GETh 512: Hydrology

A Presentation on

Flood Management Practices in

Bangladesh
Nazmun Nahar Sumiya
Lecturer, Department of Geography
& Environment, University of Dhaka

Presented by : Group- 2
 Group Members
• Munira Nusrat
• Omar Faruk
• Hasnat Jahan Prava
• Samia Siddique
• Md. Jahidul Islam Naeem
• Orna Rahman Onny
• Mobashsira Tasnim
• Najila Alam Porno
• Sabiha Sabrina
• Sadiqun Nahar
 General Background
• Geographically Bangladesh is known as country of natural disasters
and flood is a common event almost every year here
• Regular flooding affects 20% of the country, increasing up to 68% in
extreme years. Approximately 37%, 43%, 52%, and 68% of the
country is inundated with floods in return periods of 10, 20, 50, and
100 years, respectively (Rahman et al., 2007).
• Country has experienced 17 highly damaging floods in the 20th
century. Since independence in 1971, Bangladesh has experienced
floods of a vast magnitude in 1974, 1984, 1987, 1988, 1998, 2000 &
2004 (FFWC, 2005).
• The largest recorded flood in depth and duration of flooding in its
history was occurred in 1998 when about 70% of the country was
under water for several months (Nishat et.al.-2000).
• Unusual fluvial floods do occur, with some 13 notable events over
the past half-century.
 General Background (cont.)
• Notable because either affected a large area, had many fatalities, or
had an untimely and serious impact on crop production and other
sectors.

• There is no other way for Bangladesh but to adopt effective flood

management practices to minimize the loss and to enhance resistance
capacity against these devastating events.

• Since the devastating floods of the 1950s, successive governments

have developed and implemented flood mitigation policies to ‘control’
and, more latterly, ‘manage’ the flood risk.

• Policy transition and shifting processes are influenced by multiple

factors, such as political considerations, donor interests,
knowledgeable stakeholders’ interests, institutional and individual
learning from flood-related crises, and pressure from civil society.

• So this work will discuss all of these issue related to flood

management in Bangladesh
 Types of Flood in Bangladesh
• According to Fabio Luino (2016)
• “Flooding is a natural process that occurs when the level of a body of
water rises until it overflows its natural banks or artificial levees and
submerges areas usually dry”

• Bangladesh's unique geographical location is associated with high

monsoon rains as it has tropical monsoon climate influenced by the
Himalayan Mountains in the north and northeast, and the Bay of Bengal
in the south.

• In the eastern part of the delta of the world's second largest river basin
make it extremely vulnerable to recurring floods.

• Types of flood in the country:

1. Monsoon Floods or Normal Flood from Major Rivers
2. Rain-fed Flood
3. Floods Due To Storm Surges
4. Flash Flood from Hilly Areas
• Flood risk management refers to all methods used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of
flood waters.
• Managing flood risk instead of ‘controlling floods’ is a key change in approach for managing floods
and floodplains.
• In the context of floods, hazard refers to the magnitude or height of a given flood and its
probability of occurring. Vulnerability refers to the social assets exposed to damage from flooding.
Risk combines both hazard and vulnerability.
• Thus managing flood risk implies making interventions at all points of the flood risk cycle,
including not only structural measures to reduce flood magnitude or frequency (reducing hazard)
but also land-use planning (to reduce assets exposed), early warning systems, insurance, and
acting within the context of multiple objectives.
• Recent experiences in implementing flood risk management along large floodplain rivers and
smaller urban streams manifest a wide range of environmental and institutional settings, and thus
opportunities and constraints unique to each setting.
Figure: Different spatial scales
for flood risk management
(Merz et al. 2010)
Figure: Flood risk
management measures
at different temporal
and spatial scales
(Source: Table adapted
from Merz et al. 2010)
 Flood Management in Bangladesh
• Bangladesh dominated with 7 % total catchment area of 3 mighty
rivers, Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna and faces flood problem in
every year.
• In order for proper management of the risks of flooding in
Bangladesh, the essential elements of Integrated Water Resources
Management (IWRM) are highlighted:
1. Integration
2. Sustainability
3. The water system approach
4. Interaction
• Various measures, policy planning and actions have been taken in
different time period.
• Legislation and policy planning are essential for flood management,
which should be guided by distinct policy, strategies, legal
frameworks, and action planning.
 Flood Management in Bangladesh (cont.)
• Natural flood management (NFM) refers
to strategies and practices to utilize or Flood
restore ‘natural’ land cover and channel- Management

floodplain features within catchments, by

storing or slowing down flood waters in
order to increase time to peak flow and Natural Flood
Engineering
reduce flood peak (SEPA, 2013). Flood
Management
Management

