio-temporal variation of both ground and surface water quality
parameters (EC, TDS, Cl-) was determined by the Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW)
method of Deterministic model. IDW was proved to be effective to determine spatial
variation of these parameters in Mongla. From the spatial distribution of EC, TDS and
Cl-, it was revealed that areas within the acceptable limits were very negligible and
temporal variation depicted that areas with higher concentration of these parameters
increased substantially within the last 10 years. For depicting the availability of safe water
at each union (4th level administrative zone) of Mongla Upazila, ranking based
comparative analysis was carried out. Unions were ranked based on both quantitative and
qualitative factors. This study considered water quality parameters as quantitative factors;
and no. of households covered by tube well/tap water, no. of functioning PSFs, no. of
RWHS, no. of functioning RO, presences of community based adaptation options and
NGO activities were the selected six qualitative factors. From the spatial distribution,
each water quality parameters were classified into five classes and given a rank on a scale
of 1 to 5, where 1 meant very low and 5 meant very high availability of safe water. Based
on water quality parameters, only Suniltala union showed moderate status and others
showed low safe water availability. On the other hand, unions were provided rankings for
six qualitative factors, which were found from the insights of FGDs and KIIs. Burirdanga
union and Paurashava showed high availability of safe water which was mostly because
ii
of their geographic location (near the Mongla port); and socio-economic conditions and
good connectivity with nearby developed regions. Chila and Sundarban, being located in
the southern part of Mongla showed low availability of safe water and others showed
moderate safe water availability. To resolve the acuteness of fresh water scarcity,
community based sustainable options should be introduced by maintaining the integration
between local government, NGOs and other relevant stakeholders. A total of 150
households were randomly surveyed from Mongla Upazila. After analyzing their
responses, a community-based model was designed to provide safe drinking water for 50
households, which could be implemented in any place. After conducting in-depth field
visit, FGDs, KIIs and questionnaire survey it seemed that usage of Rainwater Harvesting
System (RWHS) and Reserve Pond (RP) could be good solutions for combating water
salinity problems in the study area. RWHS and RP are very convenient and economical
to install and maintain that will supply safe drinking water in a sustainable way. |
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