theN E W S L E T T E R

CEGISQuarterly Newsletter of the Center for Environmental and

Geographic Information Services (CEGIS)

Year 14: Issue 46October-December 2015

Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services

House 6, Road 23/C, Gulshan 1, Dhaka 1212 BangladeshPhone: 88 02 58817648-52; 9842581, 9842551Fax: 880-2-9855935, 8823128 Email: cegis@cegisbd.com, Web: www.cegisbd.com

Inside

Upcoming Events

(A Public Trust under the Ministry of Water Resources)

Regional Workshop on South-South Cooperation in Flood Management, Guangdong, China

The Regional Workshop on “South-South Cooperation in Flood Management” is one of the constructive and proactive approach of the Global Water Partnership (GWP) to address the importance of and to draw more attention on flood as water management of the partner countries. The workshop, “South-South Cooperation in Flood Management” was jointly organized by the Global Water Partnership China and Global Water Partnership, Sweden. The event was supported by the Research Center on Flood and Drought Disaster Reduction (CDR), International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR) and WMO/GWP Associated Programme on Flood Management (APFM). The aim of the workshop was to set a platform for the planners to work more closely together in the areas of common interest of the region, which, by consensus, is the issue of flood. The workshop also promoted formulation of a podium for sharing of experience and knowledge, and exchanging of other forms of development resources on flood. One of the major agenda of this workshop is to initiate a step in establishing a framework of collaboration for enhancement of the regional cooperation. Participants from different country, partners of

GWP like Bangladesh, Cambodia, Pakistan, China, Georgia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Kazakhstan, Sweden, France, and Japan were present as keynote presenters on different issues.The entire event had eight different sessions, spread over four consecutive days. Executive Director of CEGIS, Engr Md Waji Ullah participated in this regional cooperation workshop as the spokesperson from Bangladesh. He presented a keynote paper on a case from Bangladesh - “Community Based Flood Early Warning and Information Dissemination System” in the second session which, was on ‘Flood forecasting, monitoring, early warning and responses’. Group discussions were conducted in a well constructed, participatory manner. Problems which could be identified, opportunities that lay behind them and suitable solutions that adequately addressed them came out very efficiently through group presentations after every session. There was a field visit to the Foshan City to observe the water management situations and flood management project on the Pearl River. The participants were warmly received by the Director General of Foshan Water Resources Bureau as well as attained with imperative

Regional Workshop on South-South Cooperation in Flood Management

Stakeholders’ Consultation Workshop on “Bangladesh: Revision and Alignment of National Action Program with UNCCD 10 Years Strategic Plan and Framework”

Workshop on Drinking Water Security in Polder Areas

Rising Sea Level: Observations and Trends

Feasibility Study of “Patuakhali - Gopalganj 400 kV Transmission Line & Gopalganj 400/132 kV Sub-station”

EIA Study for Sirajganj 225 MW Combined Cycle Power Plant Project (Dual Fuel- 3rd Unit)

Impact of ICT on Groundwater in Bangladesh

Traffic Impact Assessment and Future Traffic Modelling

Tobacco Cultivated Fields Identification from Satellite images

River Behavioural Analysis in the Kosi River Basin

5-day Training Program on GIS conducted by CEGIS

Contracts and Agreements Signed between Various Agencies and CEGIS

Engr Md Waji Ullah, Executive Director, CEGIS attended the workshop from Bangladesh

(More on Page 2 ...)

National Dissemination Workshop on Capital and Pilot Dredging of River System of Bangladesh

CEGIS’ Annual Picnic

Innovation Seminar

Stakeholders’ Consultation Workshop on “Bangladesh: Revision and Alignment of National Action Program with UNCCD 10 Years Strategic Plan and Framework”