• Engineering flood management refers to

the act or engineering technique of
Hard Soft
controlling river flow by constructing Engineering Engineering
artificial structures or taking Flood Flood
anthropogenic measures. Management Management
 What kinds of NFMs are there? Slowing run off
Holding water back during flood flows
Bank restoration
using large woody debris dams, soil
Planting live or inert
bunds or hedgerows, or by creating
vegetation stabilizes river
temporary storage areas
banks and reduces erosion
and the amount of
material entering river
channels Managing upland drainage
Creating woodlands
Grip blocking using peat or
Trees have multiple
plant material helps to store
benefits- they take up
water upstream
water and bind the soil
together, and generate
Managing land and soil
woody debris into river
Reducing compaction of soils and
channels, which all help to
using appropriate agricultural
slow the flow
Restoring rivers practices helps to reduce runoff
Putting the bends back and also improve soil quality and
in, removing crop yield
embankments, taking
out old weirs, allowing Creating wetlands
rivers to behave more Allows water to pond
naturally helps flood upstream, and stores
management sediment
 What kinds of EFMs are there?
• Hard Engineering
• Soft Engineering
This uses technology, large amounts of money to try
Often the cheaper option. It tries to work with
and control the river. It can prevent floods in the
the river. People seek to sustainably manage the
short term. In the long term the river will try to get
river by working with the river to stop large
out of this ‘straight jacket’ and the floods can be
scale damage from floods.
made worse as a result.

Embankment Barrage River bank plantation Flood resistant crop

 Flood Management Measures in Bangladesh

Structural • Modify flood

measure behavior
Integration of
Structural & non
Structural
Measurement
Non
• Modify damage
Structural susceptibility
measure
Flood Management Measures in Bangladesh (cont.)
 Flood Management Approaches in Bangladesh
1. Traditional Approach:
• Focus only on reducing flooding
and reducing the susceptibility to
flood damage.
• It includes the existing measure of
developing the riverine aquatic
ecosystem, remove coastal
vegetation, making effective
embankment, polders and
drainage system with using
modern technologies.
• Flood management that improves
the functioning of the river basin
as a whole, recognizing that floods
have beneficial impacts and can
never be fully controlled.
2. Integrated Approach:
• Based on a participatory approach involving
users, planners and policy-makers at all levels
and should be open, transparent, inclusive
and communicative.
• An appropriate combination of structural and
non-structural measures must be evaluated,
adopted and implemented, recognizing the
merits and demerits of both types of
measures
• Decentralization of decision-making is
necessary, with full public consultation and
involvement of stakeholders in planning and
implementation.
• Seek multi-beneficial solutions that serve
several different purposes simultaneously.
 Why Flood Management in Bangladesh is Important?

• Flood is a catastrophic event and consequences of flood include loss of human life, damage to
property, destruction of crops, loss of livestock, and deterioration of health conditions owing to
waterborne diseases.
• All damages caused by a flood cannot be fully
evaluated in monetary terms. However, Khan
(1986) provided a conservative estimate of
damages to crops and properties in monetary
terms in the amount of US$ 200 million a year, on
average. The damages caused by floods are of
various types and it depends on a number of
factors and return period of flood is one of them.

