LEDARS is working on integrated water management and people’s quality of life on the southwest coast of Bangladesh. On February 4, 2023, at 10:30 am, a Meet the Press was organized with journalists at the Shyamnagar Upazila Parishad hall on the occasion of receiving the Zayed Sustainability Prize 2023 for making special contributions to water management and people’s quality of life.
The meet the press was presided over by the brave freedom fighter Master Nazrul Islam, the Executive Director of LEDARS Mohon Kumar Mondal presented the main speech in the meet the press. Manabendra Debnath, member of the Executive Committee of LEDARS and Assistant Professor of Atarjan Women’s College, member, journalist and teacher Ranajit Kumar Burman and journalists of Shyamnagar Upazila Press Club, Reporters Club and Online Press Club were also present.
The keynote highlighted that Mohon Kumar Mondal, Executive Director of LEDARS, received the Zayed Sustainability Prize 2023 from His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the President of the United Arab Emirates, in a grand ceremony on Monday, January 16, 2023 in Abu Dhabi.
The keynote also said that since 2003, LEDARS has developed integrated water management to solve the crisis of fresh water in coastal areas and irrigation water for agriculture. LEDARS have installed 185 rainwater harvesting systems, 65 PSFs, 10 MARs, 5250 bio-sand filters, digging 21 ponds and 2 reverse osmosis systems to ensure safe drinking water. Also 7 deep tube wells, 3 canals and 69 mini ponds have been dug to improve irrigation management in agriculture sector. The implementation of LEDARS has resulted access to safe drinking water to at least 15,881 households and brought about 500 acres of land under agricultural production in the dry season due to optimal use of surface and low-saline groundwater.