The pride of Bangladesh is its rivers with one of the largest networks in the world with a total number of about 700 rivers including tributaries, which have a total length of about 24,140 km. They consist of tiny hilly streams, winding seasonal creeks, muddy canals (khals), some truly magnificent rivers and their tributaries and distributaries. In some places, such as Patuakhali, Barisal and the Sundarbans area the watercourses are so plentiful that they form a veritable maze. The watercourses of the country are obviously not evenly distributed. They increase in numbers and size from the northwest of the northern region to the southeast of southern region. The rivers of Bangladesh has been categorized into six regions depending on their locations in the country.
The North West Region consists of 8 districts of Rajshahi Division and 9 districts of Rangpur Division. The region is bounded by the Brahmaputra-Jamuna in the east and the Padma in the south. There are 115 rivers including 19 transboundary rivers in this region (BWDB, 2011). Along with the Brahmaputra-Jamuna and the Padma rivers, Atrai, Dharla, Teesta, Dudhkumar, Karatoya, Mahananda, Bangali Rivers are significant.