• According to Miah (1988) the return period of

normal floods is 2.25 years, of moderate to severe
floods 4years, of severe floods 7years, and of
catastrophic floods 33 to 50 years.
 Flood Condition of Dhaka City
• Dhaka is surrounded by four rivers and inhabitant
faced floods every year.
• Approximately 38% is being exposed to flooding
with a frequency up to once in every 5 years and
85% land flooded in 1988. Dhaka's urban floods
result from two main causes:
• Swell out of rivers
• Heavy local rainfall
• For flood control purpose Dhaka and its
surroundings are divided into two parts,
• Dhaka west (the floodplain of the Buriganga and
the Turag River) and
• Dhaka East (the floodplain of the Sitalakhya and
Balu River).
 Flood Management of Dhaka
City (cont.)
• Urban floods in Dhaka are not managed in an
integrated way, but rather in a sectorial and in
many aspects, an ad hoc manner.

• Management inefficiencies of the relevant

organizations

• An integrated approach has not been achieved

for the whole water system

• Present flood management of Dhaka is still

driven by top-down decision making of water
authorities to public. The participatory planning
is being neglected.
Figure: Diminishing wetlands of Dhaka (a) Wetland in 1989,
(b) Wetland in 1999, (c) Wetland in 2010. Source: Shubho et
al. (2014)
 Major land-use proposals of
Area of Flood Action Plan (FAP), 1989
the Dacca Master Plan 1959

Source: Minoprio & Spencely and P. W. Macfarlane (1959) Source: Das & Islam (2010)
 Flood Flow Zone and Water Retention Area in DMDP.

Source: GoB (1997) Source: Islam (2009)

 Flood Management Evolution in Bangladesh

• Flood control and prevention policies have been shifting continuously over
the last 70 years.

• Three distinct phase which were likely influenced by various flood-triggered

issues, social-ecological factors, policymakers’ interests, and foreign
interests as follows:
1. The structural phase (1947 to 1987),
2. The structural and nonstructural mixed-phase (1987 to 1995), and
3. The post Flood Action Plan (FAP) phase (1995 to present).
 Flood Management Evolution in Bangladesh (cont..)
Organizational Contribution:
More than 10 organizations in Bangladesh could be responsible for the proper
implementation if interactive flood management. The Ministry of Water Resources
(MoWR) is responsible and published a National Water Policy. The Bangladesh Water
Development Board (BDWD) is the leading organization for water resources management
and development. Besides DWASA, RAJUK, PWD, SPARSO, RHD are also included in the
interactive flood management system. 3 integrated projects were conducted to gain the
integrated flood control purpose in the context of Dhaka. These are –
• Dhaka Integrated Flood Protection Project,
• Dhaka Integrated Flood Control Embankment with Eastern Bypass Road Multi-purpose
Project
• Dhaka-Narayanganj-Demra Project.
 Coastal embankment Bank projection Meghai, Jamuna River Protection with cement concrete blocks)

Godagari Flood Embankment Erosion protection works Protection with sand-filled geobag
 Evolution of Management Practices
• The major implementing agencies to prepare and implement sub-regional and local
water-management project plans and provide a mechanism to resolve inter agency
conflicts are the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB), Local Government
Engineering Department (LGED), and Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation
(BADC).
• During the Pakistan rule (1947–71) and the Bangladesh time (after 1971) also flood
control and irrigation was undertaken by the government.
• In Bangladesh however, water management was part of the central governmental
control (or feudal control) and introduction of participation can very easily be
interpreted as an attack on the existing socio-political institutions.
• Since 1959, BWDB has constructed about 550 small and big projects to protect about
2,844 million ha of land from upland and tidal flood hazards and bring 192,000 ha under
irrigation. Unfortunately, a majority of these projects are not performing well.
 A willingness to live • Individual and small communities adapt to natures rhythm
with floods

• Fertile land in the floodplain is drained for food production.

A desire to use the • Permanent communities are established on the floodplain.
floodplain • Local (uncoordinated) levees start to be constructed.

A desire to control flood

• Large scale structural approaches (levees, dams and other controls) are planned and
flows and defend
implemented through organized governance.
against flooding

• A recognition that engineering alone has limitations.

A desire to reduce flood
• Effort is devoted to increasing the resilience of communities should a flood occur.
damages
• Effort is devoted to mitigate loss of ecosystem services.

A desire to manage risk • A recognition that budgets are limited and not all problems are equal.
efficiently • Risk management is seen as a means to target limited resources.

