FSN22322T:
Environmental Studies
Dr. Mahfuza Parveen
Educational Background
Degree Name of the Institution Field of Study
Environmental Science/
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Saitama University, Japan
Ecological Engineering
Environmental Engineering
Master of Engineering (M.Engg.) Saitama University, Japan (Civil and Environmental
Engineering)
Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka,
Master of Science (M.S.) Geological Sciences
Bangladesh
Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka,
Bachelor of Science (B.Sc. Hons’) Geological Sciences
Bangladesh
Higher Secondary Certificate Bharateshwari Homes, Mirzapur,
Science
(H.S.C.) Tangail; Bangladesh
Secondary School Certificate Bharateshwari Homes, Mirzapur,
Science
(S.S.C.) Tangail; Bangladesh
Academic Year- 2022, 2nd Year 2nd Semester, 242 Term
Objectives
• This course will expose learners to
• Structure and composition of different spheres;
• Natural resources and its sustainable uses, causes and effects of pollution;
• Biodiversity and environmental biotechnology;
• Environmental chemistry and impact assessment, protection act and climate change.
Learning Outcomes
• Upon completion of this course, the learners would be able to Describe the structure and composition of
different spheres;
• Describe natural resources and its sustainable uses;
• Classify ecosystem and biodiversity and identify their importance;
• List pollutants and their health effects;
• Describe the causes of climate change and impacts on environment as well as protection act;
• Assess impact of pollution and climate change on environment.
Content of the course
Class Test 01, (15.11.2024)
1. Definition, scope and importance of environmental studies.
2. Structure and composition: atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and biosphere.
3. Natural Resources: Water resources: Use and over-utilization of surface and ground
water, floods, drought, conflicts over water, dams-benefits and problems.
Class Test 02, (20.12.2024)
4. Mineral resources: Use and exploitation, environmental effects of extracting and using
mineral resources.
5. Pollution: Definition of pollution and pollutants, classification of pollutants (environmental
hazards); causes, health effects and control measures of air, water, soil and noise pollution.
5.Ecosystems: Concept of ecosystem, classification of ecosystem, structure and function of
ecosystem; producers, consumers and decomposers; food chains, food webs and ecological
pyramids. Class Test 02
Natural Resources: Water resources: Use and over-utilization of surface
and ground water, floods, drought, conflicts over water, dams-benefits
and problems.
Surface Water
Groundwater
Preserving Surface and Ground water
What is flood?
•A flood is an overflow of water that submerges land which is
usually dry.
•
The European Union (EU) Floods Directive defines a flood
as a covering by water of land not normally covered by water.
•
Flood is a temporary overflow of a normally dry area due to
overflow of a body of water, unusual buildup, runoff of surface
waters, or abnormal erosion or undermining of shoreline.
Floods can also be overflow of mud flow caused by buildup of
water underground.
Types of Flood
River Flood
•Flooding along rivers is a natural and inevitable part of life.
•Some floods occur seasonally and some when winter or spring rains; coupled with melting snows, fill river basins with
too much water, too quickly.
•Torrential rains from decaying hurricanes or tropical systems can also produce river flooding.
Coastal Flood
•Winds generated from tropical storms and hurricanes or intense offshore low-pressure systems can drive ocean water
inland and cause significant flooding.
•Escape routes can be cut off and blocked by high water.
•Coastal flooding can also be produced by sea waves called tsunamis sometimes referred to as tidal waves.
•These waves are produced by earthquakes or volcanic activity.
Flash Flood
• A flood that rises and falls quite rapidly with little or no advance warning, usually as the result of intense rainfall over
a relatively small area.
•Flash floods can be caused by situations such as a sudden excessive rainfall, the failure of a dam, or the thaw of an ice
jam.
Ice Jam
•Floating ice can accumulate at a natural or man-made obstruction and stop the flow of water thereby causing floods.
•Flooding too can occur when there the snow melts at a very faster rate.
Causes of Flooding in Bangladesh
1.Physical causes
•Prolonged rain
•Heavy rain
•Snowmelt
•Relief
2.Human causes
•Deforestation
•Building constructions
Physical Causes
•
Most of the country consists of a huge flood plain and delta.
•Snowmelt from the Himalayas takes place in late spring & summer.
•70% of the total area is less than 1 meter above sea level.
•10% of the land area is made up of Lakes and Rivers.
•Bangladesh experiences heavy monsoon rains, especially over the highlands.