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Bangladesh is a signatory to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). As a Party to the UNCCD, every country is obliged to prepare a National Action Plan (NAP). The Government of Bangladesh has drafted the first National Action Programme (NAP) in 2005 to address the land degradation, drought and desertification issues. Since the formulation of NAP, the socio-economic and environmental conditions of the country have been changed while new issues have evolved. Therefore, updating of NAP has become essential to address the Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought (DLDD) issues under the changing situation. Meanwhile, the Secretariat of UNCCD formulated the 10-year strategic plan and framework to enhance the implementation of the Convention for 2008-2018 around the globe in a consistent manner. Therefore, the Department of Environment (DoE) under the Ministry

of Environment and Forests is implementing a project titled “Bangladesh: Revision and Alignment of National Action Program (NAP) with UNCCD 10 Years Strategic Plan and Framework”. Participation of relevant stakeholders was ensured in all the different steps of the process for preparation of the NAP. Six regional workshops were arranged at the divisional levels, and two stakeholders’ consultation workshops at the national level were organized jointly by DoE and CEGIS. The Second Stakeholders’ Consultation Workshop of the Project was arranged on September 21, 2015 at the Chameli Conference Room, DoE, Agargaon, Dhaka. The key objective of the workshop was to share the Draft Report on NAP new projects and programs suggested to address land degradation and desertification in Bangladesh and accordingly, receive feedback from the participants to

finalize them. A number of professionals from relevant Ministries, Government organizations, NGOs, academicians and development partners participated in the workshop.Engr Md Waji Ullah, Executive Director, CEGIS, graced the occasion as the Special Guest and Mr QSI Hashmi, Additional Director General (ADG), DoE chaired the workshop. Dr S K Ghulam Hussain, Team Leader of the study presented the Draft Report of NAP. The participants gave their valuable suggestions and comments on the Draft Report in the interactive feedback session. The report will be finalized through incorporating the comments and feedbacks received from the participants. It is underscored that NAP would be the key instrument in maintaining and restoring land and soil productivity and to mitigate the effects of drought and desertification in Bangladesh following the guidelines of UNCCD.

Regional Workshop on South-South Cooperation... (Continued from page 1)

information about the workability of the flood control system of Foshan throughout the years. A draft MoU was presented to the participants to inform that an attempt has been undertaken to join four water partner regions – Causasus-Central Asia, China, South Asia, South-East Asia in order to come forward with common water related issues and face similar water resources related challenges in the coming years. The regional cooperation in Flood Management was not

only a platform for dissemination of flood management situations of the regional counterparts but also an initiative for development of proposals and agreement to work further through achieving well structured fund for future research execution. Through this successful workshop event, the idea of South–South cooperation got an impetus to step forward with prior willingness among the counterparts with win-win principles. This was a platform for the GWP to unite the Partners and achieving its objective with proper execution of the strategic stride.

CEGIS has successfully completed two workshops on drinking water security with financial support from Bangladesh Water Partnership (BWP). The aims of these two workshops were to disseminate the understanding of the challenges of drinking water security, and responsibilities of youth and women in the selected coastal polders of south-west region of the country. These workshops were held on 10 October 2015 and 15 October 2015 at Batiaghata Upazila Parishad Auditorium of Khulna district and Amtali Upazila Parishad Auditorium of Barguna district respectively. Engr. Md. Waji Ullah, Executive

Director of CEGIS, along with the study team from CEGIS and representatives from BWP were present in both the workshops. The participation of the affected local stakeholders - youth and women from the selected polders and the representatives from different GOs and NGOs (UNO, Upazila Parishad Chairmen and Vice Chairmen, officials from UHFPO, BWDB, DPHE and representatives from civil societies) made the workshops more significant and successful. As aimed, the day to day challenges of drinking water in both the selected areas were delineated from the workshops.

Workshop on Drinking Water Security in Polder Areas

Participants at the workshop

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Rising Sea Level: Observations and Trends- Farhana Ahmed, Climate Change and Disaster Management Division

Climate change induced accelerated sea level rise makes Bangladesh one of the most vulnerable countries in the world (UNEP, 1989). It has been predicted that there will be rise in sea level along with more frequent and severe floods, tropical cyclones, storm surges and droughts disrupting the life of the nation and its economy. The coastal zone of Bangladesh is already experiencing adverse impacts of climate change. Catastrophic tropical cyclones with storm surges have taken place as recently as 2007 (SIDR) and 2009 (AILA) with huge economic and social loss in most part of the coastal zone. Half of the area of the coastal zone is under threat of cyclonic storm surge. Around 45% of the area is threatened by storm surge of more than 1 meter, while 4% of the area with less than 1 meter height (CEGIS estimate).

