ASSESSING THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF RUBBER DAM CONSTRUCTION ON BAKKHALI RIVER

Abstract

The Bakkhali River is one of the most important tidal rivers in Southern Bangladesh. In 1995, a rubber dam was constructed across the river to conserve perennial water for irrigation that changed the geo-morphological pattern of Bakkhali River. Different methods including Focused Group Discussion (FGD) and structured questionnaire were used to know the environmental as well as the socio-economic impacts of construction a rubber dam.  Analysis of the data from the Bakkhali River of the year 1996 (pre-dam situation), 2003 (post-dam situation) and 2008 (post-dam situation) reported major changes in north-west part of the river, adjacent to the rubber dam where as less changes occurred in the upstream, far from the rubber dam. However, the river course-changing pattern due to sedimentation is measured 83.62 ha (upstream) and 75 ha (downstream) by using planimeter. It can be stated that the downstream of the river is in danger according to the morphological viewpoint but in terms of socio-economic perspective the upstream zone of the Bakkhali River is more vulnerable.