Mafizur Rahman | Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology (original) (raw)

Papers by Mafizur Rahman

Journal of Water Reuse and Desalination, 2012

Overdependency on ground water resources for meeting the daily water demand in Dhaka City is lead... more Overdependency on ground water resources for meeting the daily water demand in Dhaka City is leading to excessive pressure on ground water aquifer systems and is deepening the ground water table every year. This paper focuses on how reuse of grey water generated from different sources of domestic purposes every day can alter the considerable daily water demand in this city. Sampling and characterization of grey water was accomplished according to different types of residential sources such as water from brushing, bathing, floor washing and laundry. In Dhaka City, household average grey water generation is 85 L per capita per day, which is 60% of the total waste water generated in a house in a day. After reclamation, this grey water can be reused for toilet flushing, gardening, car washing and fire fighting, which can play a crucial role of meeting city water demand since reusable grey water generation is around two times greater than the total demand of water for those purposes. Dur...

IOSR Journal of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, 2013

Dhaka is one of the fastest growing megacities of the world with a dense population over 15 milli... more Dhaka is one of the fastest growing megacities of the world with a dense population over 15 million. Being the capital of a developing country like Bangladesh, it is experiencing multi-dimensional problems such as over urbanization, traffic congestion, water logging, solid waste disposal, black smoke from brick kilns and industrial emissions, sound pollution, pollution of water bodies by industrial discharge and the newly added calamity, building collapse. Dhaka is a sheer example of having poor legislative actions, inefficient management and lack of public awareness, which leads the urbanization to an unplanned and resource consuming development. This paper presents an integrated study of urbanization trends in Dhaka City, Bangladesh, by using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS). This study explores the land use change pattern of Dhaka City Corporation over 1990-2010, through interactive supervised land cover classification using Landsat images by ArcGIS 10. The remotely detected land use/cover change from 1990 to 2010 shows that Dhaka is gradually changing as vegetative cover and open spaces have been transformed into building areas, low land and water bodies into reclaimed built up lands. These changes are mainly governed by unplanned urban expansion.

Civil and environmental research, 2018

Bangladesh is one of the most natural disaster-prone countries of the world. The major disasters ... more Bangladesh is one of the most natural disaster-prone countries of the world. The major disasters include flood, cyclone and storm surge, flash flood, drought, tornado, riverbank erosion, and landslide etc. These extreme natural events are termed as disasters when they adversely affect the environment, including human beings, their shelters, or the resources essential for their livelihoods. Disaster management is a true litmus test of effective governance. Many attributes of governance interplay in disasters, before, during and after a situation. The Government of Bangladesh has taken a number of significant measures in recent years for developing institutional arrangements from national to the local level levels for effective and systematic disaster management facilitating mitigation to the sufferings of disaster victims. With the government many Non Government Organizations (NGOs) are also playing important role in disaster management. Institutions are significantly important to di...

Applied Water Science, 2020

Industrial activities that consume water generate wastewater as a by-product of processing which ... more Industrial activities that consume water generate wastewater as a by-product of processing which introduces various contaminants such as heavy metals into the neighbouring water bodies that creates adverse effects on the surrounding environment. Tannery industry releases more toxic effluent than most industries, which directly and indirectly exerts stress on various ecosystems. The heavy metal chromium (Cr), one of the pollutants found in tannery effluent, is very much detrimental to human health, animals, and plants. Conventional physico-chemical and biological processes can remove this heavy metal in considerable amounts. Recently, various applications of advanced technologies such as membrane technology, electrocoagulation, ion exchange, and electrodialysis for tannery wastewater have been growing due to their relative advantages over other technologies in terms of sustainability. This paper represents the review of various available techniques as well as represents a case study ...

Applied Water Science, 2018

Leather tanning is consuming a large quantity of water and discharging a large volume of wastewat... more Leather tanning is consuming a large quantity of water and discharging a large volume of wastewater. This wastewater contains the high value of COD, BOD, TSS, TDS and heavy metals. In this study, spent tea leaves, a valueless waste produced during the manufacturing of tea beverage, were assessed for their potential to remove chromium (Cr) from tannery wastewater. Cr removal was studied by the batch process with varying adsorbent dose, contact time and pH of the solution to finding optimum conditions. The experiment results showed that maximum removal of Cr by spent tea leaves was 95.42% at 14 g/L of adsorbent dose and pH 10. The maximum adsorption capacity of Cr on tea waste was found 10.64 mg/g.

