Adverse impact of climate change has been posing a serious threat to the overall public health especially relating to water and sanitation in the region including the vast Barind tract.To face the natural catastrophe, substantial and sustainable promotion of water and sanitation related modern technologies have become an urgent need as the vulnerable water and sanitation situation is closely associated with the climate change.Prof Dr Chowdhury Sarwar Jahan of Geology and Mining Department of Rajshahi University, told BSS here yesterday that the common consequences of drought such as dust storms due to desertification, eroding landscapes, less crop growth due to lack of water for irrigation, malnutrition, dehydration, habitat damage now being observed in the dried region.He said over 13,000 Deep tube-wells are extracting groundwater everyday for maintaining the farming system especially the irrigation-dependent paddy for boosting its outputs to feed the huge population.Dr Chowdhury added that the whole water and sanitation is facing serious threat in the drought-prone region due multifarious adverse reasons including arsenic intrusion, lack of underground recharging, rising of char lands as a result of erosion and accretion leading to water scarcity and quality problems.He emphasized the need for finding out effective strategies to cope with the existing and new challenges regarding water and sanitation in drought situation in the region particularly Rajshahi and Chapainawabgonj districts.Prof Rakib Ahmed, former Director of Institute of Environmental Sciences of Rajshahi University, stated that the drought-prone condition has directly been negatively impacting the water, sanitation, overall public health and sustainable livelihood in the region.He said the climate change has been acknowledged as the depletion of natural resources and as a major threat to the humanity in the region and urged the policy planners and others concerned to take immediate effective measures to address the adverse impact of the climate change.Quoting various research findings on the issue, he said the dried area has been seeing drought conditions with gradual increase of extreme weather conditions, sharp declining in groundwater table and decreasing rate of rainfall.He put emphasis on groundwater recharging through enriching the surface water resources through necessary excavation and re-excavation of the derelict ponds and canals and treatment of the water on an emergency basis.To overcome the prevailing odd situation, Dr Ahmed favored for feasible water and sanitation technologies and large-scale uses of surface water including the rainwater in the area.BSS, Rajshahi
