Water Availability, Poverty and Socio-Economic Crisis in the Floodplains of Barak
Valley, Assam, North East India
Abhik Gupta
Dept. of Ecology & Environmental Science
Assam University, Silchar, India
Email: agecol@rediffmail.com
Abstract
The Barak Valley is located in the southern part of Assam, North East India, and comprises of three
districts, viz., Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj. Lying between 24 0 8’ – 25 0 8’ N latitude and 92 0 15’ –
930 15’ E longitude, it covers a geographical area of 6922 km2. Wetlands occupy a total area of 13747.5 ha,
of which seasonally inundated floodplains occupy 10016 ha (72.9 %). Most floodplains in Barak Valley
comprise low-lying areas that get inundated during the monsoon months of June-September, with
numerous small hillocks strewn within them. These hillocks are occupied by villages that are largely
inhabited by the Kaivarta people who are traditionally fishers and cultivators. They earn their livelihood
through fishing in monsoon, and by growing Boro paddy (summer rice) that is sown in January and
harvested in late April-May, after the water recedes from the floodplain. A unique feature of the floodplains
is that when they are inundated during monsoon, they are treated as common property fishing grounds by
the community, while after the water recedes, private property rights are re-established in the agricultural
plots. The situation is rather paradoxical, as in spite of having an annual rainfall of 2500-3000 mm, the
floodplains experience water scarcity during the dry months of December-March, as irrigation facilities are
non-existent. Again, heavy pre-monsoon rains in April-May often lead to flooding that destroys the crop.
Thus the people are caught in a vicious cycle of either too much or too little water. The burgeoning
population pressure has also resulted in overexploitation and depletion of fish stock, and a general decrease
in the size of landholdings, landlessness also being rampant. Consequently, the traditional livelihood means
of fishing-agriculture can no longer sustain the majority of the households. The per capita earnings are very
low, with associated problems like lack of education in children, poor healthcare facilities, lack of transport
and other infrastructure, cultural erosion, and an all-pervading sense of stress and pessimism among the
people. Thus the ‘green revolution’, spread of education and industrialization has had little impact on this
community that once had a reasonably flourishing, albeit largely non-monetized, economy. The condition
of their women, who traditionally assisted the men in fishing and agriculture by weaving and repairing nets,
husking paddy and by performing other similar chores have also become deplorable. Confronted by the
degradation of the rural resource base and in the absence of any alternative economic package, many
families are migrating to the nearby cities to work as unskilled labours. In the domestic sector, the villagers
do not have access to sufficient water of good quality for drinking and other household uses. Most sources
are highly contaminated with pathogenic organisms and incidences of diarrhea and other water-borne
diseases are very common. A large section of the people cannot afford to adopt simple remedial measures
like boiling the water before drinking because fuelwood is both scarce and costly because of the denudation
of the once-abundant swamp and foothill forests. While answers to these rather complex problems may not
be readily available, sustainable water management appears to be pivotal to improve the socio-economic
conditions of the inhabitants of this ecologically and economically important landscape.
Introduction
Floodplains of tropical rivers are of immense ecological and economic importance. The
river-floodplain interaction is mainly governed by the seasonal pulsing of floodwater
from the river onto the floodplain and its subsequent recession back into the river
(Welcomme, 1979; Junk et al., 1989; Dudgeon et al., 1994). The seasonal entry into and
recession of river water from the floodplain comprises the key mechanism that makes it a
very important landscape in any area. Many species of fishes synchronize their breeding
activity with the flood season and migrate into the inundated floodplain to feed and
2
spawn, and return to the river in the dry season. These fishes also show intense feeding
activity during flood season that declines drastically in the dry period (Dudgeon, 1992;
Borgström, 1994). Consequently, the floodplains support rich capture fisheries that
sustain the livelihood of scores of fisher families. Furthermore, the deposition of nutrientrich alluvium renders fertility to the floodplain soil, which is used for agriculture when
the floodwater recedes after monsoon. Besides, the floodplains also contribute towards
water storage and supply and serve as retarding basins for excess floodwater. However,
unsustainable anthropogenic activities leading to overexploitation of resources,
accompanied by the absence of comprehensive water and soil management measures
have pushed many riverine floodplains in developing countries including India to the
brink of ecological and economic bankruptcy. Seasonally inundated floodplains comprise
a very prominent landscape element in the North East Indian state of Assam, especially in
the Barak Valley region in its southern part. Besides harbouring capture fisheries that
sustain the livelihood of thousands of fishers and traders, they are also used for
agriculture in the dry period, especially for growing summer rice. In spite of their
overriding importance in terms of water supply and storage, mitigation of floods, fishery,
agriculture and tourism, the floodplain ecosystems of Assam are threatened with
reclamation, environmental degradation, overexploitation and pollution (Bhuyan, 1987).
