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Key measures to protect the river system are remaining unimplemented because of a lack of funds and coordinated policies, river and water experts say.

They add that river protection work has now been largely reduced to dredging at a few locations in the country to maintain navigability.

Director general of the Bangladesh Water Development Board HS Mozaddak Faruque told bdnews24.com that large-scale dredging throughout the country remains prohibitively expensive.

"Though dredging is possible from a technical point of view, it is not feasible when one considers the financial cost," said Faruque. "Dredging only once is not enough, it needs to be continued with to maintain navigability in a river," he said. River experts say there is no holistic approach from authorities to save the rivers and waterways.

World Conservation Union resident director Dr Ainun Nishat told bdnews24.com that historically villagers used to dredge the rivers themselves, although the number of waterways now carrying silt had greatly increased. "Either land use has to be cut or regular reclaiming of land has to be ensured.

This can be done through initiatives by the local government," said Nishat. "Local people must be involved in the work," he added. Md Shawkat Ali, executive engineer for the WDB's surface water hydrology circle, said water flow in the upland rivers has to be increased. "The flow can be increased by dredging or re-dredging rivers. In this case, small rivers have to be given priority. Dredging big rivers is not possible at the moment," said Shawkat.

Muhammad Inamul Huq, director general of the Water Resources Planning Organisation, told bdnews24.com that dredging the Gorai River was an example of poor planning and wasted funds. "The dredged silt was kept adjacent to the river, it simply fell back into the river and silted it again."

"Water flow can also be increased by constructing barrages. This is an effective method," he said. Huq said river mouths that have been closed due to siltation should be reopened as a priority. The WRPO director general said another method of river management was to construct water reservoirs to hold up the water flow, which could then be released in a controlled way during the dry season. "This would ensure the supply of water throughout the year," he said.

Pintu Kanungo, from the River Research Institute in Dhaka, said it is natural for rivers to continually change their courses. "Our rivers carry a huge amount of silt. It fact it is close to 4 million tonnes a year. Water flow has to be controlled through continued research," he said.

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