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Location of The Ganges-Brahmaputra River Basin

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Location of The Ganges-Brahmaputra River Basin

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The Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) river basin covers an area of over 1.7 million kilometers squared and spans five territories including India, China, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Bhutan. Three major rivers, the Ganges river, the Brahmaputra river, and the Meghna river join together as the Meghna river before releasing out into the Bay of Bengal which is the third-largest freshwater outlet system globally. The headwaters of the Ganges river and the Brahmaputra originate in the Himalayan mountains and the Meghna river originates in the mountains of eastern India and flows southwest until it meets up with the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers (Transboundary River Basin Overview, 2011).

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Image of Gangotri Glacier, the primary source of water that feeds into the Ganges River. 

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Image of Gangotri Glacier, the primary source of water that feeds into the Ganges River. 

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(Gangotri)

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Diversified climate in the GBM river basin

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Diversified climate in the GBM river basin

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This watershed has a uniquely diversified climate; the basin has low precipitation in the northwest upper region but high precipitation in coastal regions. The climate varies between areas of extremely low precipitation and areas of exceedingly high precipitation. Southwest monsoon winds rage between July and October and tropical cyclones strike between June and October. These storms are typically incredibly destructive and cause damage to homes, crops, and livestock. The dry season occurs in the winter months between December and February. The Ganges river has a flood cycle that is at its lowest between March and April and at its highest between August and September (Transboundary River Basin Overview, 2011).

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Monsoon in Bangladesh (Blair)

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(Nearly one-third of Bangladesh affected by monsoon floods, 2020)

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Nearly one-third of Bangladesh affected by monsoon floods

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Because these large rivers are subject to intense flooding, the Bay of Bengal releases a lot of water into the Indian ocean. In 2006 it was estimated that the annual total runoff into the Bay of Bengal was about 2950 km³ (Sengupta, 2006).

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Illustration of the Goddess Ganga from the 19th century (Ganga in Hinduism).

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The region of the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna river basin is highly populated with roughly 630 million people with a majority of those people living in rural locations. This region also contains the largest number of the world’s poor in any single region. A majority of these region is rural and agricultural, however there are some industrial regions that contribute to pollution levels of the waters in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna river basin (Transboundary River Basin Overview, 2011). These river systems are used for fishing, irrigation, bathing, and the Ganges river is worshiped by the Hindu as Mother Ganga (National Geographic Society, 2019).

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Access to clean water is a major concern for the population of region as water quality continues to deteriorate due to human inflicted pollution. Because the region spans five different territories, management of freshwater resources are not agreed upon by all parties and instituting programs that will increase water quality for the entire watershed has been difficult to achieve (Transboundary River Basin Overview, 2011). However, if water quality issues are not changed, there will be drastic consequences for the populations who rely on this watershed as well as the biodiversity of the its ecosystems—especially as the repercussions of climate change intensify.

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Water quality is the most pressing issue facing the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna river basin and those who rely on it. Bangladesh is left particularly vulnerable out of all territories that share this watershed because it is located closest to the mouth of the Bay of Bengal and subject to saline intrusion, it is often flooded by storms, and a highly dense population that lives mostly by subsistence farming (Allison, 1998). The freshwater supply in Bangladesh has deteriorated because of pollution from agrochemicals and industrial waste. During dry seasons, Bangladesh has increasingly had to rely on using groundwater for irrigation which has significantly lowered water tables and reduced dry season flows of rivers and streams (Transboundary River Basin Overview, 2011).

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Figure of saline distribution in the Bay of Bengal before and after monsoon season (Shammi, 2019)

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(Walker, 2016)

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This has resulted in saline water intrusion in coastal areas and increased groundwater pollution as well as permanent lowering of groundwater levels in some cases. 1.44 million tube wells have been contaminated by arsenic and exposed over 30 million people to arsenic toxicity. Over half of the morbidity in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna basin stems from impure drinking water. While Bangladesh may be subject to the worst conditions among those living in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna river basin, they are not alone. The water quality in the upper regions of India’s watershed is good, but as the water travels further into lower areas it is contaminated due to a lack of wastewater treatment plants and groundwater is impacted by municipal, industrial, and agricultural pollutants (Transboundary River Basin Overview, 2011).

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Arsenic-laced water in Bangladesh (Millions of people in Bangladesh still drinking arsenic-laced water, 2016)

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Bangladesh’s lack of access to water during the dry season is exacerbated by a dam built by India in 1974 that controls the flow of the Ganges river and is located only 18 kilometers from the India-Bangladesh border. Bangladesh complained that too much water was withheld during the dry seasons and too much was released during monsoon season. Due to conflicting interests an agreement wasn’t reached until 1996 when they signed the Ganges Water Sharing Treaty that ensured that Bangladesh would get its fair share of water during dry seasons (Transboundary River Basin overview, 2011). After the construction of the dam near Bangladesh, India and Bhutan cooperated in building a hydroelectric system at the Wangchu cascade in 1988 and it was so successful that it payed for itself within five years. The revenue from the hydropower plant created revenue that bolstered their economies, helped to alleviate poverty, and created a solution that would help solve India’s energy crisis.

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The Farakka barge along the Ganges River is located just before the start of the boarder to Bangladesh as pictured in this map (Frakka Barrage Dispute).

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Since their first hydropower plant was such a success, India plans on creating more of them. And while they may be helping the region economically, these constructions of these infrastructures are only causing further damage to the water quality of the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna river basin. Further compounding these issues is the increased effects that climate change is having on health of the human population as well as biodiversity in river ecosystems. As effects from climate change continue and human population growth increases, it is expected that large-scale groundwater withdrawal will only increase and saline intrusion will become an even bigger issue as storms become more intense due to rising sea levels and warming global temperatures (Allison, 1998).