A desire to promote • Adaptive management is seen as effective in managing the severe uncertainties in future
opportunities and climate change, funding and demographics.
manage risks adaptively • Working with natural processes is encouraged to both reduce risks efficiently and achieve
gains in ecosystem services.

Figure: The evolution and development of flood management, Source: Sayers et al. (2013).
 Organizations
Water Resources Planning
Organization
Bangladesh Water Development
Board
Local Government Engineering
Department (LGED)
Joint River Commission
Bangladesh Meteorological
Department
Department of Disaster
Management
Directorate of Relief
Bangladesh Armed Forces (Army)
Local Government Institutions
Non-Governmental Organizations
Tasks Related To Flood Management
Macro planning of water resources management
Feasibility studies, implementation, operation and maintenance (O&M) of flood management projects, real-time
data collection for flood forecasting and warning services, dissemination of flood information at national and
regional levels.
The LGED engaged in construction/reconstruction and maintenance of local government infrastructures
(rural/urban), mainly roads, small bridged/culverts, water control structures, etc. It also maintains a disaster
damage database on local-level infrastructures. Implementation, operation, and management of small-scale FCD
projects.
To conduct negotiations for data and information exchanges on trans-boundary rivers.
Long-, medium-, and short-range weather forecasting and dissemination.
Dissemination of all information on natural disasters including flood information at community level, flood
preparedness, awareness building, etc.
Conducting relief and rehabilitation operation in flood-hit areas.
Conducting relief, rehabilitation, and reconstruction activities. Providing life-saving food and medical care, safe
activities. Providing life-saving food and medical care, safe drinking water, and temporary shelter. Coordinates
and initiates disaster drills and training programs and other preparedness measures
Implementation and O&M of small-scale flood management projects, flood information dissemination, relief
and rehabilitation of flood victims
Advocacy for flood management, relief, and rehabilitation of flood victims.
 Evolution of Management Practices: Flood Forecasting
Flood forecasting can be defined as a process of estimating and predicting the magnitude, timing
and duration of flooding based on known characteristics of a river basin, with the aim to prevent
damages to human life, to properties, and to the environment.
Bangladesh Water Development Board (the Board) is responsible for flood management through
structural and non-structural measures.
• As part of non-structural measures, the Board has been providing flood forecasting and warning
services through its Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC), established in 1972. Since
then, the development of flood forecasting and warning services has made stepwise progress,
which can be divided into three stages.
• FFWC efforts focused on improving the forecast lead time. It started to use ensemble
precipitation forecasts from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts to
provide medium-range flood forecasts. Since 2004, FFWC has provided deterministic flood
forecasts to 3 days and medium-range probabilistic forecasts to 10 days.
 Flood Forecasting: Warning Center and
Monitoring

❑Flood Forecasting and Warning Center

FFWC is a wing of BWDB under Processing and Flood
Forecasting Circle. operates "Flood information Centre" as
National Focal Point in connection with the Flood Disaster
Management. FFWC remains open 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week during this period.

❑Flood Monitoring and Forecasting by FFWC

According WMO (2011), for an effective real-time flood
forecasting system, the basic structures need to be linked in
an organized manner. This essentially requires:
• Rainfall Forecast
• A network of hydrometric stations linked to a central control
• Flood forecasting model
Fig: FFWC Monitoring and Forecasting Stations
 Flood Forecasting: Warning Center
and Monitoring (cont.)
The following outputs are provided by FFWC as
part of their flood monitoring and flood
forecasting activities:

• Daily monsoon bulletin and river situation

report
• Water Level monitoring at 101 locations
• Rainfall monitoring at 72 locations
• 5-day water level deterministic forecasts at 54
locations
• Probabilistic 10-day water level forecast
• Special flood situation report
• Flood inundation forecast maps (National)
• Monthly and annual flood report
Water level Forecasting: Map view (L), List view (M) and Station details (R)
Figure: Medium Range (1-5-days) Probabilistic Forecast

Figure: Medium Range (1-10-days) Probabilistic Forecast

Regional Cooperation in Flood Management

Bangladesh receives water level data from five

upstream stations in India.

Rainfall data are received from 7 upstream

stations in India.

