Noted water resources and climate change specialist Prof Ainun Nishat yesterday urged the government to build embankments in the country's coastal areas in such a way they prevent salinity intrusion and keep the water bodies inside the polders alive.

Previously, Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) used to build the embankments to prevent salinity only, resulting in deaths to many water bodies inside the polders, after being disconnected from the regular water flow, said the professor emeritus of Brac University.

A polder is a piece of land in a low-lying area that has been reclaimed from a water body by building embankments and drainage canals.

“Now it's time to restore those connections. Work on the design perimeters of the embankments… and consult with local people to implement those,” he added.

He made the remarks while speaking at a workshop on “Bangladesh's coastal zone”, organised by BWDB in association with Institute of Water Modelling (IWM), Danish Hydraulic Institute (DHI) and Netherlands-based Deltares at CIRDAP in Dhaka.

The programme was organised for inception of a 30-month study on “Long Term Monitoring, Research and Analysis of Bangladesh Coastal Zone”, expected to end in May 2021.

Funded by the World Bank, the study, under a project of BWDB, will be conducted by DHI and Deltares in association with IWM, University of Colorado and Columbia University to create a framework for sustainable polder design in Bangladesh.

At the workshop, Prof Nishat said a rise in sea levels and salinity intrusion will affect Bangladesh's lower-middle part within the next 100 years.

“The polder system should be made environment-friendly. At the same time, the sluice-gates should run properly... We hope that our coastal belt will be free of salinity and inundation in future,” he said.

BWDB Director General Mahfuzur Rahman said the government will spend about USD 2 billion per year in the coming days for water resources management. Conducting more study in this sector is necessary to use the money properly, he stressed.

Water Resources Ministry Secretary Kabir Bin Anwar, BWDB Additional DG Khondaker Khalequzzaman and Chief Engineer Habibur Rahman also spoke.