Studies conducted by the Space Application Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad (Garg et al,
1998), reveal that seasonally inundated floodplains comprise 23.15 per cent of the total
area under wetlands in the state of Assam. However, while these areas have plenty of
water during monsoon, they also suffer from water scarcity during the dry season,
thereby affecting their agricultural potential. This paper, therefore, attempts to analyze
the problem of water availability in the floodplains of Barak Valley in the Southern part
of Assam, assess its impact on the human communities that live and obtain their
livelihood from these ecosystems, and suggest ameliorative measures to improve the
situation.
Floodplains of Barak Valley, South Assam, India
Barak Valley derives its name from River Barak that along with its tributaries drains its
6922 sq. km area lying between 24 0 8’ – 25 0 8’ N latitude and 92 0 15’ – 930 15’ E
longitude south of the Borail range of mountains in the state of Assam, North East India.
The valley comprises the three districts of Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj, and is
bounded by the North Cachar Hills district of Assam and the state of Meghalaya to the
north, the state of Manipur and Mizoram to the east and south, respectively, and the state
of Tripura and the Sylhet district of Bangladesh to the west (Fig. 1).
Table 1 shows the area under different types of wetlands in the Barak Valley districts of
Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj. The total wetland area is 13737.5 ha, which in turn,
represents about 14 % of the total natural wetland area in the state of Assam. It may also
be seen that seasonally inundated floodplains are the most important type of wetlands in
this area. Together they are known to comprise 42.75 % of the total area under floodplain
wetlands in the State of Assam, although Barak Valley comprises a mere 8.8 % of the
total geographic area of Assam (Garg et al, 1998). Thus these floodplain ecosystems play
a significant role in the economy of these three districts in terms of their overriding
3
importance as repositories of fish, as habitats for resident and migratory birds, for storing
excess flood water, and for supplying irrigation water to nearby fields in the dry season.
Chatla in Cachar, and Shonbeel in Karimganj district are the two major floodplain
wetlands of Barak Valley. While Chatla has an area of around 10 km2, Shonbeel is the
largest floodplain wetland in Assam, having an area of 15 km2 (Choudhury, 2000).
Besides these two, the other important floodplains include the Jabda and Lucca Haors in
Cachar, Bakri Haor in Hailakandi, and Anair Haor in Karimganj district. The floodplains
are locally called Haors or Beels.
Topography, Ecology and Society in the Barak Valley Floodplains
Topography: The two major floodplains, viz., Chatla and Shonbeel are in the catchments
of Ghagra and Singla rivers, respectively. These rivers are tributaries of R. Barak. The
topography comprises extensive low-lying areas with numerous small hillocks strewn in
between. The human habitations are confined to these hillocks.
Vegetation: The floodplains originally had rich vegetation with Barringtonia acutangula
as the dominant species. This tree can withstand prolonged water logging and is a
common swamp forest species in this region. Large scale removal of this species was
initiated in the 1960-70s and now a few patches remain. The other common trees include
Lagerstroemia flosreginae and Vitex spp. Reeds such as Erianthus raveneae and
Phragmites karka are also found.
Human Communities: One of the major ethnic groups in the Barak Valley floodplains,
especially Chatla and Shonbeel, are the Kaivartas, a fisher-cultivator community. The
property regime in the floodplains is also unique: when it is covered with water in the
monsoon, it is treated as a ‘Common Property Regime’ (CPR) with community fishing
rights. However, after the water recedes, the land reverts to a ‘Private Property Regime’
(PPR) with restoration of individual property rights. The other floodplains are inhabited
by a plethora of Hindu and Muslim communities who also earn their livelihood through
fishing and agriculture.
