I felt helpless, Matiur, a Roads and Highways Department driver, said.
Experts have observed people in the region are struggling to get drinking water while many paddy farmers are either diversifying to less water-intensive crops or converting their croplands to ponds and brick kilns.
The region is characterised by decreasing rainfall and depleting groundwater levels, mostly extracted for paddy farming, rice mill operations, and other industrial purposes. The situation is worsening as some people are withdrawing everyone s share of the groundwater, said a prominent hydrologist, Prof Chowdhury Sarwar Jahan of Rajshahi University.
Apart from paddy fields, at least 35 auto rice mills in Jhilim union, which covers 23.45 square kilometres of area, use groundwater round the clock, heavily affecting the aquifer, he said.