Water productivity for living aquatic resources in floodplains of Northwestern Bangladesh

Objective: This objective of this study is to measure the productivity of water on the floodplain land in terms of fisheries and living aquatic resources based on two floodplain beels in Bangladesh. Methods: Among two beels, beel Mail is practicing community based fish culture management, and beel Chandpur is open access and improperly managed. The production and market price data of fish, snail, and aquatic plants were collected by direct observation based on 30 samples fishers in the year 2006-07. This study also collected production related water quality data, such as water temperature, pH and Dissolved Oxygen. Results: The water quality data are found within the normal range. Net aggregated water productivity values based on production costs was TK 8016.23 ha-1 and TK 3912.9 ha-1 and based on all cost TK 7160.97 ha-1 and TK 3741.13 ha-1 at beel Mail and beel Chandpur, respectively. The contribution of fish, snails and aquatic resources were 96.50%, 3.10%, and 0.40% of the gross aggregated water produced in beel Mail and 87.85%, 8.38%, and 3.77% in the beel Chandpur. The water productivity values in beel Mail is higher than the beel Chandpur due to the intervention of community based fish culture. Conclusion: The proper management and techniques of harvesting fish through appropriate number of fish fingerlings stocked, good quality of fish fingerlings, size of beel, good fencing and well defined embankment, etc. can help to improve the productivity of water in the beel areas.

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Community-Based Monitoring Detects Sources and Risks of Mining-Related Water Pollution in Zimbabwe

Frontiers in Environmental Science ◽

10.3389/fenvs.2021.754540 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Author(s):

Désirée Ruppen ◽

Owen A. Chituri ◽

Maideyi L. Meck ◽

Numa Pfenninger ◽

Bernhard Wehrli

Keyword(s):

Water Quality ◽

Environmental Impacts ◽

Mine Drainage ◽

Local Population ◽

Quality Data ◽

Community Based ◽

Water Quality Data ◽

Sampling Protocols ◽

Mine Sites ◽

Governmental Institutions

Although mining and mineral processing are vital for many economies in the Global South, they are associated with enormous challenges of managing potentially devastating environmental impacts. In contexts where environmental oversight agencies often lack financial and personal capacities to fulfill their role, community-based monitoring might be a valid alternative to monitor potential environmental impacts. In this study, we present the setup and the implementation of a citizen science project to monitor water quality parameters in a river downstream of a coal mining area in Hwange, Western Zimbabwe. In a joint effort over 1.5 years, community monitors and scientists took close to 800 water samples in the Deka River and effluent channels. The data allowed identifying sources of pollution and relating these to past and present mining activities. The primary source of acid mine drainage came from abandoned underground mine sites. Illegal mine water dumping from active mine sites accentuated the problem and resulted in fish kills and food risks for the local population. Concentrations of manganese, nickel and arsenic were exceeding national fresh water guidelines and international drinking water standards. Manganese concentrations exceeded guidelines by a factor of 70 resulting in a public health risk. In this study, we showed that community-based monitoring offers a promising approach to establish a high-quality dataset for assessing mining-related risks if the implementation of sampling protocols is followed tightly. The monitoring scheme significantly improves the collection and interpretation of water quality data in challenging contexts where governmental institutions and industrial players are not enforcing environmental standards.

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