Sediment management using bandal-like structures as nature-based solution

To materialize the inherent opportunities of incoming sediment load, various interventions are being practiced for sediment management in rivers and delta systems. Broadly, the practiced methods can be divided into two categories: (i) management for accelerating siltation to enhance land reclamation and counterbalancing bank erosion (ii) management for de-siltation in the channels to maintain required navigational flow depth. The prerequisites for achieving the above targets at the same time are quite contradictory, as land reclamation requires more sediment, while maintaining navigational depth requires less sediment load. To address the aforementioned constraints, Bandal-like Structures (BLS), an indigenous nature-based solution, has proposed for redistributing the local flow-sediment regime to create a sediment deficit zone within the river side and a sediment surplus…