Our Services
Water Resources Infrastructure
Bangladesh's rivers, wetlands, and coastal waterways are its greatest natural asset — and its most critical infrastructure challenge. Urban Engineering Limited delivers specialised engineering for dams, barrages, flood control embankments, water treatment plants, irrigation systems, drainage networks, and waste treatment facilities across the country.
WHAT WE OFFER
Water Resources Engineering Services
Comprehensive engineering services across water supply, flood control, irrigation, and wastewater — aligned with Bangladesh's national water development plans.
Flood Control & Embankment Engineering
Design, construction, and rehabilitation of flood control embankments, coastal embankments, polders, and cross-dams — the primary defence infrastructure protecting Bangladesh's low-lying agricultural and settlement areas from river flooding and tidal inundation. Works to BWDB design manuals including slope stability analysis, seepage control, and freeboard calculation for 1-in-100 year design flood levels with sea level rise allowance.
Bishop and Spencer method analysis for embankment cross-sections under steady seepage, rapid drawdown, and earthquake loading per BNBC seismic zone.
Coastal polder assessment, breaching failure analysis, crest raising, slope revetment, and sluice gate rehabilitation under BWDB CEIP framework.
Design of cross-dams, tidal sluices, and flood control gates — structural design, foundation analysis, gate load calculation, and hydraulic performance verification.
All flood control designs prepared to Bangladesh Water Development Board design manuals, standard engineering procedures, and FFWC flood forecasting data.
Water Supply & Treatment Plants
Civil and structural design and construction supervision for piped water supply schemes — intake structures, raw water pump stations, water treatment plant civil works (sedimentation tanks, flocculation basins, rapid sand filters, clear water reservoirs, chlorination facilities), overhead water towers, and distribution network infrastructure for municipalities, Wasa, and DPHE-administered rural water supply schemes.
Design to Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (DWASA) and DPHE technical standards including hydraulic design of distribution networks.
RC civil structures for flocculation, sedimentation, filtration, and storage — watertight design to ACI 350 liquid-retaining structure code with crack-width control.
Elevated RC or steel water tank structural design — occupant load, wind, seismic, and sloshing force analysis for tanks up to 2 ML capacity.
Piped water supply scheme civil works for rural unions — intake, pump house, community distribution points, and gravity-fed system design under DPHE guidelines.
Wastewater & Industrial Effluent Treatment
Civil and structural engineering for sewage treatment plants (STP), effluent treatment plants (ETP), and combined wastewater treatment in compliance with DoE effluent discharge standards. Bangladesh's export-oriented garment, textile, tannery, and agro-processing industries generate large volumes of industrial effluent — regulatory enforcement is tightening and investment in compliant ETP civil infrastructure is accelerating.
ETP civil design compliant with DoE Environment Conservation Rules 1997 effluent discharge standards for BOD, COD, TSS, heavy metals, and colour.
Both central combined ETPs (for industrial zones and EPZs) and individual factory ETPs — anaerobic baffled reactors, aerobic treatment, clarifiers, sludge drying beds.
Sludge dewatering and drying bed civil design, biogas recovery possibility assessment, and sludge disposal facility design per DoE hazardous waste guidelines.
Faecal sludge treatment plant (FSTP) civil design for city corporations — co-treatment with municipal sewage sludge under DPHE/UNICEF sanitation programme frameworks.
Irrigation & Drainage Infrastructure
Civil engineering for irrigation canal systems, irrigation pump stations, drainage sluices, culverts, regulating structures, and agricultural drainage networks — supporting Bangladesh's food security through the reliable supply of irrigation water and drainage of waterlogged agricultural land. Works to BWDB and BADC design standards under ADB, World Bank, and GoB-funded irrigation projects across each of Bangladesh's agricultural zones.
Hydraulic design of irrigation canals, canal lining (CC, masonry, HDPE membrane), headwork regulator design, and sluice gate sizing per BWDB standard drawings.
Civil structural design of irrigation and drainage pump stations — pump sump, wet well, motor control room, power transformer plinth, access road, and drainage.
RC box culvert and sluice regulator design for canal and drainage crossings — hydraulic sizing, structural design, scour protection, and BWDB approval drawings.
Urban and peri-urban drainage master plans, storm drain sizing, outfall structure design, and detention pond design to reduce urban flooding in Dhaka and secondary cities.
