Water flow in Padma drastically fell over last year: joint survey
Water level at one point of River Padma has drastically decreased from what it was during the same period last year, a survey conducted by experts from India and Bangladesh has found.
Water-level monitoring at different points of the Ganges and Padma kicked off yesterday. The survey, a joint effort by the countries, will be conducted under Ganges Water Sharing Treaty, 1996.
Every year, two experts' committees, one in India and one in Bangladesh, record the water level for five months, from January 1 to May 31.
According to the measurements, compared to last year's statistics, water flow has drastically fallen at the Hardinge Bridge point of Padma this year, the water board's Hydrology Department officials told The Daily Star.
As of yesterday, water flow around Hardinge Bridge area is about 80,000 cusecs. However, it stood somewhere around 1.02 lakh cusecs from January 1-10 last year.
Officials attribute this drastic fall of 22,000-23,000 cusecs to reducing water flow at the source of the river, Md Roich Uddin, acting executive engineer of Hydrology Department of Pabna confirmed. However, under the water sharing treaty, such a problem could be easily fixed, he assured.
Experts of the two-member Indian team -- Shri Venkateswarlu, deputy director of Central Water Commission and Shri Nagendra Kumar, assistant director of the commission -- along with officials of Hydrology Department and the Water Development Board started monitoring water levels at the 2,500-feet upstream of Hardinge Bridge point of the river.
Additionally, a four-member team, led by AKM Saifuddin, executive engineer of Joint Rivers Commission (JRC), along with the Indian Water Commission officials also started measuring at two points of Farrakka by the Ganges, according to JRC officials.
In accordance with the treaty, Bangladesh is to get 67,650 cusecs of water every day on average in the first cycle of 10 days of January.
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