Vanishing forests, receding waters and impending disaster in the Sangu river basin
Deforestation and land erosion has led to the drying of hill streams and canals, eventually resulting in reduced flow of the Sangu river. The lives of people living in the river basin have become harder, as both access to water and communication is impacted during the dry season
Morning dawned nearly an hour ago. At the Marma Bazar ghat in Bandarban town, two traders were waiting on a dilapidated boat grounded on the dried up bed of the Sangu river. Summer had officially kicked off just two days back, and the river was at its narrowest form.
Boats started arriving soon.
The first boat carried only two people and a large sack of some agricultural produce. It was a weekly market day, and marginal farmers would come from different paras (small hill villages) with their produce.
The narrow, lightweight boat, powered by a longtail engine, smoothly glided through water and docked in the ghat, which actually did not have any structure whatsoever.
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The arrival was not so smooth for the next boat, however, as it carried five people and their goods. The boat almost got stuck on the river bed 30 metres away, and the boatman struggled a bit with the longtail propeller to finally evade the obstacle.
Chhuma, in her 60s, got off the boat. As the Marma woman stood in the river to get her basket full of brinjal and cucumbers, only her feet got wet.
One would expect knee-deep water in the hill river in summer, as Tagore's poem 'Amader Chhoto Nodee' describes a typical small river of the country, but this was not the case in most parts of this river.
As Chhuma walked toward the market, she told us that she had been coming here for the past 50 years. In Marma language, she shared with us that the river was deeper even in summer when she was younger.
There was a time when, exactly during this time in the year — to be more specific, a day prior to the Sangrai festival (the first day of the local calendar) observed by the Marma community — boat races would be organised. Now, it is hard for the boats to navigate the shallow river.
Locals and experts say deforestation and land erosion due to the expansion of agriculture and building of infrastructure led to the drying of hill streams and canals, creating a severe water crisis for the locals.
This eventually resulted in reduced flow of the Sangu River, which is making lives even harder for people living in the river basin, as both access to water and communication is impacted during the dry season.
Water crisis hits the hills first
A couple of years back, one of us had the opportunity to stay the night with a Mro family near the '13 Kilo' point on the Thanchi-Alikadam road. The host served jum rice and some unknown plant-based curry with water from the nearby jhiri (stream).
Early trekkers of the country had faith in the purity of water sourced from the hills. So did we. But the next morning, as we went out to explore the adjacent old-growth forest, we were shocked to see the spring.
There were no stones, and as it was mid-April, it was hard to find any flow in the spring. Water for human consumption could be collected only from the inches-deep points, which was shared by other animals too, clearly visible from the droppings they had left behind.
We did not prolong our stay after this — the water did not seem safe.
This was the case in a place which had some forest left, although most of it was gone. In other places that saw total deforestation, acute water shortage cripple the lives of communities living there for at least four months.
In Chimbuk Hill area in Bandarban, three paras — Kramadi, Basanta and Mrolong — have to rely on a single source of water, a jhiri flowing by the side of Mrolong para.
For the 44 families living in Kramadi para, fetching drinking water meant climbing a steep hill for 30 minutes, and a return trip. Last year, the Local Government Division funded a gravity flow water supply with a 7,500 litre tank, which is filled through a 13,000 ft pipe coming from the jhiri.
During our visit, we saw a queue of jars waiting to be filled with water. As the flow is slow, it takes a long time for the jars to fill up. Each family gets two jars of water every day. While it meets the drinking needs, what about baths?
"We wet a piece of cloth and wipe our body with it. That's our bath," Sinpak Mro, an inhabitant of Kramadi Para, said with a dry smile.
Many jhiris have dried up to a point that the villagers have to drink water from the Sangu.
Besides, for various reasons such as elevation and rocky soil, tubewells cannot be set up everywhere in the hills.
The culprits: Deforestation, stone extraction and erosion
Locals and experts alike are of the opinion that deforestation is the major cause of reduced water flow in the streams in the Sangu basin.
"In the hilly and mountainous areas, where there is a thick, natural forest, it creates a spongy layer of leaves and other organic matter, and that holds the moisture for a long time. Therefore, when there is no rainfall, there's water available in the streams," said Dr Ainun Nishat, an expert of water resource management and Brac University's Professor Emeritus.
