Water Issues in the Indian Subcontinent

[chaanakya]

http://www.economist.com/node/17204635? ... 5&fsrc=rss

“MOUNT EVEREST is singing for joy and the Brahmaputra River swirling with happiness”. Or so says an official Chinese newspaper (using the Tibetan names, Qomolangma and the Yarlung Tsangpo). After much delay, China has started to extend its controversial railway line in Tibet that will draw more tourists to the mountain and boost trade with South Asia. How happy the outcome will be is not so clear.

Planning for the 253km (157-mile) line from the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, to the region’s second city, Shigatse, began in 2002, four years before Lhasa itself was connected to China’s railway network. The authorities appear not have been deterred by the problems that the railway brought to Lhasa. A tourism boom and a flood of immigrants from China’s interior contributed to an explosion of unrest among embittered Tibetans in March 2008. The launch ceremony in Lhasa of the $2 billion extension on September 26th was celebrated by dancing children in elaborate Tibetan costumes. Chinese television said the line would be of “great significance for the strengthening of ethnic unity”.

Like the route to Lhasa, which crossed the highest terrain of any railway in the world, the single-track extension will involve considerable technical difficulties. Nearly half of it will go through tunnels or over bridges (96 of them). It will cross areas prone to earthquakes, landslides and sand storms. Whereas the line to Lhasa had to traverse unstable permafrost, the new one will be challenged by geothermal fields with hot springs. All this at an oxygen-starved altitude of 3,550-4,000 metres.

The railway will make it easier to reach Mount Everest, which can expect to see a lot more tourists eager to be photographed in front of the world’s highest peak (Shigatse is also due to open an airport soon, Tibet’s fifth for civilian use). In 2007 the Chinese side of the mountain recorded 27,476 visits by Chinese tourists, almost twice as many as in 2006, after the new rail service to Lhasa had opened. Environmentalists are worried.


So are the Indians. The government in Delhi has been nervously watching China’s build-up of infrastructure in Tibet. The extension to Shigatse, besides facilitating military movements near China’s border with India, is likely to boost trade with Nepal, where the two giants are vying for influence in a power struggle that is still going on. China has long-term plans for more extensions of the line, to Nyalam on the border with Nepal and to Dromo near Bhutan and the Indian state of Sikkim. Nepal wants the railway extended to Kathmandu, which India fears would give China more clout in a country India sees as part of its sphere of influence. Another proposed line, from Lhasa east to Nyingchi, would bring the network close to the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, most of which China claims. ( In my view India has been dangerously patient with Nepalese exsperiment with Maoist brand of Democracy experiments. In the backyard or Front court of India Chinese are playing dangerous game and India needs to take a firm stand and declare Nepal as within purview of Indian version of Monroe doctrine a No go zone for others, come what may. Playing diplomatic games would not serve purpose with blood thirsty maoists. Indian version is watching the drama as it unfolds there and is likely to learn a lesson or two. Think ,do we want maoists as cadre of Army? )

Tibetans might have mixed feelings too. The rail link to Lhasa brought disproportionate benefits to ethnic Han Chinese whose language and culture enabled them to take quicker advantage of the Han tourist influx. Tibet Business News said the majority of traders in Shigatse were migrants from beyond Tibet. It quoted a woman from neighbouring Sichuan Province saying that the railway would cut her costs of doing business in Shigatse by half. Expect more like her to come.

[SSridhar]

X-post from PRC thread.
China begins damming Brahmaputra for hydroelectric project

China has started damming the middle reaches of the Brahmaputra river, or the Yarlung Tsangpo as it is known in Tibet, to begin construction on a 510 MW hydropower project that has raised concerns in India.

The government for the first time revealed that it has, since November 8, begun damming the Tsangpo's flow to allow work to begin on the hydropower project at Zangmu. This is the first major dam on the Brahmaputra and has been billed by the Chinese government as a landmark hydropower generation project for Tibet's development.

A news report on Monday said the “closure of the Yarlung Zangbo river on November 12 marked the beginning of construction.” Work is expected to continue beyond 2014, when the first set of generators will be put into operation. The total investment in the project is 7.9 billion yuan ($1.2 billion).

The Indian government has raised concerns about the possible downstream impact of this project during talks with China earlier this year. Chinese officials have assured their Indian counterparts that the project would be “run of the river,” having little impact downstream.

China has said that its projects were only for hydropower generation, and were neither storage projects nor designed to divert the water.

Officials at India's Ministry of External Affairs have, however, voiced frustration over China's general lack of willingness to share information regarding the Zangmu project, meaning they had little means to verify claims on the specific construction plans and impact on flows.

According to Ramaswamy R. Iyer, former Water Resources Secretary of the Government of India, for India “the point to examine would be the quantum of possible diversion and the impact it would have on the flows to India.”

There is still some uncertainty on what China intends for the project, and whether or not a storage reservoir, which could affect downstream flows, will be built beyond the minimal “pondage” required to operate the turbines.

Chinese media reports indicated that the Zangmu project is unlikely to be the last on the Brahmaputra. A news report on the widely read portal Tencent said the Zangmu dam was “a landmark project” for Tibet's development, being the first major dam in Tibet, and “a project of priority in the Eleventh Five Year Plan.”

The report said that such projects would “greatly relieve the energy stress in the middle regions of Tibet” and upgrade power capacity from 100 MW to over 500 MW.

Mr. Iyer said a larger concern for India was the absence of a water-sharing treaty with China, which does not allow India to either qualify or address Chinese claims regarding specific projects.

“Between India and Pakistan, we have a treaty which specifies what we should do,” he said. “We're not supposed to retain a drop, and [even] during a stated period of construction, inflow is equal to outflow.”

“But with China,” he added, “we have no treaty. So what they will do, we have no idea.

[Nihat]

This could have a bad impact on our Tea plantations in Assam if the dam has storage capacity but the long term damage to B'desh would be devastating.

[SSridhar]

China defends Brahmaputra dam project

"In the development of cross-border water resources, China has always had a responsible attitude and places equal emphasis on development and protection," foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters.

He added China took "full consideration of the potential impact on the downstream area."

[SSridhar]

Be wary of Chinese project: Gogoi urges centre

Talking to journalists here, he said though China had assured the Government of India that there would be no negative downstream impact of the dam, Assam had taken the project seriously. Mr. Gogoi stressed need for India and China signing a water-sharing information treaty to avoid misunderstandings. While the Centre was expected to conduct a study on the downstream impact of the dam on the Brahmaputra, the Assam government would also conduct its own study.

