This is the state in matters of water-sharing when the World Water Day 2009 is being observed today with the theme 'transboundary waters: sharing water, sharing opportunities'.
The International World Water Day is observed annually on 22 March as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating sustainable management of freshwater resources.
Blessed with spiralling rivers that helped evolution of this delta, Bangladesh shares 57 common rivers with its neighbours including India, Nepal and Myanmar.
Dhaka has only one agreement with India for sharing of the Ganges [Padma] waters, although Bangladesh is not given its due share as per the agreed formula during the lean season.
Also, the country has failed to manage the waters available internally, because of inconsistencies between its policies and programmes, according to experts.
While touching on the issue of the Awami League government's plan to involve India, Nepal and Bhutan to resolve water crisis, environmentalist Atiq Rahman said that the move would be successful only if it focused on both water and trade.
He said, 'The countries of the South Asia come forward only to know when their co-benefit water and energy will be ensured. Nepal and Bhutan come when they find that an integrated project of water and energy is set to be commissioned.'
The UN environment award winner for 2008 emphasised the need of an integrated regional approach to address the need of both water and energy, saying, 'The trick of the trade will be the highest amount of co-benefit of the South Asian countries sharing trans-boundary rivers.'
Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, chairman of Bangladesh Unnayan Parishad, said that the plan of the government to include India, Nepal and Bhutan for addressing the issue of scarcity of water resources would be fruitful if it focused on basin management.
'If we can design the plan integrating related issues to meet the need of both water and energy, it will definitely attract India, Nepal and Bhutan,' he added.
Dwelling on the issue of mobilising funds for such a mega project, Atiq said, 'There are investors even in the region who want sovereign guarantee from all the nation states that they [investors] can purchase all the energy immediately after the production. So, money is not a big factor here.'
He said the country's internal water resource management system was a sorry state.
Touching on the issue of enhancing efficiency of our internal water resource management, Kholiquzzaman observed that the country's internal water management system was very poor.
The economist said, 'We have a national water management plan passed in 2006 which mentioned to commission projects on priority basis. So we can go by that integrated plan. Also we have to revise policies and programmes which are faulty and fix our priorities.'
Atiq Rahman, executive director, the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies said, 'It is known to all that we waste trillions of cusec of water during the monsoon. If we can manage at least ten per cent of that water it will do a lot for the country.'
The environmentalist, however, said that scarcity of land was a major concern for the country to manage water.
Touching on the issue of implication of such projects upon the population of the region, Atiq said, 'We [environmentalist] will have to consider how environmentally sound and fair such a project is for all before commissioning those.'
Emphasizing the common benefits of the countries sharing trans-boundary rivers, he said that multi donor agencies like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank could be instrumental in engaging everybody in the process.
'Before moving ahead with such a mega project for water and energy, they [donors] can play an important role especially for study and providing technical assistance at the initial stage. Afterwards they can come forward with money,' Atiq added.