BANGLADESH WATER LANDSCAPE
Why Water Infrastructure Defines Bangladesh
No other country in the world faces water engineering challenges of comparable scale, complexity, and urgency. Bangladesh's water infrastructure is its most critical national investment.
World's Largest Delta
Bangladesh occupies the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta — the world's most active and largest delta system. Over 700 rivers crisscross the country, annually delivering 1.2 billion tonnes of sediment from the Himalayas. This creates extreme sedimentation, river bank erosion, and navigation challenges that define water infrastructure engineering here.
Monsoon Extremes
Bangladesh receives approximately 2,300 mm of rainfall annually, but 80% falls in the June–October monsoon season. Combined with upstream flows from the Ganges and Brahmaputra, the monsoon causes widespread annual flooding of 20–30% of the country's land area — rising to 60–80% in extreme flood years. Flood control infrastructure investment is ongoing and critical.
Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100
The Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 (BDP 2100) is a 100-year strategic plan for water, land, and environmental governance — involving massive investment in flood management, water supply, irrigation, drainage, and climate adaptation infrastructure. BDP 2100 is the guiding framework for all water sector investment by ADB, World Bank, and GoB through 2100.
Arsenic & Groundwater Crisis
Widespread arsenic contamination of shallow tube-well groundwater — affecting an estimated 20 million people — has driven major investment in piped surface water supply schemes as safe water alternatives. DPHE's piped water supply programme is one of the largest infrastructure investment programmes in Bangladesh, creating significant civil engineering opportunity.
Urban Water & Sanitation
Dhaka, Chittagong, and Khulna face acute water supply and sewage treatment deficits driven by rapid urbanisation. The Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (DWASA) and Chittagong WASA are major procurers of water infrastructure civil works. Per-capita water consumption in Dhaka is projected to increase significantly, requiring major treatment and distribution capacity expansion.
Industrial ETP Compliance
Bangladesh's export-oriented industries — particularly RMG, textiles, and tanneries — are under increasing domestic and international pressure to install compliant effluent treatment. The EU Green Deal's supply chain sustainability requirements and buyer codes of conduct are accelerating ETP investment in industrial zones and EPZs across the country.
INFRASTRUCTURE TYPES
Structures We Design & Build
Three categories of water infrastructure — each requiring specialised design expertise and construction methods.
Hydraulic Structures
Dams, barrages, sluice regulators, weirs, tidal gates, pump sump intakes, fish passes, and navigation locks — structures where water loading and hydraulic forces govern structural design.
Treatment Structures
Watertight RC tanks and basins for water treatment plants, sewage treatment, effluent treatment, and sludge handling — designed to ACI 350 liquid-retaining structure standard with strict crack-width control.
Earthwork Structures
Flood embankments, polders, irrigation canal earthworks, reservoir levee design, and landside drainage — designed for seepage, stability, and settlement under BWDB technical manuals.
BWDB Approved
Water Development Board RegisteredOur Advantage
Why Choose Urban Engineering
BWDB & DPHE Experience
Direct project experience with Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB), Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE), Dhaka WASA, and Chittagong WASA — navigating their specific technical standards, procurement frameworks, and design approval processes efficiently.
Liquid-Retaining Structure Expertise
Specialist capability in watertight reinforced concrete design to ACI 350 — the essential standard for WTP, STP, and ETP tank design. Many general structural engineers lack expertise in the crack-width control and joint detailing required for compliant liquid-retaining structures.
Embankment & Earthwork Design
Slope stability analysis (GEO5/SLOPE/W), seepage analysis (SEEP/W), and embankment settlement assessment for BWDB flood embankment and polder rehabilitation works — applying BWDB Standard Engineering Procedures and Design Manual to all embankment works.
DoE ETP Compliance Design
Our ETP civil designs are prepared to meet DoE Environment Conservation Rules effluent standards — with process flow supported by environmental engineers and civil structures designed for the specific hydraulic and corrosion environment of textile, tannery, and garment factory ETPs.
Integrated EIA & Environmental
Water infrastructure projects commonly affect fisheries, wetlands, and upstream communities. Our in-house environmental team prepares DoE Environmental Clearance Certificates, environmental flow analysis, and resettlement frameworks for BWDB and ADB/World Bank-funded water infrastructure projects.
COMMON QUESTIONS
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about water resources infrastructure engineering in Bangladesh.