The vulnerability of the coastal zone can be attributed to its geographic location, flat topography, high population density, high levels of poverty, and reliance of many livelihoods on climate sensitive sectors, particularly agriculture, fisheries and water resources. The average elevation of the southwest coastal zone ranges from 1-2 m and in the southeast coastal zone 4-5 m. The low elevation, active delta, and dynamic morphology play significant role in its vulnerability to sea level change. Sea level rise affects the coastal zone and its geometry in a number of ways including inundation, erosion and salt water intrusion into the water table.

The “Climate Change Cell” of the Department of Environment (DoE), therefore, has initiated a study titled “Assessment of Sea Level Rise and Vulnerability in the Coastal Zone of Bangladesh through Trend Analysis”. The study was conducted by CEGIS in association with Institute of Water and Flood Management (IWFM) and Institute of Water Modeling (IWM).

Based on the understanding of the project objectives, and activities a comprehensive methodology has been developed. The activities started with identification of knowledge gaps followed by literature review, evaluation of existing approaches on sea level change estimation, and finally, assessment of observed trend. At the end, the study findings were shared with the stakeholders, experts and media through a national level workshop for validation of the research. The results were well appreciated and accepted as a basis for conducting SLR related research in future.

Sea level at a particular location changes regularly with tides and irregularly due to conditions such as wind and currents. Other factors which contribute to such fluctuations - include water temperature and salinity, air pressure, seasonal changes, amount of stream runoff, and amount of water that is stored as ice or snow. The components of sea level rise can be divided into global, regional and local sea level rise. This study focused on the trend analysis of the tidal water level to visualize the historical changes of sea level rise along the coast of Bangladesh. Based on the

hydro-morphological characteristics, the coastal zone has been delineated into three regions: the Ganges Tidal Plain or the Western Coastal Region; the Meghna Deltaic Plain or the Central Coastal Region, and the Chittagong Coastal Plain or the Eastern Coastal Region.

Physiographic unit wise the coastal region can further be subdivided into six sub-regions: the Ganges Tidal Floodplain (saline), the Ganges Tidal Floodplain (non-saline), Meghna River Floodplain, Meghna Estuarine Floodplain (Charland), Chittagong Coastal Plains and St. Martin’s Island. Water level stations for each of these sub-regions have been selected and analyzed. 38 BIWTA stations, 127 tidal water level stations and 18 non tidal water level stations of BWDB are located in the coastal zone. From these stations, 18 water level stations have been selected along the interior and exposed coasts covering the three major geo-morphological regions and six physiographic sub-regions. Finally, the results have been summarized for the three deltaic zones in the coastal area namely, the Ganges Tidal Plain or the Western Coastal Region; the Meghna Deltaic Plain or the Central Coastal Region; and the Chittagong Coastal Plain or the Eastern Coastal Region.

Analysis of tidal water of 30 years shows a rising trend of 7-8 mm/year in the Ganges tidal floodplain. On the other hand, the trend is 6-9 mm/year in the Meghna Estuarine flood plain and 11-20 mm/year in the Chittagong coastal plain areas. Hence, the overall trend in the coastal zone is 6-20 mm/year and the water level trend in the Chittagong

coastal plain area is much higher than the Ganges and Meghna subzones.

Installation of at least 10 high precision automatic tidal gauge stations along the coast line of Bangladesh has been recommended. The location of these stations along the coastal belt are Hiron point, Sundarban, Khepupara, Char Changa, Sandwip, Moheshkhali, Noakhali, Chittagong Port, Cox’s Bazar and Teknaf.

Water level trends for the Ganges, Meghna and Chittagong coastal sub zone of Bangladesh based on the data of last 30 years

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Power Grid Company Limited of Bangladesh (PGCB) has entrusted Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS) to conducted a feasibility study of the proposed “Patuakhali - Gopalganj 400 kV Transmission Line & Gopalganj 400/132 kV Sub-station” project.

The proposed project has two components, i. a 400 kV/132kV, 3X350 MVA AIS type Grid Substation at Muksudpur Upazila under Gopalganj district, and ii. a tentative 160 Km long 400kV transmission line from the switch yard of North West Power Generation Company Limited of Bangladesh (NWPGCL) Power Plant at Paira to proposed sub-station site at Muksudpur in Gopalganj. The main objective of the project is to evaluate power from Paira 1320 MW Power Plant.