The Chief Minister said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had taken up the matter with Beijing. Mr. Gogoi planned to take it up again with Dr. Singh, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao during his visit to Delhi.

[SSridhar]

Chinese assurance to neighbours over Brahmaputra, Mekong dams

The Chinese government on Thursday mounted a defence of its dams on the Brahmaputra and Mekong rivers, assuring its seven neighbours, including India, who have voiced concerns about the projects that downstream flows will remain unaffected.

Besides India, which raised the construction of a 510 MW dam on the Brahmaputra in talks with the Chinese leadership this week, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia had expressed similar concerns over eight dams being built on the Mekong River.

Referring to the Mekong dams, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said on Thursday that China took into account the considerations of its lower riparian, or downstream-lying, neighbours in planning the projects.

“China has always fully considered the concerns of the countries in the lower reaches of the Mekong River in its water resources exploitation,” he said at a briefing.

Amid concerns that the dams had worsened drought situations in the Mekong region, Cambodia's Prime Minister said on Wednesday that the drought was caused by natural weather conditions, and not by China's dams.

“That the Mekong River, or other rivers, have lower or higher levels of water depends on the rain,” he was quoted as saying by AFP, following a meeting with leaders from Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar. “So please don't be too extreme about the environment and don't say hydropower dams cause water levels to drop in the lower Mekong. If you think that, it is a mistake.”

While China has stressed that its eight dams would help, and not hinder, flood management, the Mekong River Commission (MRC) — represented by Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia — has called on China to share more data and be more transparent about its plans. China has been reluctant to join the MRC.

In talks in Beijing this week, India voiced similar concerns, calling on China to continue sharing data regarding its plans for the Brahmaputra, or the Yarlung Tsangpo as it is known in Tibet. While India and China have set up a joint expert-level group to exchange hydrological data, the absence of a water-sharing treaty means the exchange of information is limited.

China has said that the dam on the Brahmaputra will not affect downstream flows, and it will not build a storage reservoir. “The river flow will not be stopped during construction,” Li Chaoyi, chief engineer of China Huaneng Group, which is the contractor for the project, told the official Xinhua news agency. “After it becomes operational, the water will flow downstream through water turbines and sluices, thereby not affecting the downstream water levels.”

The official Global Times newspaper reported that in China too, some environmental groups and some engineers had voiced concerns over the Brahmaputra dam. “The diversified fauna and flora there have evolved over tens of millions of years and will be damaged. Blocking the river may also overturn the balance of the region's ecosystem,” said Wang Yongchen of the Beijing-based Green Earth Volunteers.

“Subject to natural disasters”

The newspaper also quoted an engineer with the Sichuan bureau of Geological Exploration and Exploration of Mineral Resources warning that the dam “may not function well at a high altitude, where rivers are likely to be frozen for most of the year” and that the area was “subject to natural disasters such as earthquakes.”

Regardless of these concerns, construction of the dam started on November 12, following the damming of the river on November 8.

It is very obvious that given China's unsatiated thirst for gobbling up natural resources and land of the neighbours, its promises cannot be taken on face value.

[Dhiman]

Is there any place where one could get a holistic picture of the water availability in India- how much (per capita) water do we have from various sources? Have tried googling in the past but no luck

That probably shows that no one high up was paying attention to water issues in India, so it is difficult to find such information. In fact most of the information regarding decreasing water table in India comes from foreign sources. Rest assured, if we measure growth in terms of availability of running water & electricity to the masses then India as a country has failed..

All we have to ensure is that this fresh water never leaves Indian land, well as far as possible - increase catchment area, do rainwater harvesting, increase ground water table, recycle all sewage water, build water reservoirs, plant trees on the banks of streams to lessen evaporation. In addition we can go for desalination plants.

RajeshA ji, just preserving the existing sources of fresh water would be a good start. All sorts of plans such as much publicized Ganga cleanup project have been running for decades not for cleaning up rivers, but for the sole purpose of lining the pockets of corrupt babus and politicians. Lets just take Yamunna river as an example, before Delhi its clean and crisp, by the time it leaves delhi its virtually a nallah with all sorts of untreated domestic and industrial waste being dumped into it and this does not account for millions of tons of garbage being dumped into the rivers or the millions of tons of domestic and industrial waste that leaches into ground water supply.

Just looking at the existing waste water treatment plants paints a pathetic picture - not enough capacity to process all the waste water and those that do exist and operate do not have enough electricity to operate at full capacity (since there is not enough electricity capacity and any existing capacity operates much below global standards of efficiency).

What I don't understand is how any river cleaning project can succeed without first making sure that all the untreated sewage that gets dumped into that river is at the very least treated - I don't think there is anyone paying attention to this simple link. But best of all, no one really cares.

If the Chinese can make better use of our river water, let them have it- they deserve it.

[Ameet]

Dhaka, Delhi agree on water deal

http://www.sify.com/news/dhaka-delhi-ag ... giibj.html

Bangladesh and India Monday said they have 'removed all differences' and agreed on a framework regarding a 15-year interim water-sharing treaty of two common rivers - Teesta and Feni - during the dry season.

Delegations participating in a joint meeting said the agreement will be signed during a visit by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Bangladesh later this year.

[arun]

X Posted from the Indus Water thread.

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan gets its shalwar in a twist over India getting carbon credits from the UNFCCC for the Chutak and Nimoo-Bazgo hydel projects:

Govt wakes up to India’s hydel projects

[AKalam]

x-posted from IWT thread, as this is more appropriate thread for this post:

Will fresh water become more important than oil in the future?

There are 54 rivers that enter Bangladesh from India. I think most major rivers in Pakistan also enter from Indian border. Brahmaputra enters India from Tibet.

Without Historical Continuity of religious and cultural divide, it would be logical and more efficient for Humanity to manage water resources regionally, but the continuity will continue for the foreseeable future, so we have conflicts between groups of people, who do not want to share living space or resources. But is it possible to harness these reasons for divisions to unite a larger group of humanity to fight for a common cause?

If Muslims were a cohesive group, it would be logical for Arabs to conclude that their mostly desert lands will be worthless in a few decades, when oil runs out. The richest Muslims will again be the people of the land where land is fertile and there is plenty of fresh water to grow food, of course if they can create stable political systems and improve the quality of life. Logic would dictate that they would and should try to improve their relationship with Muslims of these lands, because the leadership and wealth will return to that part of the Muslim world, as it was before the discovery of oil and other underground mineral resources.

The biggest Muslim group with this kind of watery fertile land is in the Subcontinent:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Arabl ... _world.png

But these Muslim groups, both in Pakistan and Bangladesh, are dependent on India for their major rivers and India, itself with a big Muslim population, in turn is dependent on Tibet, a part of PRC.

