Water recedes in Sunamganj rivers, rises in haors

The water levels of the rivers in Sunamganj have begun to drop as rain and mountain runoff have eased.

However, the water has risen in the Haors as the Water Development Board announced it has breached dams protecting crops in Haor areas to ensure water flow to the Haor to maintain production at fisheries and protect aquatic biodiversity.

On Thursday, the water level in the Surma River was 7.32 m, 48 centimetres lower than the danger level, said Mamun Howladar, executive engineer of the Sunamganj Water Development Board.

He said the authorities recorded 14 mm of rain in the last 24 hours in Sunamganj, while it rained only 30 mm in Cherrapunji on Wednesday.

The water level in the Surma River has dropped 11 centimetres in the last 12 hours and has lowered 23 cm in total in the last two days, the WDB engineer said.

Meanwhile, authorities began to cut through dams in Dharmapasha, Jamalganj, Madhyanagar, Tahirpur and other Upazilas to ensure water flow to the Haors.

Dekhar Haor, adjacent to Surma Rive,r was also getting water flowing to it at different points. This has pushed up the water level in the Haor, said Mamun.

Haor Movement leaders said that water was not flowing out to the Haors as crop-saving dams were made indiscriminately and they had not been taken down. They claimed it was why rural roads were damaged due to the runoff from the hills.

And so, farmers and environmentalists have been calling for the government to cut the crop-saving dams at specific points and allow water to flow to the Haors.