To formulate flood warning Bangladesh needs to

receive real-time data from all relevant
locations of upper riparians.
 Regional Cooperation in Flood Management (cont.)

Reasons behind Poor Regional Cooperation

• Lack of cooperation in the GBM region include persisting fears and mistrust
characterizing the attitudes of the regional countries towards one another,

• Myopic views of governments, often coincidental with their own terms of office, and
bureaucratic rigidities and hindrances.
• GBM regional cooperation, particularly in the area of water development and
management "offers to all countries gains far beyond anything that can be achieved by
isolated national efforts" (Ahmad et al., 1994, p.129).
• Collaborative flood management eminently qualifies as one such beneficial activity for
all the GBM regional countries.
Global Approaches to Flood Management

• Upstream watersheds for storage and gradual release of water into river systems.

• Green or blue storages and the proportion of green to blue indicates different types and levels
of storage which may buffer flood risk.

• Metrics from the Water World model can be used to examine the flood management which is
relevant to natural infrastructure of the upstream watersheds of selected global cities

• The aim of these metrics is to highlight areas where there is more runoff than storage capacity
and thus the maintenance or restoration of better alleviate flood risks.
 Global Approaches to Flood Management (cont.)
Water World V2 is a self-parameterizing model
application which helps in understanding the storage &
other capacities to mitigate flood risk. Each metric is
described fully in the Water World V2 documentation
(Mulligan, 2016) but a short summary is provided below:
• Floodplain storage capacity
• Water-body storage capacity
• Soil storage capacity
• Canopy storage capacity
• Wetland storage capacity
• Accumulated storage and ratios of runoff to capacity.
Fig. Spatial patterns and geographic distributions of dominant natural
infrastructure storage type for upstream city hydrological basin.
Image: Workers open bays of the Bonnet Carre Image: Flood discharging at Xin’an River Dam in
Spillway, to divert rising water from the Mississippi Qiandao Lake, Zhejiang province, Republic of China.
River to Lake Pontchartrain, upriver from New Orleans,
in Norco, Louisiana.
Image: Glass barriers in use in Keswick, Cumbria, North
West England
Image: Japan’s floodwater cathedral hidden 22 meters
underground is part of the Metropolitan Area Outer
Underground Discharge Channel (MAOUDC), a 6.3 km
long system of tunnels and towering cylindrical
chambers that protect North Tokyo from flooding.
 Flood Management Impacts
Positive Outcomes:
• Forecasting facilities, preparedness planning, during and post-disaster relief efforts reduced the
severity of flood disaster impacts.
• Proper maintenance of the existing FCD/I (Flood control and drainage project ) projects and
embankment effectively eliminate flood disaster in the empoldered area.
• In 1988 only 2 major FCD/I projects were saved, on the other hand due to preventive and
protective measures in 1998 only two projects were damaged even it had higher magnitude and
longer duration.
• NGOs have also responded in an important way. Emergency flood fighting during peak flood,
evacuation and relief operation can best be achieved with peoples’ participation along with
deployment of army.
• Structural option provided some benefits specially increase in agricultural production (BWDB,
2005 & BBS, 2002) at earlier period but some adverse effects were observed later on (Nishat et.
al., 2000).
 Flood Management Impacts (cont.)

Negative Impacts:
• Notably, the construction of high embankment along the both banks of the rivers in
some cases resulted in rise in bed levels due to siltation causing obstruction to drainage.
• In the coastal areas, construction of polders prevented salinity intrusion, but resulted in
restriction of the movement of the tidal prism, sedimentation of tidal rivers and
obstruction to the gravity drainage.
• Structural measure caused many adverse effects on the aquatic lives especially on open
water fisheries.
 Floods and Water Management Policy:
Progressions and Shifts

• Hazard or disaster management policy change broadly falls under the following
two categories:
1. Incremental change and
2. Radical change
• The purpose of examining the distinctive nature of the flood policy change and
based on the above critical thoughts and arguments, the researchers had
formulated an integrated framework applying the diverse notions of policy
change.
The institutions who took initiatives, pertinent policy interventions, relevant
debates, and their changing nature have been listed below
More institutions who took initiatives, pertinent policy interventions, relevant debates,
and their changing nature have been listed below
 Proposed Management
These four main concepts are important for interactive flood management in Dhaka. Main
priority should focus on the following components: The integrated contribution of
organizations related to the water system and policy. Ten organizations from six different
ministries are working for Dhaka city flood protection and drainage management.