So again if someone was looking after the future of Islamic civilization and the people in it, logic would dictate that it would improve its relations with India and perhaps work towards a SAARC union as we discussed earlier in this forum. Muslims have negligible leverage over PRC, so the best option for a hypothetical cohesive Islamic civilization would be to join hands with Africa, Subcontinent and Buddhist South East Asia to put pressure on PRC to ensure fair sharing of Tibetan water.

Logically all of todays oil wealth and minerals that is available with any Muslim people should be invested for a future possibility like the above.

Turning Huntington's clash of civilizations in its head:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Clash ... _mapn2.png

one could envision a cooperation of civilizations, a federation of Islamic(green), African(grey), Hindu(yellow) and Buddhist(orange), to put pressure on Sinic(red) and ensure fair share of Tibetan waters, cultural autonomy for Buddhist Tibetans in Tibet and Mongols in Inner Mongolia and Muslim Turkics in Xinjiang.

Relations with the West, Orthodox, Japan and Latin America could in large part be determined by the above impetus. The federation could say to each one of these three, that you are either with us or against us.

The well fed and well educated Arabs are showing signs of evolution, perhaps from using and sharing of the oil wealth, same thing could happen to poorer populations in the above region in coming decades, if this same oil wealth could be invested there as FDI, instead of putting it in stable investment opportunities in the West. I am hoping that people will choose their fights and struggles based on collective benefits and a collective secure future.

Just a bit of flight of fancy and food for thought.

[RajeshA]

AKalam ji,

the bonds of the past in the Subcontinent have become weak. The Muslim countries in the Subcontinent are being made to believe that India is their enemy, that the Hindus are their enemies, and this propaganda is incessant and at multiple levels.

When India is made the bogey man, the Muslims of the Subcontinent are being shown a knight in shining armor, that can save them from the repercussions of any ensuing war between India and its Muslim neighbors. China is supposed to save the day!

So instead of uniting with the Hindus on the basis of common history and a common home, the sympathies of the Muslims have been hijacked towards the Chinese. When the Chinese start turning the tap on the mighty Brahmaputra, even then these Islamic lobbies in Pak and perhaps Bangladesh too would put the blame on India, because only that would suit their age-old narrative.

Common ground would be looked for with India, only when groups in Pak and Bangladesh can start showing China as a bigger danger to them, and by virtue of that by derivation to Islam. Only then would the polity in Pak and Bangladesh start looking at India as probably a cousin useful as a hedge against the "yellow" danger! We are still a far away from that, as far as my reading of the media tells me!

If the Subcontinent has to ensure its continued fertility of land, it has to regain access to and indeed control over Tibet from PRC. This is a basic truth, and for this purpose the bigger the coalition the better. It is my assessment that in the future it would be the Subcontinent which would be sustaining the Arabs again through finance and food. Should the Subcontinent and the wider Islamic World coalesce on this goal of pushing PRC out of Tibet, it could indeed prove the salvation of both the Subcontinent Civilization as well as the Arab Civilization.

I can only wish all those Subcontinental Muslims who have seen this wisdom all the luck in the world to convince their other fellow Muslims of this imperative.

Perhaps one day, one could see a complete boycott of all Chinese goods in the whole of the Subcontinent and Muslims countries.

[UBanerjee]

Huntington himself predicted a Sino-Islamic rapprochement. He also presciently spoke about Islam's "bloody borders" (although not so presciently, perhaps, given the extensive historic background...)

[AKalam]

RajeshA ji,

We live in a period of unprecedented and accelerated technological as well as social changes. I was listening to Webster Tarpley's youtube video interview on Libya's AQ fighters in Iraq, from habal's post in Libya NFZ thread. Apparently the town of Dourna in Libya has the highest concentration of AQ fighters that went to fight in Iraq. I have also heard that per capita income of Libya is among the highest in Arab League or African Union. Is it possible that first the misinformed well fed turns to Salafism or Brotherhood. When they become a little more well informed, then they find better techniques to fight for their cause, such as Gandhian nonviolent civil disobedience? Is it possible that they are fighting for self empowerment, but only the technique changes? We should also look at the unprecedented move by the Saudi's who has come to India, since they recognize that India is a power that is becoming increasingly important for them.

At present there is no cohesion among the Muslim countries of different regions, there is some cohesion between Arabs of Arab League, but that is also limited, as it is known as the club of Tin pots. But once people have been well fed for a few generations and then as they become well informed in a few more generations, then people seem to strive for self empowerment and there is no better way to empower than to unite in a larger cohesive group.

Shiv ji a while back had an interesting post about the dynamics between US, PRC, India, Pakistan, showing that US is always interested to create divisions and chaos in the Eurasian landmass, Zbig actually theorized the usefulness of this strategy in his writings I think.

I would argue that over time an Islamic block will emerge, once there is more well fed and well informed population among the populous Muslim countries. So using Huntington's civilizational blocs, the interplay will be between:

- West + Japan (as follower of the West in all matters)
- Sinic (minus Korea, which happens to be de facto satellite of the West)
- Orthodox (over the long term it will probably become part of the West)
- Hindu
- Islamic
- African
- Latin American
- Buddhist

As many have noted, I am always for larger systems, according to my pet theories, as long as it can be kept together in some fashion. From my accumulated personal experience of living in the West for many years, traveling and living in some East, South East and Central Asian countries, my gut feeling is that:

- West+Orthodox+Japan+Korean
- Sinic
- Latin American

are too far removed in terms of geography, culture or ethnicity from the other major groups which are:

- Hindu
- Islamic
- African
- Buddhist

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Clash ... _mapn2.png
(it always helps to look at the map as a visual reference)

all of whom intermingle in a large part of Eurasian and African landmass. The above 4 groups along with Latin America are also known collectively as the third world or global south. I think JLN and MKG, both had some vision along this line that reflected in India's leadership of the nonaligned movement of developing countries.

If it was possible to unite this part of humanity, as there is plenty of interplay between them, India, as the largest, most organized and stable democracy, automatically could take a leadership position in this group, which was probably a rationale for India's interest in NAM.

I think sometimes a bigger vision makes it quite simple to follow for the laymen, as it can be used as a litmus test for any external or even internal policy matter of any country within this group. Any action that will benefit the collective interest and foster internal unity of this bloc, could be considered as a positive development and vice versa. Water sharing, among a myriad of issues, within and outside the bloc, can be looked at in this light.

