Identification of Link Channels to Restore the Ichamoti River Using Historical Landsat Images

River restoration basically aims at reviving the natural state and functioning of the river flow considering biodiversity, flood management and landscape development. The Ichamoti river, believed to be the distributary of both the major rivers (the Ganges and the Jamuna) flowing through the Pabna town, is almost a dying one, due to natural (effect of climate change etc) and anthropogenic changes (effect of physical interventions). Specially, the construction of Farakka barrage at upstream of Ganges river bring changes in morphological behavior and landscape of this river within Bangladesh. At downstream of Hardinge bridge and Ruppur power plant, the branch of Ganges river, one of major water source of Ichamoti river, has lost its morphological connectivity with its parent river (the Ganges). Also, the river is constrained by many structures built under Pabna Irrigation and Rural Development Project (PIRDP) during 1980’s and 1990’s to facilitate flood control, drainage and irrigation. A cross-dam was constructed at upstream of the Ichamoti river. Beside this, Ichamoti river is closed at downstream of the river at Madhpur for irrigation purpose of Pabna Irrigation Project. Moreover, local encroachment on both sides of Ichamoti river exacerbate degradation of the overall environment specially in Pabna town as people dumped their household wastes and other water waste in this river. Basically, rain water is the only source of fresh water for this river and the quality and quantity of flow in this river getting deteriorated day by day. In this regard, there is an urgent need and demand for restoration of this river. Re-establishment of link with the Ganges in Pabna district is one of the major tasks in this regard. For finding potential connecting channels of the river with the Ganges, Landsat images of the reach of the Ichamoti together with its connectivity with the Ganges (at the upstream) have been analyzed to understand the processes of morphological changes at the river mouth. The potential link channels to reconnect the Ganges and the Ichamoti have been identified to meet the initial requirement of the overall restoration processes.

Keywords: Ichamoti river, Landsat, Morphological connectivity, PIRDP, River restoration.