H1 2026 Evaluation
Bangladesh Reservoir Transparency
F2Opaque — Ranked #134 out of 167 countries
weight 30%
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weight 15%
weight 13%
weight 10%
weight 8%
weight 5%
Primary source evaluated
BWDB — Bangladesh Water Development Board, Hydroinformatics and Flood Forecasting Circle
http://hydrology.bwdb.gov.bd/Dimension breakdown
Data Availability
20% of total score
Bangladesh has essentially one major reservoir: Kaptai Dam (Karnaphuli River, ~6,477 Mm³). The operator, Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), does not publish current or historical reservoir storage levels through any persistent online portal. Water level readings in feet MSL are communicated exclusively via press releases and official statements to local media (e.g., 108.83 ft MSL reported August 2025), but no structured, browsable data service for Kaptai storage exists. The BWDB hydrology portal covers river gauge stations and requires paid registration restricted to Bangladeshi nationals — and focuses on river levels rather than reservoir storage volumes. The FFWC API (ffwc.bwdb.gov.bd) provides real-time river station data across 116 stations but has no confirmed Kaptai reservoir storage endpoint.
Technical Accessibility
15% of total score
BWDB's online hydrological data system requires a three-step registration process, payment of a 200 BDT fee, and is explicitly restricted to Bangladeshi citizens — making international access impossible. FFWC does expose a REST API endpoint (ffwc.bwdb.gov.bd/data_load/) for river flood data, but its TLS certificate is invalid (ERR_TLS_CERT_ALTNAME_INVALID) and the scope covers river gauge stations for flood forecasting, not reservoir storage. No open, API-accessible, no-registration data path exists for Kaptai storage. WARPO also charges nominal fees for its national water resources database. The only freely accessible data is FFWC's public flood map and water level dashboard for river points.
Coverage
30% of total score
v1.3.0 capacity-weighted: coverage = round(100 × covered_capacity_hm³ / total_national_capacity_hm³). Bangladesh's total reservoir capacity above 10 hm³ is approximately 6,500 Mm³, consisting essentially of Kaptai Lake (Karnaphuli River, ~6,477 Mm³, operated by BPDB — Bangladesh's only major hydroelectric reservoir). The country is a river delta with no other significant storage reservoirs above the 10 hm³ threshold. BPDB communicates water levels only via crisis-driven press releases (108.83 ft MSL in August 2025), with no portal/API/feed publishing Kaptai storage. BWDB and FFWC operate extensive river gauge networks (116 stations) but these measure river levels for flood forecasting, not Kaptai reservoir storage. Covered capacity = 0 Mm³. Coverage = round(100 × 0 / 6,500) = 0.
Historical Depth
13% of total score
BWDB has collected river hydrological data since 1959, with some stations dating to 1919 (e.g., Hardinge Bridge). This constitutes a substantial historical archive. However, access requires paid registration restricted to Bangladeshi nationals, making it not practically available to international users. Furthermore, the archived data covers river water levels and discharge, not reservoir storage volumes for Kaptai. No machine-readable open archive of Kaptai storage time-series exists publicly. A small positive credit is given because the BWDB archive is real and deep (60+ years), even though it is paywalled, citizen-restricted, and river-focused rather than reservoir-focused.
Update Frequency
10% of total score
BWDB automatic stations report water level every 15 minutes to a central server, and FFWC publishes river bulletins in near-real-time (24h/48h forecasts). However, none of this pipeline is confirmed to include Kaptai reservoir storage data. Water level at Kaptai is communicated to the public only when operationally significant events occur (spillway releases, seasonal milestones) via press statements — an event-driven, irregular cadence. No daily or weekly published storage figure for Kaptai Lake is available. The FFWC API's high-frequency river data earns a marginal credit.
Methodological Transparency
8% of total score
BWDB publishes a definitions page and general methodology description for its hydrological measurements (water level, discharge, rainfall) on the hydrology portal. Monthly flood and groundwater reports are published. However, no publicly accessible document describes the methodology for measuring or computing Kaptai reservoir storage volumes, the bathymetric survey used to derive the storage curve, or the quality-control procedures applied to Kaptai gauge readings. BPDB, the dam operator, has no published technical methodology for reservoir management data. FFWC methodology for flood forecasting is partially documented through WMO and RIMES publications.
Language and Usability
5% of total score
The BWDB hydrology portal (hydrology.bwdb.gov.bd) and BWDB's main English site (en.bwdb.gov.bd) are available in English. FFWC's website (ffwc.gov.bd) has English-language content and its API is language-neutral. However, the paid data sale system is restricted to Bangladeshi nationals only, eliminating English-language international access to detailed data. Press releases about Kaptai water levels are published in both Bengali and English in local media. Bangladesh's history as part of the British Commonwealth means English is an administrative language, giving partial usability credit.
Evaluator notes
Bangladesh's reservoir transparency situation is structurally unique: the country has essentially one major reservoir, Kaptai Lake (Kaptai Dam on the Karnaphuli River, ~6,477 Mm³ capacity, operated by BPDB). The rest of Bangladesh is a river delta with no significant storage reservoirs. The RTI assessment therefore collapses entirely onto whether Kaptai storage data is publicly accessible — and the answer is that it is not, at least not in any structured, persistent, or internationally accessible form. BPDB communicates water levels in feet MSL through press releases to local media when operationally significant (spillway openings, seasonal lows), but there is no dedicated public portal, API endpoint, or downloadable dataset for Kaptai storage. BWDB's hydrological infrastructure is more substantial than the score suggests in isolation: the hydrology portal covers river gauge stations across 60+ years of records, with 15-minute automatic readings uploaded to a central server, and FFWC operates a real-time API across 116 river stations for flood forecasting. However, the BWDB data sale system requires paid registration restricted to Bangladeshi nationals, making it inaccessible to international users. Even if accessible, the data covers river water levels and discharge — not reservoir storage volumes for Kaptai Lake specifically. The FFWC API has a TLS certificate error as of 2026 and its confirmed station list does not include a Kaptai reservoir storage station. The key improvement pathway for Bangladesh is a single, narrow intervention: BPDB publishing a daily or weekly Kaptai Lake water level and estimated storage volume on a public URL — even a simple HTML table — would substantially lift the data_availability, update_frequency, and coverage scores simultaneously. Given that BPDB already tracks this data internally (it drives hydropower dispatch decisions) and communicates it informally to media, the cost of formal publication is low. BWDB removing the citizen-only restriction from its data sale system would further improve technical_accessibility.
Evaluated by Jaime Delgado · 2026-09-15 · Methodology v1.3.0