•Tropical storms bring heavy rains and coastal flooding.
•The main cause was the above average & long period of heavy rain which caused all 3 rivers to have
their peak flow at the same time.
•In the spring, melting snow from the Himalayas further increases the flood risks as torrents of melt
water enter the rivers at their source.
Human Causes
Deforestation in Nepal and the Himalayas increases run off and add to deposition
and flooding downstream.
•Urbanization of the flood plain has increased magnitude & frequency of floods.
•Global warming is blamed for sea level rise, increased snow melt & increased
rainfall in the region.
•The building of dams in India has increased the problem of sedimentation in
Bangladesh.
•Poorly maintained embankments (levees) leak & collapse in times of high
discharge.
•Increasing population pressure in Bangladesh itself has resulted in the sinking
of many new wells resulting in the lowering of the water table and the
subsequent subsidence of land making it even more prone to flooding.
Effects of Flooding in Bangladesh
• Benefits
•
Recharging ground water,
• Making soil more fertile and increasing nutrients in some soils.
• Flood waters provide much needed water resources in arid and semi-arid regions where precipitation can be
very unevenly distributed throughout the year.
• Kills pests in the farming land.
• Freshwater floods particularly play an important role in maintaining ecosystems in river corridors and are a
key factor in maintaining floodplain biodiversity.
• Flooding can spread nutrients to lakes and rivers, which can lead to increased biomass and improved fisheries
for a few years.
• For some fish species, an inundated floodplain may form a highly suitable location for spawning with few
predators and enhanced levels of nutrients or food.
• Fish, such as the weather fish, make use of floods in order to reach new habitats.
• Bird populations may also profit from the boost in food production caused by flooding.
• The viability of hydropower, a renewable source of energy, is also higher in flood prone regions.
Negative Impact
Physical damage
structures damaged or collapsed by washing waters, landslide. Boats and
fishing equipments may be lost or damaged in coastal areas.
Casualties and pubic health
people and livestock deaths and injuries. Outbreak of epidemics, diarrhea,
viral infections, malaria.
Water supplies
contamination of water (wells, ground water, and piped water supply).
Crops and food supplies
• The Farakka Barrage Project was designed to serve the need of
preservation and maintenance of the Kolkata Port by improving
the regime and navigability of the Bhagirathi-Hoogly river system.
• Bangladesh claimed that its rivers were drying up because of
excess drawing of water by India. In May 1974 a joint declaration
was issued to resolve the water–sharing issue before the Farakka
Barrage began operation.
• The flow reduction caused many problems in India and
Bangladesh, including the loss of fish species, the drying of
Padma's distributaries, increased saltwater intrusion from the Bay
of Bengal, and damage to the mangrove forests of the
Sundarbans.
Effects of Dam
• Advantages
• Fundamentally, the dam is a barrier that interrupts the natural river dynamics. The impoundment that
forms behind the dam loses many of its riverine characteristics, impacting species that depend on river
habitat for their survival.
• The main utilization of the world’s great dams is for food production, by irrigating land that would
otherwise be desert. California and Provence are good examples of how dams can transform a territory.
Before: drought and desert. After: highly productive regions. The greater part of global demographic
growth is happening in arid regions that need water to produce food, or in regions where rainfall is very
irregular (monsoon lands), therefore requiring storage methods such as dams’ reservoirs.
• Hydroelectric energy, with a global output of 2,100 TWh, currently represents 20% of total electricity
production and about 7% of all the energy consumed in the world. Hydroelectric dams facilitate adjustable
electricity production, by storing huge quantities of water in their reservoirs.
• Dams hold back river water. By means of turbines, they generate electricity from a renewable source with
very few CO2 emissions. This is hydroelectric energy production—“hydro” to its friends. Unlike wind or
solar energy, hydro energy can be stored (in reservoirs) in order to generate electricity when needed,
simply by opening the gates. This natural storage of energy is the most competitive form of power
storage, making use of PSPSs (Pumped Storage Power Stations), which are crucial for electricity networks
and play a key role in integrating other modern renewable energies (solar and wind) that are by nature
intermittent.
• In addition to producing clean carbon-free energy, dams can also, simultaneously, serve other functions:
irrigating cultivated land, supplying communities with drinking water, reducing flood flows, replenishing
low-water levels, aiding waterway navigation, using reservoirs for tourism and sports, fish-farming,
protecting estuaries against tidal backup, and so on.
