45 th IEP Convention’ 12 21-22 December 2012 1 WATER CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT IN BANGLADESH CONTEXT QAZI AZIZUL MOWLA PROFESSOR DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE, BANGLADESH UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (BUET), DHAKA-1000, BANGLADESH e-mail: qmowla@yahoo.co.uk ABSTRACT: There is a crisis in the water resource scenario all over the world including Bangladesh and it is more acute in urban areas. It is because the available water is not being conserved and managed properly, which has resulted in the deterioration of water bodies and sources. Bangladesh is a deltaic country located in the tropical monsoon zone signifying that the country is full of water bodies, water channels and rivers, besides, receiving high amount of rainfalls. It automatically suggests that surface and rain water management and Conservation should be the prime approach and source of country’s water needs. There was a time when water management and conservation system was a part of settlement and shelter planning and design. Contemporary settlement planning system has resulted in the disruption of community participation in water management and therefore there is a collapse in traditional water harvesting and conservation systems. Review of water conservation and management potentialities in Dhaka suggest that, traditional and contemporary ways of water conservation and management systems if interwoven with the system of settlement planning than theoretically Dhaka will not have any water shortfalls. The paper discusses the technicalities to be incorporated into the urban-design system. KEY WORDS: Urban-Design; Water-Management; Conservation; Environment; Sustainable Development. INTRODUCTION Human being could not save and conserve water and its sources, probably because of its availability in abundance. But this irresponsible attitude has resulted in the deterioration of water bodies/sources in terms of both quantity and quality. Now, situation has arrived when even a single drop of water matters. Average human being require only 5-10 litre of water for drinking and cooking, rest is all non-consumable demand. Half the developing world population do no have access to basic sanitation and safe drinking water. More than 2200 Million Litres per Day (MLD) of water is required in Dhaka, little more than half of which (1500 MLD) is supplied by Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) of which major portion (1300 MLD) is extracted from underground (Mowla,2008). Current annual withdrawal of ground water in Dhaka is in excess of annual recharging of the aquifers. Though there is a huge deficit, withdrawal rate in the city should in fact, be reduced to prevent further lowering of he water table level which is already at an alarming low. To avoid wholesale extraction of underground, new sources of extra water, need to be identified for exploration. Bangladesh is a deltaic country located in the tropical monsoon zone signifying that the country is full of water bodies, water channels and rivers and also receives abundant rainfall (Mowla, 2005). It automatically dictates that Rain Water Harvesting and Water Conservation should be the prime source of our water needs. In Dhaka about 160 thousand litres of water might be available from a roof top of 100 sq.m in an average year, that is, about 8 person’s water requirement of 120 days, which is quite significant. As the water crisis continues to become severe, there is a dire need of reform in water management system and revival of traditional systems. In our cities people depend on public sector water supply system, which has resulted in disruption of community participation in water management and the collapse of traditional water harvesting and conservation systems, ie collapse of traditional water based urbanism.