In this age of New Cooler deterrence, it is probably not wise to promote territorial changes of nation states, but if it was possible to form a bloc including the above four groups, then it might be possible to influence behavior of other groups with economic incentives or coercion, to get desired results.

Some regional integration movements in this direction already exist:

African Union, Arab League, OIC, SAARC and ASEAN

admitting that none are quite effective so far.

Just clarifying and expanding on the earlier ideas. My apologies for being OT for the most part.

[RajeshA]

AKalam ji,

Sorry for playing tourist guide for you on BRF and sending you places, but I would request you to post the above perhaps to "Pan-Subcontinentalism" Thread, or "Future Strategic Scenario for the Indian Subcontinent - II" Thread, or start some new "Large Geo-Political Systems" Thread. We can discuss it there! Thanks!

[AKalam]

AKalam ji,

Sorry for playing tourist guide for you on BRF and sending you places, but I would request you to post the above perhaps to "Pan-Subcontinentalism" Thread, or "Future Strategic Scenario for the Indian Subcontinent - II" Thread, or start some new "Large Geo-Political Systems" Thread. We can discuss it there! Thanks!

Much appreciate your guidance, thanks RajeshA ji.

[chaanakya]

Why Brahmaputra could spark Sino India tension in future?
From ANI

New Delhi, June 13: Reacting to media reports of China's plan to divert waters to its upper reaches, official sources on Monday said there is no evidence that China is diverting waters of Brahmaputra.

The sources further added that India is in touch with the Chinese side and they say that all the projects are run of the river and there are no diversions.

However, despite the assurances given by Beijing, New Delhi is conscious about the work being undertaken by China on the Brahmaputra and its tributaries and is following the developments closely.

According to media reports, China is planning to divert the waters of Brahmaputra River from the upper reaches to tackle the severe draught condition in the country.

Wang Gaungquian of Chinese academy of sciences was quoted as saying that Chinese experts have come up with a new proposal, which seeks to divert water towards the northwestern region of the draught hit country.

Unlike the earlier plan, the new proposal will slow down the flow of Brahmaputra, especially in the lean season.

India is apparently convinced with the assurances given by Beijing. Infact during his visit to India in December 2010, Premier Wen Jiabao assured Indian leaders that China will not do anything on the upstream side that will affect the down stream.

A similar assurance was also given by Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jeichi during the visit of External Affairs Minister S M Krishna to Beijing in February 2010.

However, future Sino India tension over the river Brahmaputra, which originates in Tibet and flows into India and in Arunachal Pradesh and is viewed as a lifeline of North East India could not be ruled out in the absence of legal instrumentation between the two sides

India and China do not have a bilateral treaty regulating use of water courses and neither is a party to the UN watercourses convention of 1997.

Legally, the level of protection to existing uses is largely determined by the application of the principle of reasonable and equitable utilization.

What worries New Delhi is that tomorrow if China actually goes ahead to build a dam and divert water of Brahmaputra river, it will be difficult to make a case against upper riparian China because India hardly have any user rights like dams, power station established on the Brahmaputra river within the country.

Some steps are initiated by the respective states from where the river passes but the pace is very slow.

Experts believe that India needs to use the Brahmaputra water sufficiently, which is not the case now and needs to build dams for irrigation and power generation.

Sources say establishment of user rights on Brahmaputra would strengthen India's case and under the customary law, and it would compel upstream China to consult India before implementing any project that could have an adverse impact on India's existing use of river waters.

It was reported in China Daily that Yarlung Zangbo as the Brahmaputra is known in Tibet was dammed on November 12, 2010 to allow the beginning of the construction of Zongmu project.

According to sources, it has been ascertained that the main channel of Brahmaputra has been blocked and water is flowing through bypass channel, there is also an excavation, which could be site for construction of dam. However, there is no indication of any diversion of the Brahmaputra waters in Tibet so far.

There have been reports about Chinese plans for construction of Zangmu hydropower project as a part of a series of five medium size dams in middle reaches of Brahmaputra River. The other four reported sites were Jiacha, lengda, Zhongda and Langzhen.

Sources say that no dam related construction has so far been noticed at lengda, Zhongda and Langzhen.

According to sources, the construction of a dam at Zangmu was first raised with the Chinese side through the diplomatic channel in February 2010, and Chinese side has confirmed that the main purpose of Zangmu hydropower station was power generation and not water supply or irrigation.

India and China have also established an expert level mechanism to discuss cooperation on issues regarding trans border rivers in 2006. China shares with India flood season hydrological data with respect to Brahmaputra and Sutlej rivers, the last meeting of the expert level mechanism was held in April in China. By Naveen Kapoor

[Sunilchurchill]

Bottomline.... talk and assurance from the Chinese are well and good. From Indian standpoint, any diversion of Brahmaputra should mean a "Act of War" and that Indians have the right to take a course of action that suits its interest ( that of ppl of N.E)...even if means a limited war. This has to be the message the Chinese need to understand. Time for our political leadership to start making that clear...

[chaanakya]

Will China’s designs on the Brahmaputra leave India parched?

Though China has denied the possibility of the Zangmu project adversely affecting the flow of the Brahmaputra into India, the decreased flow of river water into India especially during the lean periods cannot be ruled out. Far more worrisome to India would be the long term Chinese plan to divert around 200-billion cubic metres of Brahmaputra water annually for feeding the depleting Yellow river.

Of course, this grandiose project is still in an intense discussion state. Chinese President, Hu Jintao, a hydro engineer by profession is known to have evinced interest in the project that would focus on diverting Brahmaputra to water scarce Shanxi, Hebei, Beijing and Tianjin regions.

In the event of this gigantic project taking shape, its consequences for India and Bangladesh could be catastrophic .For it substantially decrease the availability of Brahmaputra waters to both India and Bangladesh. This project at present known as Western canal is expected to be completed only by 2050.

The Chinese plan to impound Brahmaputra as part of the diversion project could also affect the ambitious plan of Arunachal Pradesh to exploit the hydro power potentials of Brahmaputra and its subsidiaries. In the ultimate analysis, India will be forced to remain at the mercy of China which can withhold waters of Brahmaputra for power generation and irrigation during the dry season and release water during the flood season with very serious consequences for north eastern India and Bangladesh.

China has both the technical competence and resources base to realise this massive water control project involving the construction of 28 dams.

A section of the Indian analysts hold the view that India’s fear over Chinese plans to divert the water of Brahmaputra is ill-founded. They argue that after the river enters the Indian territory, it gathers sufficient water. Nevertheless, countries sharing the Brahmaputra waters should put in place a mechanism to avoid building up tension over the perceived inequality in the sharing of the Brahmaputra waters.