PGCB has planned to acquire around 60 acres of land in Muksudpur area for this project. A site selection team headed by the Chief Engineer (P&D), PGCB including team member from CEGIS, has selected the sub-station site, out of three different possible sites at Muksudpur through consultation with local stakeholders, analyzing maps and satellite images. The final route (Map 1) of the proposed transmission line has also been chosen from the three different options. Under this feasibility study, CEGIS is conducting in detail the route selection, site selection, design of the towers and sub-station of the proposed project. The cost estimation, and the financial and economic analyses of the project are also been conducted by CEGIS in this feasibility study. CEGIS is also involving with the initial morphological analysis of the river crossing sites.

In order to meet the current growing electricity demand of 12% per annum and to ensure sustainable power supply for socio-economic development of Bangladesh, the North West Power Generation Company Limited (NWPGCL), an enterprise of the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources (MoPEMR) in line with the Government’s Power Sector Master Plan of 2010, has planned to enhance the electricity generation. For this, NWPGCL has proposed to construct a new Combined Cycle Power Plant (CCPP) at Sirajganj (3rd unit) with the financial assistance from Euler Hermes and SINOSURE, China. Due to the CCPP nature, this proposed project will have a net electricity generation capacity of 225 MW with relatively less fuel consumption while in simple cycle the generation could only reach up to 147 MW or maximum to 150 MW.

As per definition of the Environment Conservation Rules (ECR), 1997 of Bangladesh, the proposed Project falls under “Red” Category. Hence, for the fulfilment of the condition required under this Category, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study has been carried out with the aim of assessing the impacts of this Project, proposing mitigation measures and its implementation plan (EMP). NWPGCL engaged CEGIS to carry out the EIA of the 3rd unit of the Sirajganj Power Station (SPS). The EIA took into consideration the environmental rules and regulations of the country as well as the Lender’s operational policies and

guidelines, including the IFC’s Environmental, Health and Safety Guidelines.

The proposed 3rd Unit will be established adjacent to the existing 2nd Unit of the Sirajganj Power Plant Complex which is under construction. This Complex is located at Barashimul Mouza of Saydabad Union in Sirajganj Sadar Upazila, Sirajganj District. This Project is a dual fuel based Combined Cycle Power Plant (CCPP), will be operated predominantly by Natural Gas (NG) but has also the provision of High Speed Diesel (HSD) in case of emergency and non-availability of NG. Beside the Gas Turbine (GT) with built in fuel NOx control technology, a Heat Recovery Steam Generator (HRSG) and a heavy duty Steam Turbine (ST) with cooling tower technology will be installed in the Plant. This proposed 3rd Unit at Sirajganj has considered a number of environmental friendly measures such as combined cycle technology, close cooling system, and central effluent treatment plant (CETP). This project will also start the regional development through rural electrification, industrial (power loom) development; creating employment opportunities, improving infrastructures and communication network and reducing energy shortfall. However, the major negative impact of this project is the emission of air pollutants, SOx, NOx, CO2,CO and SPM, due to the burning of fossil fuel during power generation. A continuous emission monitoring plan has been proposed under the Project.

EIA Study for Sirajganj 225 MW Combined Cycle Power Plant Project (Dual Fuel- 3rd Unit)

- Fatima Tuz Zohra, Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Division

Feasibility Study of “Patuakhali - Gopalganj 400 kV Transmission Line & Gopalganj 400/132 kV Sub-station”

- Bilkish Sultana, Socio-Economic and Institutional Division

Traffic Impact assessment (TIA) study is the subsidiary part of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process for residential area development projects. TIA was not usually conducted in any development projects in Bangladesh. Recently, Rajdhani Unnayan Katripakkha (RAJUK) is asking for TIA reports from different housing projects for integrated urban planning as it is mandatory under the Private Residential Land Development Act 2004. For conducting this study, a number of policies and legal aspects like a) Dhaka Structure Plan, RAJUK 2010; b) The Motor Vehicle Ordinance, 1983; c) Environmental Conservation Rules, 1997; d) Road Sign Manual, 2000; e) Private Housing Land Development Act, 2004; f) Bangladesh National Building Code, 1993/2006; g) Dhaka Megacity Building Construction Rules, 2008 have been followed and reviewed to explore if there any contradiction with the existing laws.