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What approvals are needed to construct a water treatment plant in Bangladesh?
Water treatment plant construction in Bangladesh requires approvals from: (1) DPHE or WASA — technical design approval for the treatment process and civil design. WTP projects must conform to DPHE Design Manual or WASA's technical specifications for each treatment unit. (2) DoE Environmental Clearance — Category B clearance for WTPs above specified capacity — requiring an Initial Environment Examination (IEE) with intake impact assessment and discharge water quality management plan. (3) BWDB — surface water abstraction licence application and approval of intake structure design where the intake is located on a BWDB-managed river or canal. (4) Local building authority — RAJUK or municipality building permit for above-ground plant room structures. Urban Engineering manages all regulatory submissions simultaneously, and our civil designs are prepared in the formats required by each authority to minimise revision requests and approval delays.
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What is an effluent treatment plant (ETP) and is one legally required in Bangladesh?
An Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) is a facility that treats industrial wastewater before discharge to remove pollutants to levels safe for the environment. In Bangladesh, the Environment Conservation Rules 1997 (and updates under the Bangladesh Environment Protection Act) legally require all industrial units that generate trade effluent to treat it to DoE effluent discharge standards before discharge to any water body, drain, or land. Without a functioning ETP, industries face: DoE enforcement action including factory closure notice; loss of export orders — EU, US, and UK buyers are increasingly requiring ETP compliance certificates for their supplier factories; and denial of environmental clearance renewal. Compliance is particularly enforced in the garment/textile, tannery, pharmaceutical, food processing, and chemical sectors. Urban Engineering designs compliant ETP civil infrastructure for the specific effluent characteristics of each industry type — textile dyeing requires colour and COD removal; tannery effluent requires chromium removal; food processing requires BOD and suspended solids treatment. The civil design must accommodate the specific process equipment and tank sizing specified by the process engineer.
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How is flood embankment design different in Bangladesh compared to other countries?
Bangladesh's flood embankment design presents several distinctive challenges: (1) Foundation conditions — most embankments in Bangladesh are founded on normally consolidated alluvial clays with very low undrained shear strength. Standard embankment design must include stability analysis for rapid construction loading on weak foundations, often requiring staged construction with consolidation periods. (2) Seepage control — the high differential water head across flood embankments during monsoon floods drives seepage through the embankment body and foundation. Seepage analysis (flow net or SEEP/W) and internal erosion prevention measures (chimney drains, filter zones, cutoff trenches) are essential. (3) Settlement — embankments on soft alluvial clays can experience significant post-construction settlement (0.3–1m or more). Freeboard allowances must be generous to account for settlement between maintenance cycles, and settlement monitoring is required. (4) Dynamic river conditions — Bangladesh's rivers migrate laterally at rates of metres to tens of metres per year. The toe of an embankment can be undermined by scour in a single monsoon season, requiring regular bank protection inspection and maintenance. (5) BWDB Standard Sections — BWDB has standard embankment cross-sections based on local experience that form the starting point for most designs, with site-specific analysis required for non-standard conditions.
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What is the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 and how does it affect water infrastructure investment?
The Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 (BDP 2100) is a long-term adaptive plan approved by the Bangladesh government in 2018, developed with support from the Netherlands — the global leader in delta management. Key elements relevant to water infrastructure investment: (1) Six hotspots — BDP 2100 identifies six geographic hotspots requiring prioritised infrastructure intervention: coastal zone, Haor and wetland areas, Barind and drought-prone areas, Chittagong Hill Tracts, rivers and estuaries, and urban areas. Each hotspot has a specific investment programme. (2) Total investment — BDP 2100 identifies over US$37 billion of priority investments over 25 years (2020–2045) in water infrastructure across flood management, water supply, drainage, and coastal protection. (3) Adaptive management principle — BDP 2100 explicitly adopts an "adaptive delta management" approach — meaning infrastructure designs must be flexible enough to accommodate uncertainty in climate change projections, sea level rise, and upstream flow changes. (4) Institutional alignment — all BWDB, DPHE, LGED, and city corporation water infrastructure programmes are now expected to align with BDP 2100 priorities and deliver co-benefits across multiple objectives (flood control, water supply, sediment management, ecosystem services). Urban Engineering's water infrastructure services are aligned with BDP 2100 investment priorities — ensuring projects we design and deliver are consistent with the national strategic framework for water sector investment.