[Vipul]

Maha-Guj river link project underway.

The detailed project report (DPR) of the Damanganga-Pinjal link, a project to share water of two river basins across Maharashtra and Gujarat is likely to be ready by the end of this year. The Geological Survey of India (GSI) central region, one of the agencies involved in the project, has begun geological studies for constructing dams and tunnels to connect the two rivers. GSI has already completed the surface mapping for the two dams and tunnels involved.

Though GSI had done the feasibility study for the project from 1997-2003, a formal agreement between chief ministers Ashok Chavan and Narendra Modi was signed only in May last year. Since then, the first phase of work has been completed by the GSI. The director and head of engineering geology department M P Srivastava said they would begin the drilling work soon for assessment of rock types for dam and tunnel constructions.

The other agencies involved in the project like the National Water Development Agency (NWDA) and the Central Water Commission (CWC) are also doing their jobs simultaneously. Work on the project was halted for six-eight months due to local problems at some sites but the issues have been resolved now.

However, construction of two tunnels from two dams may take anything between five-seven years after the report is read. "It is basically a trans-valley diversion project aimed at transporting 1,000 million cubic metres water from the Damanganga basin in Valsad in Gujarat to Pinjal basin through the Vaitarna basin in Nashik. From there, the water will go to Greater Mumbai by taking it to Tansa river. It is to meet the drinking water demand of Mumbai city by 2020. Along with it, there is another project Par-Tapti-Narmada link that would take water from Maharashtra to Gujarat," said I K Mishra, the NWDA executive engineer based in Nashik.

The geological study work for the Par-Tapti-Narmada link is being done by GSI (western region) headquartered in Jaipur. Besides providing drinking water for Mumbai, the project also includes a large number of irrigation facilities. The 16.85-km-long first tunnel from the Damanganga dam will take water from the dam to Vagh river near Nashik while the 25.5-km-long second tunnel will take water from the Vagh dam to Khargi hill.

GSI Nagpur has identified one landslide-affected zone in the Bhugad reservoir. The project authority NWDA is yet to complete the demarcation of 'full reservoir level' in Bhugad and Khargi hill sites which is necessary for zonation mapping. Srivastava said that for making the tunnels geologists have to thoroughly study the entire path to identify shear or weak zones.

The Damanganga-Pinjal is one of the 30 link projects, including 16 inter-basin links, planned in peninsular India and three in central India. It involves construction of a 72.27-metre-high dam across the Damanganga near Bhugad, a 79.82-metre-high dam across the Vagh near Behadpada, and another 70-metre dam across the Pinjal near Khidse. The first two dams will be constructed by the agencies chosen by the NWDA and CWC while the Pinjal dam will be made by the Maharashtra government.

FACTS & FIGURES

* GSI is doing the work for NWDA and CWC as per the National Perspective Plan (1980) for water resource development in the entire country

* Project involves three dams - Bhugad, Khargi Hill and Pinjal

* Life of the project - 100 years

* Submergence area - 3461 ha (Bhugad 1903 ha & Khargi Hill 1558 ha)

* Villages affected - 24 (Bhugad 14 & Khargi hill 10)

* Population affected - 4530 persons (Bhugad 3046 & Khargi hill 1484)

* Total catchment area on both states - 1756 sq km

[sanjeevpunj]

Since Pak has been screaming at us for so long about our depriving them of waters from the Indus, shouldn't we open the floodgates and send them a nice heaping dose right about now?

They've been asking for it, so let's really let 'em have it.

Its a good strategy in case war breaks out.

[chaanakya]

We trust China on dam: Manmohan Singh

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said China has assured that the hydro-electric project being build on the Brahmaputra River in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) would not harm India's interest and "we trust" its statement.

Singh said that while India trust China's assurance, but also verify it. "India and China are neighbours. It is in our interest to have best possible relations with China...We have been assured (by China) that nothing will be done that will affect India's interest," Singh said, intervening in the reply to a question put to foreign minister S M Krishna during Question Hour in Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

Singh said the construction of a dam at Zangmu on the Brahmaputra River in TAR has been repeatedly discussed with China. "We trust but also verify," the PM said.

While mentioning that the sharing of water of rivers, which are of inter-state importance can sometime cause problem, the PM said the matter should be allowed to rest with the assurance given by China. "Unnecessary provocation on either side can hurt relations," he said.

Replying to Opposition's apprehension that China is diverting the flow of Brahmaputra River by constructing reservoir, foreign minister informed that it is a run-of-the-river hydro-electric project that does not store water, and India is keeping a constant watch on it.

Krishna said the government was aware of the construction activity at Zangmu. India had taken up this matter with China during the visit to India by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in last December, he said.

"The government has ascertained that this is a run-of-the- river hydro-electric project, which does not store water and will not adversely impact the downstream areas in India," Krishna added.

Doubting Pakistanis and trusting Indians, How contrasting.

[chaanakya]

Apolitical PMO pays price

K.P. NAYAR

Washington, Sept. 5: A decision by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) last year to unseat the ministry of external affairs (MEA) as the “lead negotiator” in water-sharing talks with Bangladesh and put itself in the driving seat led to the stalemate over the Teesta river agreement casting a long shadow over the Prime Minister’s visit to Dhaka.

An inadequately “political” PMO made a series of mistakes in its attempts to impose a technical conclusion of the water-sharing negotiations when it should have been obvious to Manmohan Singh and his aides that the Teesta agreement, now in the balance, should have been a political call.

A senior political emissary accompanying Shivshankar Menon, the accomplished national security adviser, during his two meetings with Mamata Banerjee at Writers’ Buildings last Wednesday and earlier on June 30 could have countered the chief minister’s misgivings about the landmark agreement which is critical to settling 53 other river water-sharing talks between New Delhi and Dhaka.

The technical component of the agreement that was to have been signed this week would have converted 25 per cent of the Teesta’s waters into 50 per cent for Bangladesh as if by the wave of a magician’s wand.

This is because India measures the Teesta’s waters for sharing purposes with Bangladesh at Gajoldoba in Jalpaiguri where it has built a barrage for agricultural use of the water within Bengal.

At this point, 75 per cent of the Teesta’s waters will be available for the state, according to the agreement, and 25 per cent will be earmarked for Bangladesh.

However, as the river continues its travel to the border, its water component doubles through regeneration. As a result, the agreement which provides for equal sharing of water between India and Bangladesh at their border means that the 25 per cent division in Gajoldoba actually graduates to 50 per cent of the Teesta’s waters for use by each country. This happens at the point where the river crosses into Bangladesh.

