The state government will put in place an early warning system for flooding in rivers with technical support from the World Bank and the Central Water Commission (CWC).

Making the announcement on Thursday, water resources department minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh, also known as Lallan Singh, said the system would be similar to the one set up by Bangladesh, which allows it to forecast floods eight days in advance.

"We are working towards an early flood warning system so that the department can take precautions in advance," Lallan said. "If not seven days, it would warn us at least three days in advance. World Bank and CWC will help develop this mechanism," Lallan said. He refused to set a timeframe, saying such works take time.

Bangladesh uses Jason-2 based flood forecast and warning system, developed by Sistema Regional de Visualización y Monitoreo de Mesoamérica (Servir). It is a joint development initiative of Nasa and United States Agency for International Development.

Jason-2's radar measures the precise distance between satellite and river surface at points the satellite crosses overhead. The data immediately reveals river height at the point. A water resources engineer said: "In case the satellite data suggests high water level in the upper reaches, it indicates flow of water downstream would increase, allowing planners to forecast flood, "

He said the satellite data is provided at regular intervals and is more accurate.

Bihar currently has a Flood Management Improvement Support Centre (FMISC), linked to the National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA), to get satellite image of the river. The system, however, does not provide water level data and the same is taken using ground data based on observations at different points.

Say, for example, if water level rises on the Ganga in Patna, the same would be known only after observations in Patna. But in case of advance forecasting system, a likely rise in water levels in Patna can be predicted when water level increases in the river's upper reaches in Varanasi or at points further north, thus allowing the planners to predict a likely rise in water level in Patna well in advance.

"FMISC has initiated the formulation of flood management schemes on the basis of Geo Information System (GIS) software to get high resolution satellite imageries and data," Lallan said. Bihar faces flood fury every year and 28 of its 38 districts are flood-prone.

That makes 68.80 lakh hectares of the total area flood prone. Of the area, around 44.46 lakh hectares lies in North Bihar.

Till now, the state government has built embankments measuring 3,746 km to protect 36.46 lakh hectares of arable land.

Lallan also shared information on his department's preparedness for fighting floods in the coming monsoon and said the department had made advance arrangement of adequate flood fighting material at different vulnerable points.