The TIA study includes description of the present traffic status which is carried out by traffic count survey and Origin-Destination (OD) survey. To identify the number, movements and classification of roadway vehicles at different cross sections of the road under the study area, traffic volume survey is mandatory. It helps to identify the critical flow during the time periods, determine the influence of large vehicles or document traffic volume trends. Future traffic projection modeling is the vital part of the TIA study where different traffic modal factors are

assumed according to different traffic scenarios. GIS is the tool of choice for representing these scenarios.

Basundhara Riverview Residential Project is representing a good example of TIA study and the site is located beside the Dhaka-Mawa (200 ft) highway in the Keraniganj Upazila of Dhaka District. This highway is the major connecting road between central Dhaka and Southwest region of Bangladesh. Three secondary roads already exist in the study area. They are: Dhaka-Munshiganj Link Road,

M A Aziz road, and Pangaon Container-Port road. Ten types of vehicles are found to exist in these roads. They are Rickshaw (35%), Van (3%), Cycle (3%), Human Hawler (4%), CNG (34%), Car/Micro (3%), Motorcycle (4%), Pickup (3%), Light truck (1%) and Medium Truck (10%).

According to “Private Residential Land Development Policy, 2004”, the standard density of population per acre is 350 persons. Therefore, after the project is completed, about 45,000, 110,000

and 230,000 people will live in the said housing area by 2025, 2035 and 2045 respectively. From the STP (Strategic Transport Plan) 2005 for Dhaka City developed by The Louis Berger Group Inc and Bangladesh Consultants Ltd, it is found that, about 7% households either have or have access to car, 4% owns motorcycles, 3% have rickshaws, 5% have bicycles and 2% have auto-rickshaws.

Total nine blocks (A to I in the figure) have been proposed and constructed to design traffic impact in modeling. The total number of inhabitants is projected as 2,30,000 and total number of trips per day is projected as 19,55,000 (195,500 trips in peak hour) in future after the project is in full operation. Additional trips would be from outside the project. To compute the traffic model, four scenarios have been considered to show the future project traffic. The scenarios are a) Business as Usual, b) Motorized Scenario, c) Economic Scenario, and d) Emergency Scenario.

The output from the traffic model results are shown in the

figure. Every proposed road in the project area is showing with different Passenger Car Unit (PCU) values for different scenarios. The result represents that, Basundhara Riverview approach road and Munshiganj link road will be highly congested if it is used for emergency and business purposes. The Level of Service (LoS) in these roads will be categorized as ‘E’ in future. On the other hand, the traffic condition in the M A Aziz road will remain constant in all scenarios and would fall under the ‘C’ category of service level. Dhaka-Mawa highway would not be congested in future even after implementation of the project.

Traffic Impact Assessment........ (Con’t from page 5)

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Impact of ICT on Groundwater in Bangladesh - Foyez Ahmed and Motaleb Hossain Sarker, Ecology, Forestry and Biodiversity Division

CEGIS is carrying out a study on “Impact of ICT in Groundwater Management in Bangladesh” funded by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), regional office Thailand. The main objective of the project is to understand the impact of ICT application in groundwater resource management in Bangladesh and for assisting the policy makers in better understanding of the physical and policy context of ICT based technologies and its further expansion. The study is going on in the drought prone northwest region (Rajshahi and Rangpur Division) of Bangladesh in selected upazilas. The study areas have been selected on the basis of hydrogeological condition, groundwater irrigation system, Agro-Ecological Zone (AEZ), existing ICT application status as well as expert judgment. There are two AEZs - High Barind Tract and Level Barind Tract. Four study sites namely, the Godagari Upazila in Rajshahi and Pirganj Upazila of Rangpur fall in High Barind Tract while Birganj and Kaharol

Upazilas in Dinajpur district, fall in Level Barind Tract as determined by their lithological characteristics.

Major activities of the study are to (i) identify the physical and policy context of ICT application in GW management, (ii) assess the compatibility of ICT technology in GW management, (iii) analyze the cost and benefit of ICT-based technology application, (iv) assess the expected change in water delivery service for using ICT, (v) assess the ICT impact on WRM e.g. net effect of water withdrawal and application, and (vi) identify further scope for adaptation and expansion of ICT application in GW management in the region. The final output of the study will be a well structured case study report.

