MIT Solve

Solution overview

Our Solution

“Tube in Embankment" to protect the Embankment in haor areas

Tagline

Sustainable, Cost effective, User Friendly & Environmental friendly technique to protect the flood control Embankment during flash flood in

Pitch us on your solution

The main focus of my idea is to protect the embankment from flash flood of haor areas in north-eastern region of Bangladesh. The major water related problems of the haor area are flash flood, riverbank erosion, drainage congestion, poor navigation and sedimentation. Pre-monsoon flash floods are among the major disasters which engulf the primary production sector and thus threaten the lives and livelihoods of the haor inhabitants. CPD finding published in the Daily Star(October 20,2017) during 2017 flash 15.80 lakh tonnesboro production loss in 6 dists. Flash flood inundated crops rapidly after breached of embankment. If we can stop the breach of embankment then we can stop the major crop loss during flash flood. But there is no cost effective method exist to protect the damage/breach of protection embankment. My idea can stop the breach of embankment permanently as well as stop the cry of 50 lakh haor people.

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What is the problem you are solving?

Haor is basin like structure where water remains either stagnant or in flash flooding condition during the months of June to November. In Bangladesh, haorareas are covered by Boro rice and produce a large amount. Severe flood damage this boro crop. Flash floods are a big threat to the livelihood of the haor people, especially sharecroppers and landless labourers. Major portion of their cultivable land are low land. Rabi is the only cropping season and during Kharif 1, and Kharif 2 lands became fallow due to inundate on flood water. In rabi season boro is the main crop and damaged by flash flood due to unavailability of controlling measures. The damages of flash flood 2017 and frequency of flood can help us to understand the scale of problem-

About 50 lakh people are affected or on high risk of uncertainty of boro crop harvesting. CPD finding during 2017 flood published in the Daily Star(October 20,2017) stated the affected people -

Every year a huge amount of budget required to repair the damaged embankment. Because there is no sustainable cost effective method exist to construct embankment. Using my idea a sustainable embankment can be constructed that can stop these problem permanently.

Who are you serving?

The haor areas in north eastern region of Bangladesh covered almost 0.68 million hectares. Higher price of inputs and lack of flood control dam were the major constraints to modern rice production in the haor areas. Almost every year pre-monsoon flood occurs in haor areas. Most of the areas inundated during pre-monsoon flood. The main reason of this flood is heavy rainfall in hill areas. About 70% of catchment area located outside the Bangladesh but its water passes through Bangladesh. For this reason Bangladesh suffers flood regularly. Now a days Government takes some initiatives to increase productivity in haor areas. But all technique will be failed if we cannot protect the crop from seasonal flood in an effective and environmental friendly manner. To protect the crop from per-monsoon flood, Bangladesh Water Development Board constructed submersible Embankment with necessary hydraulic structures surrounding the haor area, called polder. But the earthen embankment cannot stop flood water. Using my idea we can build a sustainable & cost effective embankment which can give permanent solution for these problem. We use a geotube in the embankment that work as reinforcement for embankment. Geotube can sustain about 100yrs if they remain below water or soil continuously.

What is your solution?

My idea don't have any product. I can't serve the people directly. But my idea has great impact for mass people/society indirectly. Government or public organization who build the infrastructure for society will be more beneficiary. My idea can change a society economy as well as country economy of any developing country.

The haor region has long been lagging behind mainstream national development although the economic development of Bangladesh is moving steadily at a moderate pace. The government has taken many initiatives including the preparation of national and regional strategies to steer economic growth and has accordingly prepared plans over the years to boost the country’s development. It is difficult to foresee the country’s overall progress without the development of the haor region as it covers a major part of the country and population which deserves special development initiatives. The future challenges in the context of climate change are also a major concern for the sustainable development of the region

Therefore, a sustainable development is required for this area to harness the development potentials by addressing the issues as well as to gain comprehensive understanding on the present hydrological and hydro-morpho logical characteristics and conditions, land-use patterns, ecological sensitivity and water quality situation. We have taken the initiative to perform a comprehensive research with a view to preserve, protect and restore the embankment as well as to protect the people of this area from natural disasters and improve the livelihood of poor people.

I wanna provide a technique for sustainable solution for embankment in haor area. This technique also can used other than haor area. My idea is very simple. Anyone can use this idea without taking massive training. It's environmental friendly and user friendly. If we can build an embankment that can survive during flood period then we can give surety for crop harvesting in haor areas. Boro crop safe means haor area economy as well as Country economy safe.

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Upskill, reskill, or retrain workers in the industries most affected by technological transformations

In which sector would you categorize your solution?

Agriculture

If you selected Other, please explain here.

Not Applicable

More about your solution

Describe what makes your solution innovative.

In my Innovation we use 4 type material which is available everywhere.