• Land and water use planning

• River basin management in a whole
• Total water system management
• Participatory planning
• Good governance involvement and
• Mix of strategies

Figure: Interactive Flood Management

 Recommended Management Practices
Possible solutions to the flood problem in Bangladesh can be divided
into several types:
• Structural solutions
• Geologic solutions
• Dredging and re-excavation of rivers
• Preventing land degradation
• Flood preparedness
• Basin based cooperation
 Conclusion

Flood is the most common but unpredictable disaster becuase of its complexity in terms of occurence
and duration in this country as it can not be deteremined with a single trigger. Also the phases of flood
are not always rapid and can not be delineated clearly so management is distinctly hard. But to
strengthen the management, legislative actions should be taken, implemented and modified whenever
needed. The development of water and flood-disaster management policies in Bangladesh was a
nonlinear and iterative process. Since Bangladesh is a small part of a larger hydrodynamic system that
comprises several countries in the region mutual understanding and cooperation among the co-riparian
countries will be necessary to formulate long-term and sustainable solutions to the flooding and
subsequent erosion problems in Bangladesh.
 References
• Ahmad, Q., 2003. Natural Hazards, 28(1), pp.191-198.
• Ahmed, F., Gersonius, B., Veerbeek, W., Alam Khan, M. and Wester, P., 2014. The role of extreme events in reaching
adaptation tipping points: a case study of flood risk management in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Journal of Water and Climate
Change, 6(4), pp.729-742.
• Alphen, J., Beek, E. and Taal, M., 2006. Floods, from Defence to Management. Leiden, Netherlands: Taylor & Francis.
• Ara Parvin, G., Rahman, R., Fujita, K. and Shaw, R., 2018. Overview of flood management actions and policy planning in
Bangladesh | International Journal of Public Policy. [online] International Journal of Public Policy. Available at:
<https://www.inderscienceonline.com/doi/abs/10.1504/IJPP.2018.096700> [Accessed 3 February 2022].
• Barua, S. and van Ast, J., 2011. Towards interactive flood management in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Water Policy, 13(5),
pp.693-716.
• Barua, U., Akther, M. and Islam, I., 2016. Flood Risk Reduction Approaches in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Urban Disasters and
Resilience in Asia, pp.209-226.
• Braun, B. and Aßheuer, T., 2011. Floods in megacity environments: vulnerability and coping strategies of slum dwellers
in Dhaka/Bangladesh. Natural Hazards, 58(2), pp.771-787.
 References
• Gunnell, K., Mulligan, M., Francis, R. and Hole, D., 2019. Evaluating natural infrastructure for flood management within
the watersheds of selected global cities. Science of The Total Environment, 670, pp.411-424.
• Kabir, M. and Hossen, M., 2019. Impacts of flood and its possible solution in Bangladesh. Disaster Advances, [online]
12(10), p.54.
• Khan, A. and Rahman, K., 2010. Flood Management in Bangladesh: Traditional and Integrated Approach. [online]
Available at: <https://ssrn.com/abstract=1575376> [Accessed 3 February 2022].
• Rahman, M., Hossain, M. and Bhattacharya, D., 2007. Flood Management in The Flood Plain of Bangladesh. IOSR
Journal of Engineering, pp.3-7.
• Sayers, P., Galloway, G., Penning-Rowsell, E., Yuanyuan, L., Fuxin, S., Yiwei, C., Kang, W., Le Quesne, T., Wang, L. and
Guan, Y., 2014. Strategic flood management: ten ‘golden rules’ to guide a sound approach. International Journal of
River Basin Management, 13(2), pp.137-151.
• Serra-Llobet, A., Kondolf, G., Schaefer, K. and Nicholson, S., 2018. Managing Flood Risk. Cham, Switzerland: This
Palgrave Macmillan, pp.1-5.