Impact of Urbanization on Groundwater

Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, has one of the fastest urban growth rates among the developing countries. Groundwater provides about 87% of the total water supply of the city. Due to rapid increase in population the demand of water for the city has raised from 150 mld in 1963 to 2100 mld in 2005. Thereby, groundwater abstraction in the city has increased more than 700% from 1960 to 1995. But the rate of recharge to the aquifer is decreasing with increase in pavement area. The declining rate of water level is 2-3m per year. This book aims to understand the urbanization pattern and its impacts on the groundwater of the city. Data and information regarding urbanization of Dhaka collected from BBS. Statistics relating to water production, supply and demand, system loss are collected from DWASA. Groundwater level data from BWDB and BADC have been used to construct hydrographs of different locations in the city which indicate the increasing trend of drop of water level and higher vulnerability of groundwater of the city. Therefore, this book has intended to put forward some measures that may contribute effectively in the sustainable utilization of groundwater resource.