Environmental critique on water resources environmental impact assessment of Bangladesh

The water resources sector of Bangladesh relies on the Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) to assess the possible positive and negative impacts on the environmental and social components of the project affected area. The motivation of this research was to identify the key environmental components, gaps and lapses of current EIA practices in water resources sector of Bangladesh. Under the motivation, this study has determined the effectiveness of a water resources EIA (Gorai River Restoration Project) for sustainable implication of water resources development and management projects in Bangladesh. Component-based checklist method and effectiveness review framework were used in this study to draw conclusions and to make environmental judgment on the important sections of the studied EIA. Review of the key aspects and the analysis of the effectiveness framework disclosed that the studied EIA is well performed and provides sufficient information for decision making, but residual and unavoidable impacts were not identified for all the important environment components in the construction and operation phase. Inclusion of important environmental and social components under different intervention scenarios, consideration of alternative flow regimes, alternative options with ensuring public participation were the key strengths of the studies EIA. The considered environmental issues and aspects under the critique can be used as guidelines for future EIAs under the similar geo-environmental contexts. The review framework developed in this study can be implemented in water resources EIA review process to ensure long-term sustainability of water resources projects.