Eradicating water-logging problem: a success story from Sylhet

During this monsoon, water-logging disrupts normal life in Chittagong. Due to the weeklong torrential rains many areas of the port city went under water, bus services were suspended on most of the routes, leaving the residents to commute on rickshaws, auto-rickshaws, vans and three-wheelers. Knee-high water is seen everywhere including markets and educational institutions. The residents have been stuck in their houses for long which brought enormous sufferings to the life of lower income groups. Traders also shut down their shops as the roads in front of their shops got water-logged. Children missed classes, the poor suffered as they live from hand to mouth. Apart from Chittagong, the water-logging problem is a common phenomenon in urban areas of the country including Dhaka, Sylhet, Satkhira, Jessore and Khulna.  
Due to unplanned urbanisation, lack of long-tern development plans, implementation of ad-hoc projects, lack of regular maintenance, the water-logging problem appeared as a threat to the south and south-west part of the country. Inundation of agricultural land, reduction in production, impact on low-income group, unemployment, underemployment, poverty and migration are the main economic consequences of water-logging along with adverse impact on family and households while shortage of usable water, sanitation systems, utility services and recreation facilities are the social consequences.
Every year, when monsoon sets in, many areas of Sylhet city go under water that cause immense sufferings to the dwellers. But things have changed now. Thanks to Sylhet City Corporation (SCC) and other development agencies concerned like Oxfam that joined their hands together to solve this problem.
Despite this chronic problem of water-logging in SCC areas, relevant authority and service providing agencies put high attention to this. In previous years, SCC took some initiatives to address the water-logging problem, but due to lack of available resources and effective coordination with other stakeholders, those were not able to bring expected results.
In April 2010, a project worth BDT 110 million was initiated by the Sylhet City Corporation and some steps like removing illegal infrastructures and excavating were done. However, shortly afterwards, illegal land grabbers and influential encroachers started to hinder the activities of the project and as a result SCC was forced to shut down the project, without paying attention to water-logging problem.
The issue of water-logging became crucial in the last Sylhet City Corporation Mayoral election, which took place on 15 June, 2013. Candidates pledged to address the issue in their election campaigns and promised to retrieve 11 dead canals of the city from the land grabbers. Those canals play important roles to solve water-logging. Thankfully the elected Mayor is keeping his commitment and working with other stakeholders to solve this problem with utmost priority. Some projects are now being implemented to address water-logging problem.
Urban Risk Assessment (URA) identified 'Water-logging' as a major problem in Sylhet
During January-February, 2014 Ward Disaster Management Committee (WDMC) conducted Urban Risk Assessment in selected wards of Sylhet City Corporation under the support of DIPECHO VII Action Plan. The assessment identified water-logging as the number one problem in all the areas. The major causes include unplanned drainage systems, encroachment and illegal establishment over the drains. Moreover lack of social awareness is also being added to that.
The projects of SCC: towards resilience
During 2013 and 2014 fiscal years, Sylhet City Corporation (SCC) prioritised the water-logging issue in their development plans and accordingly implemented some significant projects addressing water-logging, waste management, re-excavation of water streams at a cost of approximately BDT 247 million where SCC sets a unique example of coordination.
The major project includes water streams (Chara) cleaning and new drain establishment projects by Comprehensive Disaster Management Program (CDMP) Phase-II, fund allocation for drain cleaning and maintenance by ADP, water supply, sanitation and new drain construction project by GoB and UNICEF, drain cleaning and awareness raising project jointly implemented by the city corporation and other two NGOs, drain repair with slab, footpath repairing and construction and twin pit latrine establishment projects by the supports of UPPR project, Chara cleaning, re-excavation and mobile van distribution project by DIPECHO VII project jointly supported by Oxfam and Islamic Relief.
Mass awareness and capacity building
help to eradicate water-logging crisis
Along with mitigation projects, SCC took mass awareness and capacity building initiatives towards eradicating water-logging crisis from the city corporation areas. The activities include assessing problems through Risk Assessment process, capacity building training, mass awareness session at community, mosque, class-room and household level, setting waste dumping boxes at different points of the wards and organising cleaning campaign on regular intervals. In addition, SCC took initiative to organise awareness workshops with hotel, restaurant and hospital owners with the aim of motivating them not to throw their litters to the drain, rather in the dumping places.
The Sylhet model shows that an integrated approach is needed to reverse the consequences of water-logging problem. The planning phase needs to be designed in a participatory way. Most importantly, mass awareness is a pre-requisite for getting rid of this prolonged problem from the urban areas of Bangladesh.
The writer is working at Oxfam in Bangladesh as Programme Officer for Urban DRR. He can be reached at [email protected]