Agreements & MOUs - The Ganga: Water Use in the Indian Subcontinent - page 171

the Government of India, 'White Paper on the Ganges Water Dispute', pub-
lished by Bangladesh government and 'Special Studies', published jointly by
the Government of Bangladesh and a San Francisco-based firm of engineering
consultants, International Engineering Company, funded by the World Bank.
Figure 10.7 shows the southwest part of Bangladesh, which was most affected
by the diversion of the Ganga water at Farakka. Ben Crow said, the western
part of the delta, stretching from the Bhagirathi in India across Bangladesh bor-
der, to the line of Gorai-Madhumati and Rupsa-Pussur rivers, was a moribund
region before the diversion and many of the small rivers and channels were no
longer tributaries of the Ganga. These channels were not having any flowing
water except in the rainy season when they drained only the adjacent country-
side. Though some land-building was occurring at the Meghna estuary, it was
also affected by erosion, deforestation and bad farming practices. A compari-
son of early maps with more recent ones indicates that landforms are changing,
but the total land area within the given boundaries has been roughly constant.
Quoting a 1962 East Pakistan Report, Mr. Crow stated that in some periods, there
had been almost no flow in the Gorai because of blocked offtake. Flows had
been negligible from January to May in 1951 and at different times, an average
monthly discharge of less than 1,000 cusecs was recorded for six months, from
December to May. This makes it difficult to assess the effects of Farakka Barrage on
Bangladesh.
Mr. Crow had no access to the records of diversion at Farakka from New Delhi.
He made a tentative assessment, according to which the Ganga flow near Hardinge
Bridge fell by 45% for three months, from February to April in 1976 and 1977 from
those of earlier years.
On the effects of the Farakka diversion on ground-water levels in Bangladesh,
the White Paper from Dhaka comments:
The hydraulic cycle of surface and ground-water are interdependent. In 1976, the ground-
water level in the highly affected area went down by five feet on an average with a range of
three to eight feel below normal.
The 'Special Studies' report did not chime with the view of the Bangladesh
government; it said:
Ground-water conditions during recent dry season differ from conditions that existed dur-
ing the dry seasons prior to 1975. Reported changes include lower water-levels in wells,
increased pumping lifts, dry wells, reduced ground-water yields and increased salinity. The
water levels during the dry season of 1976 were at the lowest level, ever reduced in many
of the wells in the study area.
Analysing the field survey data of Bangladesh government, the Special Studies
team concluded that out of 15 wells in the study area, in only five did the level
in the adjacent river appear to be the determining factor. In the other 10 wells,
water-levels appeared to be affected more by direct precipitation than by stream
flow. The effect of fluctuations in the river-water level on the ground water reduced
to 83% in a mile, 41% in 16 km (10 miles) and 16% in 32 km (20 miles) from