In Lalmonirhat district of Rangpur division, the Bangladesh authorities have built the Dalia barrage for purposes of harvesting this 50 per cent of Teesta waters for irrigation.

In a sense, all this is moot because figures and percentages evaporate in a political context over concerns about non-availability of water in the dry season.

Any Teesta agreement can ultimately be accepted by Bengal only as a gesture in sharing of sacrifice during the river’s lean season flows, and equally, sparing Bangladesh crop damage from excessive water through Gajoldoba during the monsoon.

Which is why an articulate politician accompanying the national security adviser during his meetings with Mamata could have matched the political rationale behind the agreement with Menon’s diplomatic case for it.

Technical studies during the Teesta negotiations have concluded that Bengal is unlikely to use anywhere near the 75 per cent of Teesta waters that it will receive through the Gajoldoba barrage for decades to come.

By putting itself in the driving seat and robbing the MEA of its patient and persevering role in leading the negotiations, the PMO, in its hurry to tie up the Teesta deal, bit off more than it could chew.

Last year, it had hurriedly convened a meeting of the Indo-Bangladesh Joint Rivers Commission (JRC) made up of water resources ministers of the countries, the highest policy-making body for maximising benefits from common river systems. For five previous years of UPA rule, it had not bothered to convene even one meeting of the JRC.

Its 2010 meeting was like putting the cart before the horse because the ministers should only have met after another bilateral body, the technical level meeting on water-related issues, had been convened.

A meeting of water resources secretaries of the two countries was also hurriedly called to coincide with the JRC session and again in January this year. But then, in a mind-boggling decision, U.N. Panjiar, leader of the Indian delegation to these meetings, was allowed to retire as water resources secretary.

[chaanakya]

China maps out source and course of Brahmaputra, Indus rivers
PTI Aug 23, 2011, 02.40pm IST

BEIJING: Bracing to build a number of water projects in Tibet including a dam on Brhamaputra, Chinese scientists have completed a comprehensive satellite study of cross-border Tibetan rivers determining their exact sources besides measuring the length of their drainage basins.

Besides mapping out the course of Brahmaputra, the photographic analysis using expeditions and satellite imagery, the researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) also collected details about the flow of Indus which flows through India and Pakistan besides Salween and Irrawaddy rivers. Salween and Irrawaddy flows through Burma.

Previously, the sources of four rivers were never clearly designated, and differing accounts regarding their lengths and drainage areas confused researchers for many years due to restrictions of natural conditions and surveying and mapping technologies, Liu Shaochuang, a researcher with the Institute of Remote Sensing Applications under the CAS, told official Xinhua news agency.

The result of their analysis and field investigations showed that the Brahmaputra River, called Yarlungzangbo in Tibetan language, originates on the Angsi Glacier, located on the northern side of the Himalayas in Burang County of Tibet not Chema-yungdung glacier, which previously identified by geographer Swami Pranavananda in the 1930s, Liu said.

The river is 3,848 km long, and its drainage area is 712,035 square km according to the new findings, while previous documents showed its length varied from 2,900 to 3,350 km and its drainage area between 520,000 and 1.73 million square kms.

The data could be useful in the fifth of round of expert's level talks between India and China to exchange hydrological data and flood management of Brahmaputra.

The study results were announced days after China revealed its plans to build $ 1.8 bn worth of water projects in Tibet, which presumably included hydropower project over Brahmaputra.

The money will go to 16 categories of water programs that cover irrigation, drinking water, flood prevention and control and hydropower, it quoted officials of the Tibet's Water Resources Department said.

According to previous reports, China is planning to build a $ 1.2 bn run of the river dam to generate 510 mw power.

Liu's team found that Indus River, which flows through India but mainly used by Pakistan under the India-Pak water treaty, originates in a valley northeast of Kailash, in Geji County of Tibet.

Its headstream, called Banggokong by local Tibetans, is about 30 kilometers away from Senge Khambab, which Sven Hedin believed was the source of the river more than 100 years ago, Liu said.

The new findings show that the Indus River is 3,600 km long, against previously believed 2,900 or 3,200 km. Its drainage area is more than one million square km.

The four rivers originate on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau along with the Yangtze, Yellow, Mekong and Ganges rivers, and provide water for about 1.3 bn people, according to Liu.

How do India validate the data and accept it??

[Prem]

MushKushland (pakistan) will be under Chinese Suzernity at the time of actual negotiations between India and China. Poakers fear dying of thirst if India block the water flow.Gorund work being laid down for Master China to bat for the Ghulam Qaum .

[chaanakya]

A rising hydro-hegemon raising worries downstream

By BRAHMA CHELLANEY
Brahma Chellaney is the author of the just-released "Water: Asia's New Battleground" (Georgetown University Press).

NEW DELHI — Just as China has aroused international alarm by wielding its virtual rare-earths monopoly as a trade instrument and by thwarting efforts to resolve territorial disputes with its neighbors, it is raising deep concern over the manner it is seeking to fashion water into a political weapon against its co-riparian states.

Last summer, China's state-run hydropower industry published a map of major new dams approved for construction, including one on the Brahmaputra at Metog (or "Motuo" in Chinese) that is to be twice the size of the 18,300-megawatt Three Gorges. The Metog site is almost on the disputed border with India.

First, China is now involved in water disputes with almost all its riparian neighbors, ranging from big countries such as Russia and India to weak client-states like North Korea and Myanmar.

Second, its new focus on water megaprojects in the traditional homelands of ethnic minorities has triggered fresh tensions over displacement and submergence at a time when the Tibetan plateau, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia have all been wracked by revolts or protests against Chinese rule.

Third, the projects threaten to replicate in international rivers the serious degradation haunting China's internal rivers.

For downriver countries, a key concern is China's opacity on its hydroengineering projects. It usually begins work quietly, almost furtively, and then presents a project as a fait accompli and as holding transboundary flood-control benefits.

Worse still, China rejects the very notion of a water-sharing arrangement or treaty with any riparian neighbor. The terms "water sharing," "shared water resources," "treaty" and "common norms and rules" are anathema to it. It is one of only three countries that voted against the 1997 United Nations Convention that lays down rules on the shared resources of international watercourses.

Because of China's centrality in the Asian water map, international pressure must be exerted on Beijing to respect the rights of subjacent states and halt further unilateralist appropriation of shared waters.

It should accept institutionalized basin cooperation, which demands a coextensive restraint among all parties so that no country utilizes shared waters in a way to injuriously affect a co-riparian.