A reconnaissance field survey and initial consultation meeting with BMDA was conducted in the last week of December 2015. During the consultation meeting, the potential stakeholders identified were: (i) BMDA, (ii) BADC, (iii) farmers’ community, and (iv) private tube well owners.

Traffic Impact Assessment and Future Traffic Modelling- Tanveer Ahmad, Climate Change and Disaster Management Division

Traffic Impact assessment (TIA) study is the subsidiary part of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process for residential area development projects. TIA was not usually conducted in any development projects in Bangladesh. Recently, Rajdhani Unnayan Katripakkha (RAJUK) is asking for TIA reports from different housing projects for integrated urban planning as it is mandatory under the Private Residential Land Development Act 2004. For conducting this study, a number of policies and legal aspects like a) Dhaka Structure Plan, RAJUK 2010; b) The Motor Vehicle Ordinance, 1983; c) Environmental Conservation Rules, 1997; d) Road Sign Manual, 2000; e) Private Housing Land Development Act, 2004; f) Bangladesh National Building Code, 1993/2006; g) Dhaka Megacity Building Construction Rules, 2008 have been followed and reviewed to explore if there any contradiction with the existing laws.

The TIA study includes description of the present traffic status which is carried out by traffic count survey and Origin-Destination (OD) survey. To identify the number, movements and classification of roadway vehicles at different cross sections of the road under the study area, traffic volume survey is mandatory. It helps to identify the critical flow during the time periods, determine the influence of large vehicles or document traffic volume trends. Future traffic projection modeling is the vital part of the TIA study where different traffic modal factors are

assumed according to different traffic scenarios. GIS is the tool of choice for representing these scenarios.

Basundhara Riverview Residential Project is representing a good example of TIA study and the site is located beside the Dhaka-Mawa (200 ft) highway in the Keraniganj Upazila of Dhaka District. This highway is the major connecting road between central Dhaka and Southwest region of Bangladesh. Three secondary roads already exist in the study area. They are: Dhaka-Munshiganj Link Road,

M A Aziz road, and Pangaon Container-Port road. Ten types of vehicles are found to exist in these roads. They are Rickshaw (35%), Van (3%), Cycle (3%), Human Hawler (4%), CNG (34%), Car/Micro (3%), Motorcycle (4%), Pickup (3%), Light truck (1%) and Medium Truck (10%).

According to “Private Residential Land Development Policy, 2004”, the standard density of population per acre is 350 persons. Therefore, after the project is completed, about 45,000, 110,000

and 230,000 people will live in the said housing area by 2025, 2035 and 2045 respectively. From the STP (Strategic Transport Plan) 2005 for Dhaka City developed by The Louis Berger Group Inc and Bangladesh Consultants Ltd, it is found that, about 7% households either have or have access to car, 4% owns motorcycles, 3% have rickshaws, 5% have bicycles and 2% have auto-rickshaws.

Total nine blocks (A to I in the figure) have been proposed and constructed to design traffic impact in modeling. The total number of inhabitants is projected as 2,30,000 and total number of trips per day is projected as 19,55,000 (195,500 trips in peak hour) in future after the project is in full operation. Additional trips would be from outside the project. To compute the traffic model, four scenarios have been considered to show the future project traffic. The scenarios are a) Business as Usual, b) Motorized Scenario, c) Economic Scenario, and d) Emergency Scenario.

The output from the traffic model results are shown in the

figure. Every proposed road in the project area is showing with different Passenger Car Unit (PCU) values for different scenarios. The result represents that, Basundhara Riverview approach road and Munshiganj link road will be highly congested if it is used for emergency and business purposes. The Level of Service (LoS) in these roads will be categorized as ‘E’ in future. On the other hand, the traffic condition in the M A Aziz road will remain constant in all scenarios and would fall under the ‘C’ category of service level. Dhaka-Mawa highway would not be congested in future even after implementation of the project.

Traffic Impact assessment and the future modeling for four scenarios

(More on page 4 ...)

BMDA official and pump manager demonstrating ICT (smart card based prepaid meter) in GW management

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Tobacco Cultivated Fields Identification from Satellite images

Tobacco cultivation poses threat to the public health and environment. It was found from several researches that tobacco cultivation has negative impacts on biodiversity, water and soil quality and traditional agro-practices. Local flora and fauna species are also adversely impacted by the excessive use of agrochemicals in tobacco cultivation.