Flood Pulse, Water Availability and Floodplain Economy
Barak Valley experiences a subtropical monsoonic climate with an annual rainfall
ranging between c 2500-3300 mm. About 80-85 % of this rainfall occurs during the
months of April/May-September/October. December and January are normally the driest
months. Pre-monsoon rains often accompanied by thunder and hail occur in April-May,
and the monsoon arrives in early June and continues till September, although heavy rains
may also occur in October. The seasonal pattern of rainfall and its variations from year to
year govern the flood pulse and determine the extent and duration of inundation of the
floodplains by the overflowing river waters. These in turn have profound effects on both
capture fishery and agriculture in the floodplains. Heavy pre-monsoon rains may cause
early floods in April-May when excess river water inundates the floodplains and destroys
the ripening summer rice that is harvested in April. For example, between 1996 and 2005,
heavy pre-monsoon rains in 1996, 2000 and 2004 inflicted severe damage on the crops,
4
thereby causing economic distress to the farmers. Severe hailstorms during this season
can also have adverse effects. If the monsoon arrives on time in early June and the
rainfall is more or less evenly distributed over July-September, successive flood pulses
inundate the floodplains, resulting in the entry of a large number of potamodromous
(fishes that migrate from the river to the floodplains) species of fishes, and the
consequent boom in fish capture and trade. In contrast, less than average rainfall during
July-September, such as that in 2003 and 2005, resulted in reduced fish catch and brought
in economic depression. Adequate rains in September-early October is also vital for
agriculture, as in the absence of rain, the ground becomes too hard and dry, hampering
the sowing of rice seeds in November and the planting of saplings in January. Thus
inundation of the floodplain till early or mid October is necessary for both fishery and
agriculture. Inundation also renders the soil fertile because of enhanced silt deposition
and decomposition of plant biomass. Table 2 reveals that soils that remain inundated for a
longer time have significantly higher water holding capacity, organic carbon content and
clay-silt percentage compared to those remaining inundated for a shorter period of time.
Farmers growing summer rice do not use any synthetic fertilizers. They depend on the
natural fertility of the soil which gets replenished annually by alluvial deposits brought in
by the floodwater. It may be mentioned here that the consumption of NPK in Assam as a
whole is very low (6.9 kg/ha) compared to the national average (67.1 kg/ha), and it is still
lower in Barak Valley.
From October onwards, water recedes from the floodplains and the land is exposed
barring a few depressions where some water is retained till about January. These
depressions are often called beels, although this term may be rather loosely used to
denote the whole floodplain as well. The cultivable land is now prepared for agriculturemostly for growing summer or boro rice. Private property rights are now reestablished in
the floodplain. However, the major constraint for agriculture is the scarcity of water. In
the absence of any irrigation facilities, the farmers face great difficulty in procuring
water. Only those farmers who own plots located in the lowest elevations in the
floodplain have easy access to water-filled depressions or small natural water channels
that they can impound to obtain water. Farmers having plots in the middle and upper
layers of the floodplain suffer from acute water scarcity. Pumping up water from distant
sources is both costly and cumbersome and can be afforded by few. Thus a paradoxical
situation exists where the lower plots have better access to water but are exposed to a
greater risk of inundation by pre-monsoon floods in April that would destroy the crop. In
contrast, the middle and upper plots are relatively safe from pre-monsoon floods, but are
constrained by the scarcity of water in winter. The situation has worsened over the years
as deforestation in the catchments of the feeder streams and rivers, especially in the hills,
has led to soil erosion and deposition of silt in the watercourses that drain the floodplains.
The floodplain lakes that used to retain water in the dry season have also become
progressively shallower due to silt deposition and/or due to reclamation for agriculture.
Water scarcity has reached such a state that many floodplain farmers, especially those
having land in the middle and upper zones, are converting their land into ‘semi-natural’
fisheries. Fishes enter these impoundments along with floodwater and are trapped inside.
They are then allowed to grow through the monsoon. The fishes mostly thrive on natural
food in the systems, although some farmers provide some supplementary feeds, and may
5
also release some additional carp fries or fingerlings. These fishes are harvested in the
post-monsoon and winter. Thus the farmers are desperately trying to earn their livelihood
by opting for fisheries in place of agriculture. Some farmers in the middle and upper
elevations have started growing winter rice, locally called shail or shali, which grows
through the monsoon and is harvested in December. However, they are also totally
dependent on good monsoon rains, failing which the plants suffer from water stress
during October-November. To cope with this problem, some farmers apply a thin layer of
urea in November to enhance maturation of the paddy and try to save the crop.
