Water Security in the Coastal Region of Bangladesh

Abstract

Bangladesh is considered one of the water-abundant countries in the world. However, the aggregated water security is very low in Bangladesh compared to other countries such as India, the USA, China, and Australia. This is mainly due to flood risk, impaired water quality, governance, and transboundary management. Due to high flood risks and high arsenic concentration in the groundwater, along with transboundary complexities, Bangladesh faces high levels of water insecurity. The security issues are more vulnerable in places with low income, poorly managed, and hard-to-reach areas, especially in the coastal areas of Bangladesh. In this paper, we provide a detailed description of water security for the coastal areas in Bangladesh. In this paper, we conceptualize the term `security' as a function of `availability,' `accessibility to services,' `safety and quality,' and `management' and review the increasing body of literature on these criteria in Bangladesh in the first place.