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Glacial melt in the Himalayas (When the rivers of ice run dry).

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It is also predicted that warming temperatures will also cause increased glacial melt in the Himalayas as well as cause more intense rains and alter rainfall patterns, both of which will further contribute to rising sea levels and decrease groundwater recharge (Transboundary River Basin Overview, 2011). This could potentially have a drastic effect on the population who lives here since they are already struggling with water quality issues and it is only projected to get worse if measures are not put in place to combat the encroaching effects of climate change (Whitehead, 2015).

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Animal species reliant on the river habitats of the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna rivers are already showing signs of decline due to habitat degradation and water quality issues. The Ganges river dolphin is one of three types of freshwater dolphins and they are a keystone species and are an indicator of health in their ecosystems. Their population has dwindled from 4,000-5,000 in the early 1980s to 3,500 in 2014, which has classified them as endangered. There is a strong relationship between the measure of habitat degradation and the decrease of Ganges river dolphin populations. When tested for micropollutants, the Ganges river dolphins had below detectable levels of micropollutants indicating that they cannot tolerate pollutants and can only survive in clean waters. These dolphins have been significantly impacted by the construction of dams and barrages and they also are threatened by climate change, chemical and pathogen pollution, ship traffic, and fishing bycatch (Sinha, 2014). Other freshwater megafauna are also in rapid decline in the region and compared to other transboundary watersheds globally, the megafauna in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna river basin are particularly subject to population decline (He, 2018).

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The Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna river basin is a watershed that is suffering from overpopulation, water quality issues due to human pollutants, over extraction of groundwater for irrigation, and destructive seasonal storms that cause catastrophe year after year. Because such South Asia is so densely populated and a majority of it is impoverished, there is a severe lack of renewable water resources. Out of the five countries that have territory in this watershed, Bangladesh is located closest to the Bay of Bengal and suffers the most from saline intrusion, severe storms, and lack of water in dry seasons. As climate change progresses and global temperatures increase, these issues are expected to only become increasingly severe. Even though the Ganges river is worshiped by the Hindu, it has not been treated very well and is suffering. If intervention tactics are not implemented quickly, water quality will only degrade further and be detrimental for the biodiversity of these rivers as well as South Asia’s 630 million inhabitants.

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(Ganges River Dolphin)

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Video on the Ganges River dolphin (Spectrumpag, 2017)

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Eavesdropping on the Ganges River Dolphin

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Allison, M. (1998). Geologic Framework and Environmental Status of the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta. Journal of Coastal Research, 14(3), 827-836. Retrieved October 28, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/4298836

Blair, J. P. (n.d.). [Photograph found in National Geographic]. Retrieved December 12, 2020, from https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/monsoon/#monsoon-walk

Farakka Barrage Dispute. Retrieved December 13, 2020, from https://gangatoday.com/articles/108-farakka-barrage-dispute.html

Ganges River Dolphin. (n.d.). Retrieved December 13, 2020, from https://aprilmalmsteenfoundation.net/ganges-river-dolphin

Gangotri. (n.d.). Retrieved December 12, 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/place/Gangotri-glacier-Asia

Ganga in Hinduism.
(2020, December 05). Retrieved December 13, 2020, from
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He, F., Bremerich, V., Zarfl, C., Geldmann, J., Langhans, S., David, J., . . . Jähnig, S. (2018). Freshwater megafauna diversity: Patterns, status and threats. Diversity and Distributions, 24(9/10), 1395-1404. Retrieved October 28, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/44896847

Millions of people in Bangladesh still drinking arsenic-laced water. (2016, April 06). Retrieved December 13, 2020, from https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/apr/06/millions-of-people-in-bangladesh-still-drinking-arsenic-laced-water

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Nearly one-third of Bangladesh affected by monsoon floods [Video file].
(2020, July 28). Retrieved December 13, 2020, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfiAiJpdv-E

Sengupta, D., Raj, G. N., & Shenoi, S. S. (2006). Surface freshwater from Bay of Bengal runoff and Indonesian Throughflow in the tropical Indian Ocean. Geophysical Research Letters, 33(22). doi:10.1029/2006gl027573

Shammi, M., Rahman, M., Bondad, S., & Bodrud-Doza, M. (2019). Impacts of Salinity Intrusion in Community Health: A Review of Experiences on Drinking Water Sodium from Coastal Areas of Bangladesh. Healthcare, 7(1), 50.
doi:10.3390/healthcare7010050

Sinha, R., & Kannan, K. (2014). Ganges River Dolphin: An Overview of Biology, Ecology, and Conservation Status in India. Ambio, 43(8), 1029-1046. Retrieved October 28, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/24709056

Spectrummag. (2017, January 05). Eavesdropping on the Ganges River Dolphin. Retrieved December 13, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBaqcLkWkkg

Transboundary River Basin Overview – Ganges- Brahmaputra-Meghna. (2011). Retrieved October 28, 2020, from http://www.fao.org/3/ca2138en/CA2138EN.pdf

Walker, B. (2016, July 20). Water pollution worsens in the lower Ganga River. Retrieved December 13, 2020, from https://www.thethirdpole.net/2016/08/19/pollution-worsens-ganga/

When the rivers of ice run dry. (2010). Retrieved December 13, 2020, from https://www.economist.com/newsbook/2010/07/16/when-the-rivers-of-ice-run-dry

Whitehead, P. G., Sarkar, S., Jin, L., Futter, M. N., Caesar, J., Barbour, E., . . . Leckie, H. D. (2015). Dynamic modeling of the Ganga river system: Impacts of future climate and socio-economic change on flows and nitrogen fluxes in India and Bangladesh. Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts, 17(6), 1082-1097. doi:10.1039/c4em00616j