Impact of Water Scarcity on Floodplain Economy
Pauperization of Fisher-Cultivators: The absence of effective and sustainable water
resource management in the floodplains of Barak Valley has led to the pauperization of
the fisher-cultivators in this area. On the one hand, over-fishing has depleted the natural
stock and prevented its regeneration, leading to serious decline in fish density and the
size of fishes in the catch. To counter this, the fishers have gone on reducing the mesh
size of the nets to capture small fishes. This in turn has further depleted the fish stock. On
the other hand, agriculture has also suffered due to water scarcity. The impoverished
condition of the floodplain farmers is reflected in the low per capita income in Chatla and
Shonbeel floodplains (Table 3). Many farmers including their female family members
have started migrating to the nearby cities to find work in construction sites, as rickshaw
pullers and as other petty labour. Those who can afford have opted for small trade. It is
indeed deplorable that the womenfolk who being proficient in weaving, made fish nets,
produced dried fish, and husked rice in a fairly prosperous and largely non-monetized
economy, are now compelled to work as manual labours. The occupational pattern in
Chatla floodplain is depicted in Table 4. It may be seen that a large section of the people
are still dependent on fishing and farming, although a considerable proportion have gone
for wage labour in the dry season instead of farming. However, in the monsoon, they still
engage in fishing in the common property fishing area as it is not only a means for
livelihood, but integrated into their culture. The situation has been exacerbated by the
decrease in landholding size, which is much lower than the Barak Valley average (Table
5). The productivity of summer rice is also somewhat low, ranging from c 700-1150
kg/ha against a Barak Valley figure of 1180-1970 kg during 1991-2000. Pauper
Land Grabbing by Brick Kilns: Taking advantage of the poverty of the floodplain
farmers, brick kiln owners are grabbing the agricultural lands for making bricks. Bricks
now have a high demand because of the construction boom in the cities of Barak Valley,
and the demand is being met by digging up good agricultural land by cleverly bypassing
legal restrictions of utilizing such land for other purpose. The brick-kiln owners lure the
poor farmers into renting out their land on lease. They offer a yearly sum of INR 22000
(c US $ 500) per hectare of land and take the land on lease for a period of three years,
after which the land reverts back to its original owner. However, the entire topsoil and a
substantial portion of the subsoil are excavated for making bricks during the lease period.
When the farmer gets back his land it becomes virtually useless and defaced. Such land
does not even make good fishery because lack of nutrients does not encourage planktonic
growth, and it takes a long time for any pioneer invasive species to establish itself in such
6
barren areas. The brick kilns are located on relatively high ground, while soil and water
are transported from the low lying areas to make the bricks. This is a very serious
ecological issue in the floodplains that has its root in the declining fish and agricultural
productivity in the floodplains and the resultant impoverishment of the farmers.
Domestic Water Availability Scenario
There is no drinking water supply scheme in most of the Barak Valley floodplains,
including Chatla and Shonbeel. There are very few borewells and these are mostly
located on the outer fringes, near main roads or markets. They cater to the relatively
wealthy sections. Inside the floodplains, people obtain water for drinking and other
domestic purposes from dugwells. In Chatla and Shonbeel, around 60 and 67 per cent,
respectively, of these dugwells are in the form of shallow and turbid mud holes, while the
rest (40 and 33 per cent, respectively) are paved. Enumeration of faecal coliforms in both
borewells and dugwells reveal that only 19.6 % of these drinking water sources have less
than 10 faecal coliform CFUs (colony forming units) and may therefore be considered
safe to consume. Another 13 per cent have moderate contamination, having 11-100 CFU
faecal coliforms. However, 28.3 and 39.1 % of the sources have between 101-1000 and
more than 1000 CFU faecal coliforms (Fig. 2). Only some of the borewells have low
contamination, while all the dugwells sampled are contaminated to varying degrees. As a
result of such heavy and widespread contamination, incidences of diarrhea are very
common in the floodplain villages.
Suggestions and Conclusions
The green revolution was able to bring self-sufficiency in food production for India.
