Groundwater Drought in the Northwestern Districts of Bangladesh

Prolonged absence of groundwater within the operating range of shallow tube-wells during dry season is a common problem in the northwestern districts of Bangladesh in the recent years. In this paper, groundwater scarcity and drought in three northwestern districts of Bangladesh have been investigated. The Cumulative Deficit approach from a threshold groundwater level has been used for the computation of severity of groundwater droughts. Monthly groundwater fluctuation data collected from 85 sites is used for the study. The study shows that groundwater scarcity in 42% area is an every year phenomenon in the region. Analysis of groundwater hydrographs and rainfall time-series reveals that ever increasing groundwater extraction for irrigation in the dry season and recurrent droughts are the causes of groundwater level drop in the region.