Surface water salinity, being accentuated by the reduction in the dry season upland flows, now reaches as far as Khulna – a coastal city of Bangladesh highly exposed to climate change impacts. The projected sea level rise due to climate change would further aggravate the situation with the probability of increased spatial coverage and temporal duration of salinity. Amidst the relative lack of studies attributing to causes of salinity intrusion, this study analytically assesses the role of regional anthropogenic interventions on one hand and global climate change induced sea level rise on the other as the causes of salinity progression in Khulna. Analysis of the long-term trends in tidal water level, upland flow and river water salinity, indicates that regional human interventions, both in and outside the country, have contributed more in hydro- morphological changes in the region than the climate change induced sea level rise leading to salinity intrusion in Khulna.