However, one of its shortcomings is that it still remains confined to a very small area of
the country. The marginal areas have not directly benefited from its technology, being
still dependent on rains and the vagaries of nature for food production. This has really hit
hard the subsistence level farmers, as illustrated by the dismal scenario in the floodplains
of Barak Valley. At the same time, the continually degrading natural resource base is
unable to support the burgeoning population. It is ironical that in a region receiving 25003000 mm annual rainfall, a major constraint in agriculture is the water scarcity in the dry
season. Declining water retention during monsoon and shortage of irrigation water in the
dry months are, therefore, major factors responsible for impoverishing the Kaivarta
community and bringing about a socio-cultural crisis where a large section of an once
thriving and self-sufficient community has been reduced to a state where they have to
migrate to the cities to live in slums and do odd jobs unsuited to their temperament to eke
out a living. While it would be beyond the scope of this paper and perhaps a bit too
simplistic to offer solutions to this problem, a few suggestions could be made to halt the
ecological and economic degradation of the floodplains of Barak Valley. Firstly, an
integrated and sustainable water management is crucial for improving the situation.
Participatory rural appraisals made in the study area indicate that if road-cumembankments that would remain above the flood level could be cleverly designed and
laid across the landscape, these could serve to augment the retention of water in the
floodplain, thereby enhancing fishery prospects and providing water for agriculture,
7
besides improving communication. These road-cum-embankments could be provided
with sluices at appropriate places to regulate water entry and exit, based on the local
needs. Enhanced retention of water is also expected to attract migratory birds that earlier
used to flock to these areas in large numbers in the winter, but whose numbers have
severely declined in the recent years. These include several threatened species such as
Baer’s Pochard (Aythya baeri), Gadwall (Anas strepera), Bar Headed Goose (Anser
indicus), Geylag Goose (Anser anser), Brahminy Duck (Tadorna ferruginea) and others.
Besides bringing about biodiversity conservation, this could also open up the prospects
for eco-tourism and provide gainful employment to the local people in various ways.
Secondly, land regulations should be strictly enforced to prevent loss of good agricultural
land to brick kilns. Another important strategy would be to change the cropping patterns
in the floodplains. This could include introduction of deepwater paddy varieties having
higher yields during flood period, rapid-growing yet high yielding summer rice varieties
that could be harvested before pre-monsoon inundation of the floodplain, and cultivation
of pulses and vegetables in the flood-free period (Borthakur, 1981). All these measures
would have to be integrated with forest restoration and soil conservation in the hills as
well as in the lowlands along with proper management practices in micro-watershed
development and land use planning to prevent silt deposition in water courses (Gupta,
2003). Special efforts should be made to restore the Barringtonia acutangula forests in
the floodplains in order to enhance water and nutrient retention as well as to attract the
potamodromous fishes in larger numbers to the floodplains because of increased
allochthonous food resources (Dudgeon, 1992). In the domestic front, microbiologically
safe water could be provided through rainwater harvesting in the rainy season and solar
water purification in the dry, sunny days. The latter could include boiling of water using
solar heaters or by introducing inexpensive yet effective methods like SODIS that
involves exposing water kept in transparent PET bottles to sunlight to capitalize on the
germicidal properties of the UV-A radiation in sunlight coupled with increased
temperature inside the bottles (Gupta, 2004). An impending ecological, economic and
socio-cultural crisis in the Barak Valley floodplains can only be averted by wellconcerted efforts on several fronts with adoption of measures that should ideally spring
from the bottom rather than being imposed from the top.
References
Bhuyan, M.C. 1987: Environmental Status of Beels in Assam : In : Proceedings of
Workshop on Development of Beel Fisheries in Assam. Assam Agricultural
University, Guwahati, 114-121.
Borgström, R. 1994: Freshwater Ecology and Fisheries. In : Tropical Ecosystems : A
Synthesis of Tropical Ecology and Conservation (M. Balakrishnan, R. Borgström
and S.W. Bie, Eds.), pp. 41-69. Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd., New
Delhi.
Borthakur, D.N. 1981. Strategy of Agricultural Production in Flood Prone Areas with
Special Reference to the Brahmaputra Valley. Proceedings of International
Conference on Flood Disasters, New Delhi.
Choudhury, A.U. (2000): The Birds of Assam. Gibbon Books and WWF-India (NorthEast Regional Office), Guwahati.
8
Dudgeon, D. 1992: Endangered Ecosystems : a Review of the Conservation Status of
Tropical Asian Rivers. Hydrobiologia 248 : 167-191.