• Disadvantages:
• impacts on biodiversity, conflicts of use, risk of breach, and
sometimes the displacement of local populations, arousing opposition.
And indeed, every dam, hydroelectric or otherwise, blocks
watercourses and constitutes an obstacle to the circulation of certain
species (fish swimming upstream, notably migratory species such as
salmon and eels) and sediments (sand, mud, etc.) which consequently
build up and can concentrate pollutants in the reservoir. The absence
of new sediments downstream of the dam can cause erosion problems
that modify the aquatic environment, undercut riverbanks, or wash
away beaches. Dams are therefore a double-sided coin, with a positive
side (energy, drinking water, irrigation, flood regulation, river
navigation, fight against drought, etc.) and a negative side (ecology,
sediments).
Drought
• What is Drought?
• Drought a prolonged, continuous period of dry weather along with abnormal insufficient rainfall occurs when
evaporation and transpiration exceed the amount of precipitation for a reasonable period. Drought causes a
considerable hydrologic (water) imbalance resulting water shortages, wells to dry, depletion of groundwater
and soil moisture, stream flow reduction, crop failure and scarcity in fodder for livestock. Drought is a major
natural hazard faced by communities directly dependent on rainfall for drinking water, crop production, and
rearing of animals.
Types of Drought
Meteorological drought is brought about when there is a prolonged time with less than average
precipitation. Meteorological drought usually precedes the other kinds of drought.
Agricultural droughts are droughts that affect crop production or the ecology of the range. This
condition can also arise independently from any change in precipitation levels when soil conditions and
erosion triggered by poorly planned agricultural endeavors cause a shortfall in water available to the
crops. However, agricultural drought focusing on precipitation shortages, soil water deficits, reduced
ground water or reservoir levels needed for irrigation, and so forth.
Hydrological drought is brought about when the water reserves available in sources such as aquifers,
lakes and reservoirs fall below the statistical average. Hydrological drought tends to show up more slowly
because it involves stored water.
Socioeconomic drought occurs when the demand for water exceeds the supply. Examples of this kind of
drought include too much irrigation or when low river flow forces hydroelectric power plant operators to
reduce energy production.
Causes of Drought
Precipitation deficiency: Mechanisms of producing precipitation include convective, stratiform, and orographic rainfall. If
these factors do not support precipitation volumes sufficient to reach the surface over a sufficient time, the result is a
drought.
Dry season: The dry season greatly increases drought occurrence, and is characterized by its low humidity, with watering
holes and rivers drying up. Because of the lack of water in the plants, bushfires are common. Since water vapor becomes
more energetic with increasing temperature, more water vapor is required to increase relative humidity values to 100% at
higher temperatures. Periods of warmth increase evaporation and evapotranspiration from plants, and worsen drought
conditions.
El Niño: Drier and hotter weather occurs in parts of the Amazon River Basin, Colombia, and Central America during El Niño
events. Winters during the El Niño are warmer and drier than average conditions in the Northwest, northern Midwest, and
northern Mideast United States, so those regions experience reduced snowfalls causes draught.
Erosion and human activities: Human activity can directly trigger exacerbating factors such as over farming, excessive
irrigation, deforestation, and erosion adversely impact the ability of the land to capture and hold water.
Climate change: Activities resulting in global climate change are expected to trigger droughts with a substantial impact on
agriculture throughout the world, and especially in developing nations. Overall, global warming will result in increased
world rainfall. Along with drought in some areas, flooding and erosion will increase in others.
Consequences of Drought
Time of droughts can have significant environmental, agricultural, health, economic and social
consequences. The effect varies according to vulnerability. Common consequences of drought include:
•Drought can reduce water quality, because lower water flows reduce dilution of pollutants and
increase contamination of remaining water sources.
•Diminished crop growth or yield productions and carrying capacity for livestock
•Dust storms, when drought hits an area suffering from desertification and erosion
•Famine due to lack of water for irrigation
•Habitat damage, affecting both terrestrial and aquatic wildlife
•Malnutrition, dehydration and related diseases
•Mass migration, resulting in internal displacement and international refugees
•Reduced electricity production due to reduced water flow through hydroelectric dams
•Shortages of water for industrial users
•Snake migration, which results in snakebites
•Social unrest
•War over natural resources, including water and food
•Forest fires, such as Australian bushfires, are more common during times of drought and even death
of people.
•Exposure and oxidation of acid sulfate soils due to falling surface and groundwater levels.
