CRITICAL APPRAISAL. OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF WATER RESOURCES PROJECTS IN BANGLADESH

Abstract

The importance for Environmental Evaluation of Water Resources Projects has been realized world over in view of their long term consequences and large investment requirements. The present study entitled, "Critical Appraisal of Environmental Impacts of Water Resources Projects in Bangladesh" has been carried out to study critically the Environmental Impacts_ due to project intervention and _ to explore the possible improvement of the present EIA methodologies followed in Bangladesh. For critical assessment of EIA, a case study has been taken up. The present study has been carriedout on a nationally important project name "Khulna - Jessore Drainage Rehabilitation Project (KJDRP)" in Bangladesh. The project area is located in the South Western region of Bangladesh and comprises parts of the district of Khulna and Jessore which are influenced by tidal water. The total project area is 1,27,800 ha and it is part of the deltaic area of the Ganga and Brahmaputra River system. The project area consists of numerous tidal rivers and creeks, which provides a complicated drainage network to a system of embanked hydrological units of polders, in which the inflows and outflows are controlled through regulators. Perennial water bodies are often found to exist in the lower part of these polders.