[chaanakya]

Tibetan Waters: A Source of Cooperation or Conflict?

Hari Bansh Jha

As is well known, the Tibetan plateau happens to be the largest water tank in the world. All the 10 major river systems of Asia including the Indus, Sutlej, Brahmaputra, Irrawady, Salween and Mekong originate in the Tibetan plateau. Of the world’s 6.92 billion people, for nearly 2 billion (29 per cent) living in South Asia from Afghanistan to the Ganga-Meghna-Brahmaputra basin and in Southeast Asia the rivers flowing from Tibet constitute the lifeline.

According to media reports, China has already built a barrage on the Sutlej river. Since November 2010, it has started construction work for damming/diversion of the Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) in Tibet.1 The detailed planning for the Tsangpo project was approved by the State Council in 2006 and has the support of both Chen Chuanyu, its main architect, and Hu Jintao.2 Apart from the diversion project on the Brahmaputra river, China also plans to construct 15 dams along the Lancang (Mekong) river. In addition, China plans to tap the waters of most of the big rivers flowing from the Tibetan plateau.3

There are also reports that China’s state owned electric power companies have already contracted with the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) government for the development of hydropower in different rivers of Tibet. China is also working towards developing road connectivity with Nepal and other South Asian countries. It wants to develop hydropower partly to reduce the development gap between its eastern and western provinces but also to sell the electricity generated to neighbours and thus promote cross-border integration of economies. The energy produced in Tibet might also be used to tap the region’s rich mineral reserves including uranium, borax, lithium, copper, zinc and iron.

Some of these Chinese activities might affect Nepal as well. Some of Nepal’s major rivers originate in Tibet before finally merging into the Ganga in India. Of them, the most important is Karnali (507 km), Nepal’s longest river. Tibet is also the origin of some parts of Kali Gandaki River, Budhi Gandaki River and the larger part of Trishuli River, which are the major tributaries of the Gandaki River system in Nepal. Similarly, the major tributaries of the Koshi river such as the Sun Koshi/Bhote Koshi, the Tama Koshi and Arun originate in Tibet.4 Nepal would be affected seriously if dams and diversion projects are built in upper riparian Tibet on such rivers as the Karnali in the west, Gandaki in the central and Kosi in the eastern part of the country.

[chaanakya]

Relief for India as China says no Brahmaputra diversion

NEW DELHI: In a rare admission which will be welcomed in India, China has stated that it will not divert the Brahmaputra river.

Jiao Yong, vice minister at China's ministry of water resources, told a press conference in Beijing on Wednesday that although there is a demand among Chinese to make greater use of the Yarlung Tsangpo (Tibetan name for the Brahmaputra), "considering the technical difficulties, the actual need of diversion and the possible impact on the environment and state-to-state relations, the Chinese government has no plan to conduct any diversification project in this river".

This is the first time that China has acknowledged that anything that spoils relations with India over the Brahmaputra does not serve any interests.

[chaanakya]

Opposition to India's hydel projects in Bhutan

Code: Select all

A major issue is the 51% equity Indian companies plan to hold in the projects
Bhutan not for giving majority shareholding to outside entity 

With newspapers other than the Kuensel , a tiny but vocal Opposition in Bhutanese Parliament and exiled leaders raising issues relating to sovereignty, Indian officials are now having to work harder during talks to bring about the closure of agreed upon hydel projects with a capacity to produce 10,000 MW of power.

But at a recent high-level meeting to discuss the projects after the Prime Minister's Office expressed unhappiness over most of the proposals not getting off the drawing board, senior Bhutanese officials informed the Indian side about the considerations they had to take into account.

While acknowledging New Delhi's logic for asking for 51 per cent stake in hydel projects for its PSUs, Bhutanese officials said India must bear in mind the changed environment in their country, where the accountability of the government had gone up “dramatically.”

Is Bhutan then heading for a Nepal-type situation where Pancheshwar and Sapta Kosi projects have not taken off after 15 years or more of negotiations?

The situation in Bhutan does not even remotely resemble that of the Indian hydel projects in Nepal where decades of street-level activism has made a large number of them non-starters, explain the officials.

But as eastern Bhutan alleges discrimination and voices in Parliament and on the Net demand that Thimphu adhere to the policies it has framed, both governments are trying to meet their legitimate aspirations. This was an absent factor when the two governments negotiated the Tala, Chukha and Krichhu hydel projects a decade ago.

Partially giving in to the demand that the local business be given a slice of the hydel project construction cake, India has agreed to farm out part of the civil and other work to Bhutanese contractors.

“Major deviation”

Another major issue is the 51 per cent equity Indian companies plan to hold in joint venture projects. Bhutanese officials Thimphu admit this was a “major deviation” from the hydropower policy, which frowns on majority shareholding to an outside entity.

“Are we becoming another Nepal? The country should not become a victim of political arithmetic. If the excuse given by some quarters is that we cannot come up with the funds for these projects, then God willing we should hold on till we are ready,” said an angry blogger after the Bhutanese media published a record of the India-Bhutan meeting that agreed to give majority holding to Indian PSUs in two projects.

Strident voices such as these are still few and opposition is expressed politely. Taking note of these reports, the Bhutanese Parliament asked senior government officials to strictly abide by the country's laws and policies while negotiating joint venture agreements. Officials agree with this request in principle, but point out that Bhutanese companies are not in a position to raise the huge money required for the projects.

Bhutan is also prepared for give-and-take during negotiations because, unlike Nepal, it has tasted the benefits of selling power to India, which now accounts for a quarter of the Himalayan Kingdom's gross domestic product. Also, unlike Nepal, Bhutan has much greater dependence on India in the areas of security, uprgrading of infrastructure and trading. Economic ties, especially, are set to grow if both sides continue implementing the projects in time and a rail link from Hashimara to Phuentsholing becomes a reality.

[chaanakya]

India to Develop 10,000MW Hydro Power in Bhutan

Ongoing cooperation between India and Bhutan in the hydropower sector is covered under the 2006 agreement on cooperation in Hydropower between the two countries and the Protocol to the 2006 agreement signed in March, 2009 thereof. Under the Protocol, Government of India has agreed to develop 10,000 MWs of hydropower in Bhutan for export of surplus power to India by 2020.