Natural Hazards Review, 2011

On November 15, 2007, Bangladesh was hit by the category 4 storm Severe Cyclonic Storm Sidr. At l... more On November 15, 2007, Bangladesh was hit by the category 4 storm Severe Cyclonic Storm Sidr. At least 3,447 deaths were reported in coastal areas of Bangladesh, mainly owing to the storm surge, which was&amp;amp;gt; 5 m. A study team of several faculty members of Bangladesh ...

Journal of Water and Environment Technology, 2012

Agricultural activities of Bangladesh, being dependent on seasonal rainfall, are adversely affect... more Agricultural activities of Bangladesh, being dependent on seasonal rainfall, are adversely affected by the shortage of seasonal rainfall during dry periods. Intensified drought damages due to climate variabilities have increased the urgency of proper assessment of drought in Bangladesh. Rainfall anomalies and rainfall anomaly index (RAI) were used to characterize meteorological drought scenario in Bangladesh. In addition, drought area index and percent anomaly were used to quantify drought. Analyses on rainfall intensities showed that the maximum decrease in monsoon rainfall occurred in Comilla (0.006 mm/hr). The ranges of rainfall intensity for drought condition were 0.00-0.29 mm/hr in pre-monsoon, 0.00-0.45 mm/hr in monsoon, 0.00-0.17 mm/hr in post-monsoon and 0.00-0.03 mm/hr in winter. Percentage of seasonal rainfall anomaly showed that the percentage of dry year was maximum in Jessore (42%), while it was 38% in Dhaka. Coefficient of Variation (CV), CV anomalies, and drought probability index (DPI) were used to assess rainfall reliability and drought uncertainty. The assessment on meteorological drought along with several adaptation measures found in this study will contribute to the drought management of the country.

INVESTIGACION & DESARROLLO, 2009

To improve global water resource assessment, quantification of the global river discharge while c... more To improve global water resource assessment, quantification of the global river discharge while considering the effect of slopes is required. Rainfall patterns need to be transformed into discharge by hydrological models like a distributed hydrological model (DHM). This model is expected to represent the spatial variation in aspects of digital global mapping such as land use, land cover, vegetation and elevation. Particularly, a digital elevation model (DEM) is crucial for tracking the flow direction and defining the river network in a basin. In this study, the performance of a 1-km resolution DHM is compared with that of a 90-m resolution DHM in simulating the discharge of the Meghna River in Bangladesh. The input rainfall was obtained from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM). The TRMM raw data was improved using available rain gauges over Bangladesh employing correcting factors. These correction factors were then also extended over India where rain gauge data was not available. In summary, the simulation of river discharge using the 1-km resolution model gave reasonable results even though the condition of the slope was limited. Therefore, the procedure here shows the feasibility of modeling global river discharge using global mapping data set. In future development, after setting thresholds at different control points, the potential flood damage to population centres can be evaluated for sound decision making.

Wetlands act as natural sponges that trap and slowly release waters over time and help in control... more Wetlands act as natural sponges that trap and slowly release waters over time and help in controlling floods. At the same time, they retain water and provide time for infiltration of water for groundwater recharge. But these intangible benefits are not properly assessed in developing countries. The significant problem is that such benefits cannot be evaluated as the same way as the market goods. In this context, nearly 11 sq. km area of the western flood plain of Dhaka is selected as the study area. To evaluate the flood control function of the site, Damage Cost Avoided Method is applied. And to evaluate the ground water recharge function at first total recharge quantity in a year is estimated than the quantity is valuated. Finally, the estimated value of these indirect use benefits of the site amounts to USD 0.13 million per sq. km in a year.

International Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research

This study concentrates on evaluation of microbial quality of drinking water and relates it with ... more This study concentrates on evaluation of microbial quality of drinking water and relates it with the performance of various purification technique used at household level of Dhaka city and analyzes feasibility of UV disinfection technique within several socio-economic groups at various locations of Dhaka City .The study areas were selected based on the vulnerability to waterborne diseases. Various income groups and institutions were considered to reflect impact of water quality and disinfection technology options on the economic and social aspects. In this study it was observed that most of the drinking water samples were biologically contaminated. This study also tried to identify the probable reasons behind the poor quality of drinking water at user’s end. GIS based maps were developed to identify most vulnerable locations of Dhaka City with respect to microbial water quality. This study observed that UV inactivated general bacteria, total coliform and E.coli in almost all cases a...

Proceedings of the Symposium on Global Environment, 2007

For the purpose of pollutant load analyses for the calculation of pollutant loads per capita flow... more For the purpose of pollutant load analyses for the calculation of pollutant loads per capita flowing into the water body (PLCwb) and preparation of environmental accounting housekeeping (EAH) books in the developing countries, the preliminary surveys and secondary information/data collection were conducted in Thailand and Bangladesh, in autumn and winter in 2006. Water quality and quantity (flow rate) were analyzed in the rivers and canals in and around Bangkok, Thailand, and a river and inner-city lakes in and around Dhaka, Bangladesh. Water depth, water

Oral Presentation Proceedings, 2006

1. Background Recently Bangladesh is facing severe crisis in supply of safe drinking water due to... more 1. Background Recently Bangladesh is facing severe crisis in supply of safe drinking water due to increasing trend of arsenic contamination in the underground water in different parts of the country. As a result of accelerated installation of shallow handpump tubewells over the past decades, as means of cheaper and convenient "safe" water supply, most people of the country has

International journal of water resources and environmental engineering, Dec 31, 2010

A study was carried out in Polash and Ghorasal Urea fertilizer factories to assess the impact of ... more A study was carried out in Polash and Ghorasal Urea fertilizer factories to assess the impact of effluent on water quality of the Lakhya River. Comprehensive waste water sampling by grab sampling method and flow measurement by float velocity method were carried out for five weeks (one sample per week) at five sampling stations at Polash and Ghorasal Urea fertilizer factories during June to July, 2007. Water quality samplings by grab sampling method were also carried out for five weeks (one sample per week) at four stations in the Lakhya River at the same time and River flows on the period of October 2006 to September 2007 were collected from Institute of Water Modelling. Effluents at both the factories and water sample from selected points in the river were analysed for pH, temperature, DO, BOD 5 , COD, NH 3-N, NH 4-N, TS, TSS, and TDS during June to July, 2007 at the Environmental Engineering Laboratory of

1Department of Civil Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology (BUET), Dhaka... more 1Department of Civil Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology (BUET), Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh 2Institute of Leather Engineering and Technology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1209, Bangladesh 1Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology (BUET), Dhaka-1000, Banglades 3Leather Research Institute, Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Dhaka-1205,Bangladesh ---------------------------------------------------------------------***--------------------------------------------------------------------Abstract – Water pollution by industrial effluent both organic and inorganic is of serious environmental concern all over the world. In Bangladesh, Leather tanning consumes a huge amount of water and introduces serious water pollution to the environment. The present study deals with utilization of agricultural by-products (spent tea leaves) for the removal of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) from tannery wastewater...

JOURNAL OF RURAL PLANNING ASSOCIATION, 2011

A survey of well waters (n=3534) from throughout Bang-' ladesh, excluding the Chitt;agon... more A survey of well waters (n=3534) from throughout Bang-' ladesh, excluding the Chitt;agong Hill Tracts, has shown that water from 27% of the 'shallow' tubewells, that is wells less than 150 m deep, exceeded the Bangladesh standard for arsenic in drinking water (50 flg L -I). 46% ...

Flooding control and water pollution abatement have been major problems in the surface water in t... more Flooding control and water pollution abatement have been major problems in the surface water in the Asian countries including Thailand and Bangladesh. We have conducted field surveys and secondary data collection to clarify the relationships between domestic wastewater discharge and pollutant load in the river from October to December in 2006. This paper reports summary data which will be a part of basic data sets for the estimation of pollutant discharge per capita (PDC) and pollutant load per capita flowing into the water body (PLCwb). For the estimation of the pollutant load in the river, river flow fluctuation derived from the tidal level fluctuation was important to be considered in regards to both water quantity and quality, because the river bed in these areas are rather flat.