The natural breeding grounds and beauty of Bangladesh's national flower, the water lily (shapla), are disappearing rapidly in Rupsganj due to the reckless and illegal filling of canals, beels, ponds, and low-lying wetlands with sand. Local residents, including veteran local vendor Qadir Mia and Abul Kazi, shared that villagers once collected and sold shapla for livelihood and consumption, but the rampant expansion of real estate housing projects has turned these historic wetlands into vast expanses of sand, leaving the national flower nearly extinct in the area.

Students like Nafisa Islam Maisha noted they have only seen the national flower in books rather than in reality because local beels have dried up or been filled with sand. Environmental changes, excessive pesticide use, and land grabbing have further accelerated this decline. Upazila Agriculture Officer Afroza Sultana noted that while shapla grows widely in shallow water bodies across tropical regions like Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Thailand, its natural propagation is severely threatened unless wetlands are actively preserved.