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Performance of Flood Control and Drainage Projects During the 1998 Flood in Bangladesh : a Case Study

Abul Fazal M. Saleh
Institute of Flood Control and Drainage Research, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology Dhaka -1000, Bangladesh

M. Shahjahan Mondal
Institute of Flood Control and Drainage Research, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology Dhaka -1000, Bangladesh

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

The flood control and drainage projects of Bangladesh are normally designed to withstand the 20 - year flood and to enhance the agricultural productivity. The performance of one such project, Narayanganj-Narsingdi Project, Block-A1 during the 1998 flood, which was the highest and longest ever recorded flood for some of the major rivers of the country, was evaluated. The 1998 flood was at least a 50 - year flood and in spite of innumerable sliding, piping, seepage and leakage problems, the embankment of the project was able 10 withstand the flood because of the freeboard added to the designed 25 - year flood level. Even though their was no river flooding, the project failed to achieve its desired target of rice production because of severe drainage congestion. The project has provisions for pump drainage and the 1998 drainage volume was also less than the designed pumping capacity. Because af persistently high river water level above the designed flood level, the pumps remained inoperative for more than three weeks. Frequent power failure when the pumps were ill operation exacerbated the problem and subsequently rice crop in about 38% of cultivated area was damaged. Analysis of benefits and costs of flood fighting showed that even with the damage the returns from the harvested rice was almost five limes the costs incurred due to flood fighting. It was evident from the study that the present embankment design criteria were adequate and the problems encountered during flood fighting were not because of faulty design but because of some lapses in its construction.

Keywords: Flood, Drainage system, Flood control,

Location: Narayanganj and Narsingdi districts, Bangladesh

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Risk Management in Agriculture

Non-commodity: Flood

Objectives:

Objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of some selected FCD/FCDI projects in alleviating the flood damage, especially to agriculture, during the 1998 flood.

Methodology:

The methodology followed for the performance evaluation comprised of two phases. In the first phase, all existing secondary information (reports and data) of the project were collected. The information were then analyzed and interpreted for developing a framework of parameters (both qualitative and quantitative) to be used in the evaluation. The developed framework was used during the field visits for assessing the physical condition, design appropriateness and effectiveness of thc infrastructure. In addition, the design criteria of the infrastructure were also reviewed to check their adequacy in mitigating losses from 1998 flood. For analyzing the magnitude of 1998 flood, all relevant hydrologic data for the project were also collected from BWDB. Extensive field visits to the project were undertaken in the second phase and the existing conditions of the infrastructure (flood control and drainage) were assessed using the developed framework of parameters. Qualitative assessment of the performance of the project and flood damage were made by interviewing a wide range of informants, visiting' the affected/damaged areas and reaching informed judgments in the field. The information collected from the field were cross checked with the data available with the BWDB project officials and in case of any contradiction the information collected by the team prevailed. The planned Narayanganj-Narsingdi (N-N) Irrigation Project has a grass area of 45, 200 ha and Block-A1 is the only completed component of the total project, with a gross area of 3000 ha and cultivable area of 2380 ha. It is a flood control, drainage and irrigation (FCDI) project and the feasibility study of the total project was carried out by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 1978 and they recommended for the implementation of the project (JICA, 1978). A demonstration unit of the project with 1300 ha was completed in 1984 with grant aid from the Government of Japan and was extremely beneficial for the local inhabitants (JICA, 1988). Because of the success of the demonstration unit, further aid for the completion of Block-A1 of the project was available from the Government of Japan and the project was completed in 1993. The Block-A1 of the N-N project is located in Rupganj Thana of Narayanganj District and is bordered by Lakhya river to the west, Dhaka-Narsingdi road to the east, Kanchan-Golakandail road to the north and Rupsi road to the south. The main objective of the project was to improve the agricultural productivity of the area. The pre-project cropping intensity was 110% and the dominant cropping pattern was broadcast local Amen-fallow, The envisaged cropping intensity during the post project condition was 250% with transplanted high yielding variety (HYV) Aman-HYV winter rice as the dominant cropping pattern.

Source of Information: Journal of Indian Water Resources Society Vol. 19, No. 4, October, 1999

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

1.

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

The Narayanganj-Narsingdi Irrigation Project, Block-Al has been successful in protecting the area from Lakhya river flooding during the 1998 flood even though the flood level was about 0.5 m higher than the designed flood level and there were a number of problems of sliding, piping and seepage in the embankment. In terms of magnitude, the 1998 flood was at least a 50-year flood and could also be classified as a 100 - year flood by some distributions. In terms of duration, the 1998 flood broke all previous records and the duration of water level beyond the designed level was 33 days, 16 days more than the previous record. The embankment has been reasonably well maintained and the problems encountered during the 1998 flood were not because of faulty design but because of some lapses in its construction. Even though the 1998 flood season rainfall was less than the designed rainfall and was within the pumped drainage capacity of the project, there was severe drainage congestion and subsequent flooding and crop damage in about 38% of the cropped area of the project because of interrupted power supply and suspension of pumping due to high rls water level. Preliminary benefit-cost analysis showed that the return from the saved Aman crop was about five times of the emergency expenditure incurred by BWDB in embankment protection. Thus, the Narayanganj- Narsingdi Irrigation Project has been successful in thwarting the 1998 flood and preventing the damage to life and property but has failed to meet the targeted Aman production because of inadvertent drainage congestion. It is unfortunate to note that even though the project's pumping capacity was adequate to alleviate the drainage congestion, the drainage problem persisted because of some exogenous factors like power interruption and high river water level.

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