The Section 12 of the amended tobacco control law says, “The government shall make necessary guidelines to promote for discouragement of producing and using tobacco products, and discouragement to set up industry of tobacco and tobacco related products, discouragement of producing tobacco related produces and farming”. Due to lack of monitoring system and strong interference of tobacco companies, the tobacco cultivation has been increasing day by day in Bangladesh especially in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT). The tobacco processing kilns are using thousands of tons of firewood, causing depletion of reserve and natural forests. This is seriously threatening environment and ecology in the hills.

Remote sensing technology may be an excellent tool for monitoring tobacco cultivation. The spectral characteristics of tobacco and local knowledge help to identify tobacco fields from satellite images. The bright pink color within the RapidEye (Resolution 5m) image shows spatial distribution of tobacco cultivated fields (827 Hectare) in Merung Union, Dighinala Upazilla of Khagrachari district. Using time series high resolution images acquired on different phonological stages of tobacco crop can improve the accuracy of identification of tobacco fields from images.

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Bihar is one of the most flood prone states of India, about 76 percent of the population in northern part of Bihar is live under recurring flood devastation. The State Government of Bihar has identified the improvement of flood management as one of the priority areas through initiation of the Bihar Kosi Flood Recovery Project (BKFRP) to restore the damaged houses, roads, and infrastructure as well as augment flood management to reduce flood hazard and vulnerability of the

affected areas. Against this backdrop, the State Government of Bihar has awarded CEGIS, through Flood Management Improvement Support Centre (FMISC), to carry out in-depth understanding of the morphology and behavior of the river in order to deal with different river problems and proper planning and designing of water resources project in a scientific and rational approach. In this regard, CEGIS is working with FMISC to deliver the detail understanding of the morphological and erosion process of the Kosi River as well as the development of the methodology and Graphics User Interface (GUI) trend model for predicting future morphological changes in the rivers of the Kosi River basin. In this study, CEGIS has divided the Kosi River into five different reaches based on the planform characteristics and the man-made control points situated on the Kosi River. CEGIS has developed a Graphic User Interface (GUI) based prediction tool using the channel network analysis by analyzing the hydrological and morphological characteristics of the Kosi River for the prediction of river behavior a year ahead. The main objective of this prediction tool is to protect spurs and embankment in future. This channel network analysis is based on the classified satellite images. Different channel alignments along the Kosi River boundary have been delineated based on which different vulnerable zones along the Kosi River bank have been identified in reaches 1, 2, and 3. This is mainly based on the statistical analysis considering the channel hitting any bank either from the other bank or from the mid channels. In this prediction, different parameters are taken into consideration in order to make relation of parameters in the model. These parameters are the influence

of man-made control points on channel geometry, bifurcation angle as a function of channel abandonment/narrow down, direction of flow within the spurs as well as the parameters important for the development of embayment within the spurs. This helps to predict the river course of the Kosi as channel pattern of the river largely depends on these parameters. This prediction tool is capable of predicting the channel within the spurs whether the channel moves towards the embankment or not after exceeding the present channel. This is useful to assess the vulnerability of the spurs and embankment. At the same time, the model can provide information on the specific spurs in a tabular form.Moreover, erosion analysis has been made in meandering bends of the Kosi River in reaches 4 and 5 based on the

meandering bend characteristics (expansion, extension, rotation, and translation). For assessment of erosion in the meandering bends, the tool developed by Hickin and Nanson (1984) has been considered as reference which is slightly modified in this study. This study considers the ratio of the radius of curvature and width (R/W) of the meandering bends and their historical maximum erosion of those particular

bends which helps to predict erosion at different R/W interval. The developed tool is capable to predict the bend migration line and the rate of erosion at the meandering bend in future, considering R/W value of the present situation.

