AEM Awarded a Contract by Bangladesh and World Bank

Advanced Environmental Monitoring (AEM) Awarded a Contract by Bangladesh and World Bank to Strengthen Hydrological Information Services and Early Warning Systems 

Germantown, MD – September 1, 2021 — Advanced Environmental Monitoring (AEM) was awarded a contract by the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) to provide hydrological information services and early warning systems in Bangladesh. The goal of the project is to improve the national hydrological and meteorological monitoring infrastructure in Bangladesh. Concurrently, the awarded contract is a part of a significant initiative in Bangladesh— to improve weather forecasting and early warning systems in the developing republic. The People’s Republic of Bangladesh received funds from the World Bank to finance the Bangladesh Weather and Climate Services Regional Project (BWCSRP). The awarded contract will fulfill Component B of the project; Strengthening Hydrological Information Services and Early Warning Systems (SHEWS).

AEM Wins the Bid for Procurement of Goods Against Other Esteemed Bidders

AEM won the bid against four other environmental services companies, some located in Italy, Germany, Slovakia, and the United States. This contract with the Bangladesh Water Development Board includes the procurement of automatic water level stations, upgrades to existing climate stations and rain gauges to automatic and real time, including annual maintenance and related services. AEM will supply, install, and commission the equipment, including sensors, data loggers, telemetry, and other hardware at over 175 hydrological monitoring sites in Bangladesh. This element of the project involves strengthening hydrological information services and early warning systems in Bangladesh— the main objective is to improve hydrological observation, forecasting, and early warning systems in the nation. Two AEM companies, Lambrecht meteo and FTS, Inc., will supply, install, and monitor the hydrology sensors in Bangladesh. The following AEM sensors will be utilized to complete the project:

• Automatic Radar Water Level Gauge (AWLG) sensor
• Automatic Rain Gauge (ARG) Sensor
• Air Temperature and Humidity Sensor
• Wind Speed and Direction Sensor
• Atmospheric Pressure Sensor
• Solar Radiation
• Evaporation Sensor
• Data loggers with 2 AI (Analogue input) channels
• Data loggers with 8 (Analogue input) AI channels

AEM’s Local Partnership in Bangladesh

AEM is partnered locally with Project Promoters Private Limited, a division of Datasoft Manufacturing & Assembly Inc. Limited of Bangladesh. AEM’s partnership with the Project Promoters Private Ltd., a division of both companies previously mentioned, equips Datasoft Manufacturing & Assembly Inc. Limited (DMA) with the experience and opportunity to work on more projects with the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) in the future.

Taking the Lead on International Hydrology Projects

This international hydrology project is a significant undertaking for AEM, as the company continues to expand its breadth in improving early warning systems in developing nations. AEM will assure the collection and seamless flow of real-time data from various automated sensors to the data center of the Bangladesh Water Development Board. This win is a large part of a momentous international hydrology project— the Bangladesh Weather and Climate Services Regional Project (BWCSRP)— in which the objective outlined by the World Bank is to strengthen Bangladesh’s capacity to deliver reliable weather, water, and climate information services to its communities. AEM is proud to partner with the BWDB to improve hydrology operations in Bangladesh, and ultimately enrich and protect the lives of Bangladeshis from climate disasters.

How Bangladesh Benefits from Improved Hydrology and Meteorology Initiatives

Bangladesh is still a developing nation in some capacities, especially as it relates to environmental efficiencies and early warning systems. Modernizing the meteorological and hydrological information systems in Bangladesh is essential for disaster-management and improving disaster-preparedness in the country.

Flooding, monsoons, and extreme weather significantly affect Bangladesh, making it a disaster-prone and vulnerable nation. Floods cause economic disruptions as well as loss of life, to susceptible populations.

“With Bangladesh often exposed to extreme weather events, the lack of reliable forecasting and information on weather can cost lives and hurt the productivity of key sectors, such as agriculture, which contributes to about 16 percent of GDP, and employs 45 percent of the population,” said Qimiao Fan, World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal. “By ensuring reliable and systematic weather and climate information, this project will strengthen disaster preparedness, as well as help farmers better adjust to weather variability at the farm level, and thus improve productivity.” — source: Bangladesh and World Bank Sign $113 million to Improve Weather Forecasting and Early Warning Systems

AEM Companies Leading the Hydro-Met Initiatives in Bangladesh: Lambrecht Meteo GmbH and FTS Forest Technology Systems

Lambrecht Meteo and FTS, Inc. will provide automatic water level sensors and other hydrology services for distribution throughout various locations in Bangladesh. These meteorological sensors and hydrological solutions will help strengthen the weather, water, disaster risk and climate information services in Bangladesh. Radar sensors, water level stations, and rain gauge stations will be supplied and installed at various locations throughout Bangladesh, including eight of its subdivisions— Dhaka, Rajshahi, Khulna, Chittagong, Mymensingh, Barisal, Rangpur, and Sylhet.

The Real Time Hydro-Met data acquisition network will provide key data required for:

• Forecasting
• Inflows into the Basin
• Basin rainfall amount
• Flood forecasting and monitoring
• Data dissemination & other relevant data

The Real Time Data Acquisition System (RTDAS) will be installed to capture real-time hydro-met data. It will consist of a telemetry network of Automatic Water Level Gauges (AWLG), Automatic Rainfall Gauges (ARG) and Automatic Weather Station (AWS) along rivers, reservoirs, and catchment areas.

Lambrecht meteo GmbH develops and manufactures world-class meteorological sensors and measurement solutions for wind, precipitation, pressure, temperature, and humidity serving various classical meteorological and highly specific environmental and industrial end-markets. Its highest goal is to deliver state-of-the-art sensors and customer-friendly complete measurement solutions including data acquisition, maintenance, and service. With its products and the portfolio of the AEM family, they aim to be a globally established brand and to provide a wide range of meteorological applications with flexible and high-quality solutions for their customers’ weather measurement tasks.

Forest Technology Systems (FTS) is a leading manufacturer of remote environmental monitoring solutions including systems, instrumentation and communications technology for the Hydrology, Fire Weather and Meteorology industries. FTS designs and manufactures extremely rugged systems, dataloggers, DCPs and sensors for hydrology and hydromet monitoring. FTS’ focus is to make its customers successful in their efforts to monitor, record and analyze changes in the natural environment.

Improving Early Warning Systems and Severe Weather Safety in Bangladesh

Earth Networks recently released the 2020 South Asia Lightning Report, in which we reported 3 million+ lightning strikes in Bangladesh in 2020. Bangladesh is susceptible to extreme amounts of heat and moisture, due to the country’s proximity to the equator and the Indian Ocean. These factors contribute to acute thunderstorm weather and severe weather patterns throughout Bangladesh. In addition to hydrological and meteorological improvements, there is a need for more weather safety awareness and lightning warning tools, to improve safety and effectively reduce risk for those exposed to severe weather, especially those working outdoors. Earth Networks’ extensive Total Lightning Network constantly monitors lightning strikes through thousands of sensors. These sensors and alerting systems save lives and protect infrastructure from severe weather events through early warning. Learn more about our lightning sensors and alerting systems in the 2020 South Asia Lightning Report.

AEM is proud to be awarded this contract by the Bangladesh Water Development Board. AEM strives to provide weather data insights that drive critical action. Earth Networks is a sister company to Lambrecht meteo and FTS, Inc. To learn more about AEM solutions, including global coverage, feel free to contact us below.