Small water bodies in Bangladesh

Excavations are easy in the soft, unconsolidated sediments of Bangladesh and are widespread for the creation of raised, flood-free homestead platforms. Small water bodies form in the resulting hollows and are used for fisheries, livestock management, irrigation, bathing and washing clothes. Despite their importance to everyday life, there is no up-to-date inventory or monitoring. The paper uses remote sensing, GIS and a number of qualitative data collection techniques to reconstruct the pattern of small water bodies in Shahjadpur thana. It concludes that there has been an expansion in their number, but no systematic planning of their use.