A Review on Water Security in Dhaka City, Bangladesh: Calling for Ensuring Sustainability

Abstract

Dhaka is currently facing a number of significant challenges, and one of them is the protection of water resources. The city is experiencing rapid depletion of groundwater as well as substantial pollution of its surface water. This article aims to highlight a review of the literature on the challenges of water security in Dhaka. The sustainability issues of water resources were elaborated in terms of management, quantity, and quality aspects. Having reviewed, it has been found that groundwater is depleting drastically over the years, which may have environmental, economic, and social consequences in the near future. Due to the rapid depletion of ground-water, land subsidence, increased cost of groundwater abstraction, shortage of drinking water, and social unrest were categorized as high-risk factors. In addition, the water quality of the surrounding rivers has been mostly categorized as ‘poor’ and ‘very poor’ according to the Weighted Arithmetic Index (WAI) and the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) techniques. Therefore, ensuring the sustainability of water resources is an urgent call.