Sustainable stabilisation of the Brahmaputra-Jamuna River in India and Bangladesh
E. Mosselman (Deltares, TU Delft - Rivers, Ports, Waterways and Dredging Engineering)
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Abstract
The Brahmaputra-Jamuna River in the plains of Assam (India) and Bangladesh is characterised by high bank erosion rates, cycles of widening and narrowing of its braid belt, unidirectional braid belt migration, and avulsions. The objective of this paper is to share insights in sustainable stabilisation of this river that have evolved in the past 30 years. Main benefits of stabilisation are the stopping of bank erosion outside its braid belt, avoidance of the breaching of embankments, provision of navigation channels to ports and ferry landings, and provision of stable distributary offtakes for freshwater supply. Often land reclamation by narrowing the river appears as an additional target. The paper argues that this has at least three adverse effects: (i) rise of flood water levels and decrease of hydraulic robustness; (ii) decrease of morphological robustness; (iii) potential tipping over of the fluvial system from a river responding horizontally to changes towards a river that incises its bed and responds vertically to changes. The paper discusses socio-economic implications and gives recommendations for sustainable stabilisation.
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