I don't create any one of this material. My innovation is the combination of these four item. In my innovation I use geotube geotube in the embankment. This geotube also used all over the world as wave erosion protection situation. In our country this geotube also used in cox-bazar-teknaf marine drive road along the sea shore line to protect the road from wave action. But as a reinforcement this tube is not used till today. My innovative design is very simple to understand-

I used geotube at the core of embankment. It works as flexible reinforcement. It protects the embankment from seepage failure. As I use this design in Bangladesh firs time, I called it Innovation.

My innovation has exceptional feature like-

1. More sustainable (can be sustain about 100yrs)

2. Low cost/Cost Effective compare to traditional method

3. User friendly

4. Environmental friendly

5. Material availability

6. Useful for Spoil earth management

7. Routine maintenance easy and low cost

My innovation can save government budget that lost every year in haor area. It also has a remarkable benefit that we can use river dredged material to fill the geotube. Then the construction cost reduced down one step.

In 2019 flood embankment just opposite of my piloting site washed out . But using my idea construction portion remain safe. A photograph of that situation given below-

Why do you expect your solution to address the problem?

The problem i addressed is embankment failure in haor area during flash flood. The main reason of embankment failure is seepage/piping/under mining. Seepage line can be formed in different causes such as rat hole/uneven consolidated settlement etc. My innovation can stop all type of seepage failure. We can get about this -

I placed the geotube at the core of embankment. When any type of faulty line try to continue through the embankment, this geotube cut this line ultimately embankment remain safe from this failure.

In different location in haor area every year the embankment washout and government has to allocate budget to repair them. If we try to understand the reason of failure every year .The main reason of failure is uneven consolidated settlement of embankment. Because when we repair the breached portion of embankment, the filling height is different at the very adjacent location. As a result consolidated settlement also different. And at the transition of diffident settlement a crack formed. Following this crack flood water start passing during flash flood ultimately embankment breached within very short time. We can't safe crop from flood. In that case my innovation is the only easy solution.

For this reason I expect my solution is perfect to address the problem.

Select the key characteristics of the population in Bangladesh your solution serves.

Rural Residents
Very Poor
Low-Income

In which countries do you currently operate in addition to Bangladesh, if any?

India

In which countries will you be operating within the next year?

India

How many people are you currently serving with your solution? How many will you be serving in one year? How about in five years?

I implemented my innovation as pilot basis in one of the vulnerable location in Habiganj District. At first I use this idea to construct sustainable embankment along the left bank of Sonai river located under Madabpur Upazila under district Habiganj. I select most vulnerable location were every year several times embankment breached. I constructed the embankment about two years ago using my idea and got good result instantly. Till today the embankment remain in good condition and become more sustainable day after day.

Due to failure tendency of embankment a primary school going to stop permanently.But after construction the embankment the local people feel safe against flood and the school again start with full concentration.

Now I can serve about 60000 people. And I have a plan to serve next year about 10 lakh people and next fiver year whole the haor area about 50 lakh people

What are your goals within the next year and within the next five years?

THE haor region of Bangladesh is unique in the world. Although there are some haors in Asam of India, but there is no second example of vast haor region such as the one in Bangladesh comprising of 375 haors. Seven districts of the north east region of Bangladesh — the low land areas of Sunamganj, Habiganj, Sylhet, Moulovibazar, Brahminbaria, Kishoreganj and Netrakona — are marked collectively as haor region. Keeping Meghalaya in the north, Asam-Monipur in the west and Tripura-Mijoram in the south, this region of the country is lower than the average plain region of the country due to the Dauki Fault. In some places, this region is only 4-5 metres higher than the sea level. The region looks like an eating bowl — surrounded by hills, low land. The seasonal wind from the Bay of Bengal and the Himalayas in the upstream cause the highest rainfall of the world in the Cherrapunji of Asam, and the haor region is just a few kilometres away from here. A large portion of the rain water in Meghalaya, Asam, Monipur, Tripura and Mizoram, flowing through 22 transboundary rivers, and the rain water from this region flows to the sea through Meghna under the Bhairabbridge. The 1.99 hectare, nearly 43 per cent of land of this region is comprised of 375 haors of different sizes. Local people cultivated only crop in this haor. But always they are in high risk of flood. I have a plan to protect that crop from flood.

What are the barriers that currently exist for you to accomplish your goals for the next year and for the next five years?

Technical Approval:

Bangladesh Water Development Board(BWDB) is the only organization to implement the flood control embankment in haor areas. They have to take initiative for sustainable solution of this. For quick application required technical approval from BWDB design wing.

Legal Approval /Protection:

As it's a completely new idea. Government/investor feel uneasy to invest. For this reason required legal approval from competent authority.

Sufficient Allocation:

To implement this idea in all respect, need sufficient allocation of budget. Our resources are limited. So Government need extra concentration about this problem in haor area.

Wide circulation:

Success of every innovation depends on its circulation. For widely circulation require performing plenty workshop/seminar/Presentation in different forum.

How are you planning to overcome these barriers?