Mahabubul Islam, chief scientific officer at Bandarban Soil Conservation and Watershed Management Centre, said, "Usually groundwater level drops during dry season. Besides, the natural sources of water are dying due to indiscriminate felling of trees on hills and extraction of stones. If all the jhiris dry up, hill people will face an acute water crisis.
"There are natural causes as well. It does not rain like before. But as much as it rains, it does not have the capacity to hold the water," he added.
Earlier, Zuamlian Amlai, president of the Bandarban chapter of Movement for the Protection of Forest and Land Rights in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, echoing the same, told TBS, "It is feared that more than 300 springs and jhiris have died so far due to illegal stone extraction and indiscriminate tree felling in forests. The number of dead jhiris will increase day by day."
Locals also point to stone extraction behind the stream's reduced capacity of water retention.
"Amra beshi unnoto hoisi, ejonno pani kome gese (Water crisis is the outcome of our 'development')," Sinpak Mro said in a heavily accented Bangla. "When roads are constructed, trees, bamboo plants and stones are stolen. When stones are extracted from the river, it cannot retain water. When trees are felled, water sources dry, landslides and soil erosion fills up streams, " the middle aged Mro man shared his acquired local knowledge.
"Trees are all felled everywhere," he emphasised.
"When I was a boy, the Sangu River was much deeper during the dry season," said a 40-plus-year-old Sinpak. He also mentioned that the resorts and cafe-restaurants pollute the streams with all sorts of waste.
"Last month we travelled up to Pratak Khal in Thanchi via the Sangu. We had to get off the boat and push it again and again," he shared his recent experience. "I visited the place in 2008, there was much more water back then."
"Many have to rely on the Sangu for water. If the Sangu is dead, people will die from thirst," Sinpak continued.
In Betchhara Bazar in Rowangchhari upazila, we met Win Mong, a local entrepreneur who went out with his family on a boat to enjoy the Sangrai festival at a remote Marma village. He also reminisced how the Sangu river had more water in the past.
"In Bandarban town, boat races used to be arranged ahead of Sangrai. Now there is hardly any depth in the river for boat races in the dry season," Win told TBS.
Deforestation unabated
A part of Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot, much of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) had rich forest cover only decades ago. Of course, systematic deforestation started during the colonial period when the British replaced patches of natural forests with Teak plantation for timber.
The process sped up later, with several exotic plants being promoted in different times, such as Eucalyptus, Acacia, Rubber and Agar. Recently, various fruit trees have been on the top of the favoured species.
Today, only a few fragmented patches of the forests remain, which are also vanishing fast. Much of the hill tracts, categorised as Unclassed State Forest, is out of the jurisdiction of the country's Forest Department, and is susceptible to logging at the whims of locals and the administration. Even the reserved forests of CHT under the authority of the Forest Department are either degrading or totally disappearing under various pressures.
The forest cover at the Sangu basin area such as the reserve forests of Sangu-Matamuhari and community conserved area of Kirstaung are also changing fast, directly impacting the river's flow.
As replacing the forests with cash crops and timber trees translates into economic development for the beneficiaries and the country, the state has a tendency to turn a blind eye to it. But the current trend clearly shows that deforestation and stone extraction cannot sustain in the long run. Such activities have been jeopardising the local communities' very foundation of life and the means of living.
Is a course-reversal possible?
Opinion among the locals is divided on this matter.
Win Mong thinks that irreparable damage has been done to the ecosystems of the hills, and there is no way left to heal it. Sinpak Mro thinks if the government is serious, the water crisis can be solved.
"Stop deforestation and stone extraction, plant appropriate trees. Everything is possible," he said.
Rangpor Mro, the Karbari (village chief) of Kramadi Para, said planting certain trees such as Dumur, Chalta, Champa, Gutgutia, etc., near the jhiris can help water retention during the dry times.
Mahabubul Islam from Bandarban Soil Conservation and Watershed Management Centre gave several suggestions on the matter. He pointed out that the solution might not happen overnight.
"It is a long-standing crisis. It requires a lot of practical planning. First of all, we need awareness. Local public representatives, traders, and headmen can play a major role in the conservation of waterfalls. The development partners can also work on this issue," the chief scientific officer said.
"If practical steps are not taken right now, the water crisis will worsen in the future," he concluded.