Dudgeon, D., Arthungton, A.H., Chang, W.Y.B., Davies, J., Humphrey, C.L., Pearson,
R.G. and Lam, P.K.S. 1994: Conservation and Management of Tropical Asian
and Australian Inland Waters : Problems, Solutions and Prospects. Mitt. Internat.
Verein. Limnol. 24 : 369-386.
Garg, J.K.; Singh, T.S. and Murthy, T.V.R. 1998. Wetlands of India. Space Applications
Centre (ISRO), Ahmedabad, India.
Gupta, A. 2003. Flood and Floodplain Management in North East India: an Ecological
Perspective. In: Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Hydrology
and Water Resources in Asia Pacific Region, Vol. 1 : 231-236.
Gupta, A. 2004. Drinking Water Quality in Barak Valley, Assam, North East India:
Prioritizing Management Options. In: Proceedings of the 2nd APHW Conference,
Vol. 1: 621-627.
Junk, W.J., Bayley, P.B. and Sparkes, R.E. 1989: The Flood Pulse Concept in RiverFloodplain systems. In : Proceedings of the International Large River symposium
(Lars) (D.P. Dodge, Ed.). Can. Spec. Publ. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 106 : 110-127.
Welcomme, R.L. 1979: Fisheries Ecology of Floodplain Rivers. Longman, London.
9
Table 1. Statistics of natural wetlands in Cachar, Hailakandi, and Karimganj districts,
Barak Valley, Assam, India
Area in ha
District
Lake/Pond
Ox-Bow
Lake
Swamp/
Marsh
Total
1151.5
Seasonally
Inundated
Floodplain
4869.5
Cachar
592.5
564.5
7178
Hailakandi
322.5
480
37.5
0
840
Karimganj
95
4667
87.5
870
5719.5
Total
1569
10016.5
717.5
1434.5
13737.5
Source: Garg et al (1998)
Table 2. Soil variables (mean + SD) in floodplain sites with longer inundation (A) and
those with shorter inundation (B). Statistical comparisons of A and B by one-way
ANOVA
Soil Variables
A
B
5.6+0.2
5.7+0.2
NS
80.5+10.8
67.5+16.8
NS
56.3+3.8
31.6+2.1
A>B (P<0.0001)
0.88+0.4
0.48+0.1
A>B (P<0.01)
Potassium (mg l-1)
4.9+2.3
4.8+1.4
NS
Clay+Silt %
45.8+0.9
16.7+7.9
A>B (P<0.0001)
pH
Conductivity
(uS
cm-1)
Water
Holding
Capacity (%)
Organic Carbon (%)
NS: Not significant
Rankings based on
One-Way ANOVA
10
Table 3. Annual per capita income of fisher-cultivators in Chatla and Shonbeel, Barak
Valley, India
Income Slabs
INR 1201-3600 (US $ 2780)
INR 3601-6000 (US $ 81133)
INR 6001-8400 (US $ 134187)
>INR 8240 (US $ 187)
% Occurrence
Chatla
Shonbeel
53.3
3.3
30.0
38.7
13.3
45.7
3.3
12.3
INR: Indian Rupee
Table 4. Occupational pattern in the Chatla floodplain
Occupation
% Occurrence
Only fish capture
9.9
Fishing and Wage Labour
32.4
Fishing and Trade
8.5
Fishing and Farming
45.1
Fishing and Rickshaw Pulling
4.2
11
Table 5. Land holding size distribution in Chatla and Shonbeel compared with Barak
Valley average
Land Holding size
category and range
Chatla
% Occurrence
Shonbeel
Barak Valley
Marginal (0.2-1.0
ha)
Small (1.0-2.0)
53.3
43.3
34.4
33.3
50.0
35.7
Low-Medium (2.04.0)
Medium (4.0-10.0)
13.3
6.7
23.6
0
0
5.6
0
0
0.6
Large (10.0-20.0)
12
Fig. 1. Map Showing the Location of Barak Valley.
INDIA
ASSAM
N

BARAK VALLEY
13
Fig. 2. % Occurrence of Drinking Water Sources
With Different Levels of Faecal Coliforms in Chatla
Floodplain, Barak Valley, India
% Occurrence
50
39.1
40
28.3
30
19.6
20
10
0
13
0-10 CFU Faecal
Coliform
11-100 CFU Faecal
Coliform
101-1000 CFU Faecal
Coliform
>1000 CFU Faecal
Coliform