I have a long-term plan to overcome these barriers.

Technical Approval:

I already through my innovation in Ministry of Water Resources. They accept my idea primarily. After detail analysis they can give approval of my innovation. After getting approval from ministry we can expand my innovation widely in haor areas through BWDB.

Legal Approval /Protection:

I am trying to get patent through competent authority. I think within short i can able to get patent.

Sufficient Allocation:

For proper implementation I already through a Project through BWDB including my idea. This project is under process of approval. After approval we can implement my idea in large scale.

Wide circulation:

For wide circulation I already through the abstract of my idea in different print/electronic media. They already published my idea on several news/programme. My idea already published on different daily national news paper like- the daily kalerkantho, the daily Jugantor etc. Also telecast on different TV channel like- Bangla Vision, ATN news, DBC news, Bangla TV etc.

I also trying to expand my idea in different reality show like Udvaboker Khoje.

If you have additional video, provide a YouTube or Vimeo link to your video here:

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About your team

Select an option below:

Nonprofit

If you selected Other for the organization question, please explain here.

Not Applicable

How many people work on your solution team?

Initially we start my innovation in small scale. As pilot basis we implemented my idea in eight location. Implementing this work we all officials and general people. During implementation different type of staff engaged like-

Full time staff: 10 Person

Part-time staff: 22 person

Contractors: 3 Person

Worker: 150 person

For how many years have you been working on your solution?

Two years

Why are you and your team best-placed to deliver this solution?

Bangladesh is a developing riverine country. Water resources management in Bangladesh faces immense challenge for resolving many diverse problems and issues because of its unique geographical setting and the huge temporal variation in the river flow. The impact of seasonal flood and other natural calamity related problems are becoming more challenging issues for Sustainable Development in our country. Besides this, as a developing country Bangladesh has limited resources and scope of research. The main organization in Bangladesh for constructing flood control embankment is Bangladesh Water Development Board. Till to date they have no this idea. They use only compacted soil to construct embankment in haor area. Sometimes the use CC block to protect the embankment which is very expensive. Always this protection can not be possible for full length of embankment as our resources is limited. But using my idea we can construct a sustainable embankment with very low cost. Our team engaged different type water related project. Based on the vast experiences on water related problem solution I think this solution will be survive long time with success.

Not only in our country, but also any other country in the world will be benefited if they implemented my idea.

With what organizations are you currently partnering, if any? How are you working with them?

Currently I partnering with Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB).

Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) is the main organization in water sector to manage and develop the water resources of the country. BWDB is mandated for management and development of water related projects for economic development of the country. Furthermore the country suffers from regular flood; river bank erosion problem during monsoon but her resources is limited. All this things are researched and mitigated through BWDB by taking Development Project.
We already through a project proposal including my idea through BWDB.

Your business model & funding

What is your business model?

The haor areas in north eastern region of Bangladesh covered almost 0.68 million hectares. Higher price of inputs, lack of short duration modern rice variety and lack of flood control dam were the major constraints to modern rice production in the haor areas. Almost every year pre-monsoon flood occurs in haor areas. Most of the areas inundated during pre-monsoon flood. Most of the areas inundated during pre-monsoon flood. The main reason of this flood is heavy rainfall in hill areas. About 70% of catchment area located outside the Bangladesh but its water passes through Bangladesh. For this reason Bangladesh suffers flood regularly. Now a days Government takes some initiatives to increase productivity in haor areas. But all technique will be failed if we cannot protect the crop from seasonal flood in an effective and environmental friendly manner. To protect the crop from pre-monsoon flood, Bangladesh Water Development Board (the main organization in Bangladesh to manage and develop water resources) constructed submergible Embankment with necessary hydraulic structures surrounding the haor area, called polder. The main objective of this polder is to protect the Boro crop from pre-monsoon flood. But the earthen embankment cannot stop flood water

Using my idea we can build a sustainable & cost effective embankment which can give permanent solution for these problem. We use a geotube in the embankment that work as reinforcement for embankment. Geotube can sustain about 100yrs if they remain below water or soil continuously.

What is your path to financial sustainability?

In different location in haor area every year the embankment washout and government has to allocate budget to repair them.

In the above table we can realize the situation of embankment damage and expenditure. The only reason behind that there is no low cost (affordable for our country) sustainable technique to repair embankment.

If we try to understand the reason of failure every year .The main reason of failure is uneven consolidated settlement of embankment. Because when we repair the breached portion of embankment, the filling height is different at the very adjacent location. As a result consolidated settlement also different. And at the transition of diffident settlement a crack formed. Following this crack flood water start passing during flash flood ultimately embankment breached within very short time. We can't safe crop from flood. In that case my innovation is the only easy solution.

As my innovation gives a permanent solution and very low cost it achieve a sustainable financing from any organization. Local people also use this technique in small scale to solve there problem. Ultimately our country run better to her ultimate goal

Partnership potential