The “water machine” of Bengal: a data-driven and policy-supported strategic use of aquifers for irrigation is needed to maximize their benefits

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cg.contributor.affiliationInternational Water Management Instituteen_US
cg.contributor.donorSwiss Agency for Development and Cooperationen_US
cg.contributor.donorCGIAR Trust Funden_US
cg.contributor.initiativeLow-Emission Food Systemsen_US
cg.contributor.initiativeTransforming Agrifood Systems in South Asiaen_US
cg.coverage.countryBangladeshen_US
cg.coverage.iso3166-alpha2BDen_US
cg.coverage.regionSouthern Asiaen_US
cg.creator.identifierAditi Mukherji: 0000-0002-8061-4349en_US
cg.howPublishedFormally Publisheden_US
cg.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1126/science.ade0393en_US
cg.identifier.iwmilibraryH051429en_US
cg.isijournalISI Journalen_US
cg.issn1095-9203en_US
cg.issue6612en_US
cg.journalScienceen_US
cg.reviewStatusPeer Reviewen_US
cg.subject.actionAreaSystems Transformationen_US
cg.volume377en_US
dc.contributor.authorMukherji, Aditien_US
dc.date.accessioned2022-09-21T02:41:35Zen_US
dc.date.available2022-09-21T02:41:35Zen_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/121912en_US
dc.titleThe “water machine” of Bengal: a data-driven and policy-supported strategic use of aquifers for irrigation is needed to maximize their benefitsen_US
dcterms.abstractFor decades, millions of farmers in Bangladesh have been capturing more water than even the world’s largest dams. They did so simply by irrigating intensively in the summer dry season using water from shallow wells. The ability to use groundwater to irrigate rice paddies during the dry seasons (January to May) helped Bangladesh become food self-sufficient by the 1990s, which was no small feat for one of the most densely populated countries in the world. Researchers proposed that lowering of the groundwater table as a result of intensive irrigation practices in the dry season created conditions for recharge from monsoon rains (June to September), which then replenishes the groundwater (1). On page 1315 of this issue, Shamsudduha et al. (2) present a quantitative analysis of this depletion-replenish process and show that this recharge has indeed been happening at a large scale, in a process they call the Bengal Water Machine (BWM).en_US
dcterms.accessRightsLimited Accessen_US
dcterms.bibliographicCitationMukherji, Aditi. 2022. The “water machine” of Bengal: a data-driven and policy-supported strategic use of aquifers for irrigation is needed to maximize their benefits. Science, 377(6612):1258-1259. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ade0393]en_US
dcterms.extent1258-1259en_US
dcterms.issued2022-09-16en_US
dcterms.languageenen_US
dcterms.licenseCopyrighted; all rights reserveden_US
dcterms.publisherAmerican Association for the Advancement of Scienceen_US
dcterms.subjectgroundwater irrigationen_US
dcterms.subjectwater useen_US
dcterms.subjectaquifersen_US
dcterms.subjectgroundwater rechargeen_US
dcterms.subjectgroundwater tableen_US
dcterms.subjectshallow wateren_US
dcterms.subjectirrigated farmingen_US
dcterms.subjectpumpsen_US
dcterms.subjectpoliciesen_US
dcterms.subjectfarmersen_US
dcterms.typeJournal Articleen_US

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