River Behavioural Analysis in the Kosi River Basin - Sudipta Kumar Hore, River, Delta and Coastal Morphology Division

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Chair of Editorial BoardEngr Md Waji Ullah

Linguistic EditorMs Perveen Rasheed

Editorial BoardDr Maminul Haque SarkerMalik Fida Abdullah Khan Dr Mollah Md Awlad HossainDr Dilruba Ahmed Motaleb Hossain Sarker

Md Azizul HaqueMd Sarfaraz Wahed Abul Kashem Md HasanMohammad Shahidul IslamA T M Shamsul Alam

Design and LayoutSonkor C Sinh

Year 14 Issue 46

Mr Mike Robson, FAO representative in Bangladesh, Mr Md Yunus Ali, Chief Conservator of Forests, Forest Department, with Engr Md Wajih Ullah,

Executive Director, CEGIS at the Inaugural Session of the Training Program

Contracts and Agreements Signed between Various Agencies and CEGIS

A five day long training program on “Geographic Information System (Basic to Advance)” was conducted by CEGIS for professionals of different organizations like Department of Environment, Forest Department, Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), Oxfam, International Water Association (IWA) and World Fish. The training program was held from 18-22 October 2015 at the CEGIS training room. This program aims at enhancing knowledge and strengthening the capacities of the professionals in utilizing geographic information, and applying spatial tools and techniques to support planning and decision-making in their respective organizations. A total of 13 participants from the said organizations attended all the training sessions which were

conducted by a number of senior professionals and experts from CEGIS. Md Yunus Ali, Chief Conservator of Forests, Forest Department, Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh attended the inaugural session as the Chief Guest, and Mr. Mike Robson, FAO Representative in Bangladesh was present as the Special Guest. Engr Md Waji Ullah, Executive Director of CEGIS chaired the session.The closing and certificate awarding ceremony was held on 22 October, 2015 at the conference room of CEGIS. Engr Md Waji Ullah, Executive Director, CEGIS chaired the session, and along with Mr Mahboob Khuda, HRD Specialist, MOEF Support Project, FAO, the Special Guest of the session, distributed the certificates among the participants.

5-day Training Program on GIS conducted by CEGIS

CEGIS has signed 18 contracts with different organizations during October to December 2015. A contract has been signed with the National Land Zoning Project under the Ministry of Land for Consultancy Services of L a n d u s e / L a n d c o v e r Mapping Using Satellite Images and Remote Sensing Technology in October 2015. Two important contracts signed

during this period are i) Consultancy Services for Route Survey and Environmental Study (IEE, EIA and RAP) of Ashuganj-Bakhrabad-Chittagong Gas Transmission Pipeline with Gas Transmission Company Limited (GTCL) and ii)

Consultancy services for conducting IEE, EIA and RAP under the project titled Improvement of Natural Gas Transmission and Distribution Capacities of Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited (TGTDCL) with TGTDCL. Another contract with Bangladesh Te l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n Company Limited (BTCL) has been signed for Development of GIS Fiber Optics Network/

Transmission Database for BTCL. CEGIS has also signed a contract with Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) for conducting a Pilot Study for the Development of Methodology to Support the National Forest Boundary Digitization.

Mr Md Waji Ullah, Executive Director, CEGIS signing the contract document with GTCL and Mr Bijit Kumar Sarker, General Manager (Company

Secretary) of GTCL looks on

Mr Sultanul Arifin Shameem Ahmad is a Doctor of Technical Science in Aquaculture and Aquatic Resources Management. Dr. Shameem is an expert in Aquaculture, Artificial Propagation and Fish Genetics, Hatchery Operation, Fisheries Resources Management and Fisheries Planning and has more than 30 years of experience in these areas. Prior to

CEGIS, he was in the Department of Fisheries (DoF) as District Fisheries Officer. He has extensive experience in design, implement and lead donor aided and GoB funded projects that mobilized natural resources, maximized productivity, generated income and facilitated food security.

New Faces in CEGISMr Mushfiq Ahmed completed his B.Sc. (Honors) and M.Sc. in Biological Science, specializing in Wildlife Ecology, Management and Conservation Biology from Jahangirnagar University. In 2009, he worked for CEGIS on short term basis. He was involved in research and documentation in the production of ‘Nature and Life’, the first ever TV series in Bangladesh

showcasing biodiversity and its current adverse situations. As the Chief Researcher of the Nature and Life Foundation, he was visionary and intrepid to feature more of natural ecosystem, habitat and help raise awareness of environmental issues, globally. Recently, he has rejoined CEGIS as an Ecologist under Ecology, Foestry and Biodiversity Division.