Implementation Agreement has been signed for construction of following projects between India and Bhutan:

Sl. No.-Name of the Project-Installed Capacity (MW)-Total Cost Rs. (Crores)-Funding Pattern-loan-Grant

1.-Punatsangchhu HE Project Stage-I-1200-3514.81-2108.88-(60%)-1405.92 (40%)

2.-Punatsangchhu HE Project Stage-II-990-3777.80-2644.46 (70%)-1133.34 (30%)

3.-Mangdechu HE Project-720-2896.30-2027.41 (70%)-868.89 (30%)

Following hydro-electric projects have been developed and are in operation under Indo-Bhutan Cooperation:



Sl. No.-Name of the project-Installed capacity-(MW)-Total Cost-(Rs.Crores)-Funding pattern-(Rs.Crores)-Loan -Grant

1-Chukha H.E. Project-336-246.00-98.40 (40% ) -147.60 (60%)

2 Kurichu H.E. Project-60-555.00-222.00 (40% ) -333.00 (60%)

3 Tala H.E. Project-1020-4125.85-1650.34 (40% ) -2475.51 (60%)



All the existing hydropower schemes in Bhutan are run-of-the-river (RoR) types which has no impact on the quantum of flow downstream of the hydropower dam. The river water is primarily used for generation of hydro electricity which is non – consumptive in nature. The diversion structures in the hydropower projects have only a minimal storage capacity for diurnal peaking purpose.

The Government of Bhutan and The Government of India have since 1960s established an effective flood information sharing system whereby Bhutan notifies Assam at regular intervals over HP Radio sets on the water levels in Bhutan. Regular meeting of India – Bhutan Joint Group of Experts (JGE) on flood management also takes place to discuss/assess the probable causes and erosion in the southern foothills of Bhutan and the adjoining plain in India and to suggest appropriate measures.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Power Shri K.C.Venugopal in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

25-November, 2011 17:57 IST

[saadhak]

NTPC steps up work on hydel project to pip China

State-owned NTPC Ltd has wrapped up the pre-feasibility report for a proposed 9,750 MW Siang Upper hydroelectric project in Arunachal Pradesh. It is moving fast on the strategic project since India realises it is urgent to speed up building dams on the Brahmaputra and establish “lower riparian right”. This will help New Delhi create a strong bargaining position to detract China from building hydel projects on the upper reaches of the river.
...
So far, India’s success rate in executing large-sized hydro projects has been dismal.
“Road and rail links, a prerequisite for transporting equipment to project sites, are lacking desperately in the North-East. A key transmission link that was to come up for strengthening linkages with the region during the current Plan period is still held up for funds,” an official with the Central Electricity Authority said. Projects such as the 3,000 MW Dibang have been stuck for over three years now. Just two projects — NEEPCO’s 600 MW Kameng and NHPC’s 2,000 MW Lower Subhansiri — have a realistic change of coming up on the Brahmaputra over the next six years. Additionally, the stated position of the Arunachal government to avoid storage projects involving big dams is a hurdle.
...
Power project
* The proposed 9,750-MW Siang Upper hydroelectric project in Arunachal Pradesh could be the 2nd biggest after China’s Three Gorges (in pic)
* The project entails an investment of nearly Rs 1,00,000 crore over a 10 year period
* If India harnesses the Brahmaputra through the projects, it will strengthen its case against China’s building of a mega-dam at Metog
* India will have to do it before China completes its project as under the doctrine of prior appropriation, a priority right falls on the first user of river waters

[SSridhar]

Security aspects of water issue in Asia -Book by Brahma Chellaney

A distinctive feature of the book under review is that it focusses on the diplomatic and geopolitical dimensions of water, rather than its physical, economic, or other aspects. Also it looks at it from the perspective of Asian continent as a whole, instead of in the national, regional or basin context. A product of intensive research by one of the internationally known scholars in the geopolitical dimensions of water, the book traces the emerging water tensions against the backdrop of the booming economies of China and India. To begin with, Chellaney looks at why Asia remains the hub of global water conflicts and crisis. Home to three-fifths of global population, Asia has one of the lowest per capita water availability; the relevant figure for fresh water is less than half of the global average. It is this water scarcity coupled with the trans-boundary nature of most rivers that makes Asia a theatre for potential water wars or diplomatic arm-twisting in the years to come.

The chapter dealing with the geopolitics of Asian countries throws light on country-specific security aspects of water, the focus being on the emerging water and environmental crises in India and China, the two dominant players in the continent. Regional demand-supply imbalances have forced China to go for south-to-north water transfer, in spite of the serious environmental and regional consequences. According to the author, forced labour and prisoners were used in the construction of dams within China and even outside.

The Tibetan Plateau, the world's most unique water repository that plays a critical role in the hydrological cycles and weather regimes of Asia, is discussed in the next chapter. The ecology of the region has been seriously disturbed by such factors as growing population, increasing deforestation, expansion of intensive agriculture, and disappearance of grass lands. The hydrological impact of deforestation and water contamination by ore tailings have severely affected the region's ability to provide quality water to the rest of Asia. Every major river in Tibetan Plateau, including the Mekong, the Salween, and the Brahmaputra, has been dammed, thanks to China's control of the region.

Implications

The geopolitical and environmental implications of the Chinese plan to divert waters of the Brahmaputra by putting up a huge dam close to its border with India are examined in the fourth chapter. Already, there are as many as 13 dams across the Brahmaputra and its tributaries. Security concerns, water shortages in the north, and the growing dominance of engineers in the top political echelons of China are identified as the major factors that prompted China to harness the waters not only of the Brahmaputra but of the Mekong and the Salween as well. Significantly, most of the proposed dams are in Tibet, the region that enjoys immense upper riparian advantages in respect of rivers originating there; China is set to exploit them. The fifth chapter presents a number of case studies — including those from Central Asia and South Asia — to show how water conflicts are developing along ethnic and religious fault lines. China too is not free from intra-country water conflicts, although not much is known about them outside. In South Korea, the ‘Four-River Project' has caused an inter-regional chasm.

Disputes between countries are dealt with in the sixth chapter. Water conflicts between China and its neighbours, India and its neighbours, Israel and its neighbours, and among the countries of Central Asia are covered. These conflicts invariably have also a link with territorial disputes. The case studies of inter-country water disputes underscore the need for developing institutional mechanism at the basin level for working out a mutually beneficial arrangement on water sharing, use, and management. There is also a discussion on India-Pakistan and India-Bangladesh water treaties.

The concluding chapter, apart from summing up the major challenges the Asian countries are facing on the water front, explain how they could be overcome through institutional water-sharing arrangements and legal frameworks that strike a balance between the rules and responsibilities over the shared water-resources.

Enriched by two annexures — one listing fresh water agreements and the other providing the web-links to some of the key Asian water treaties — and supportive maps, this is truly a treatise on the geopolitical, diplomatic, and security aspects of water resources in Asia from an international perspective. It can well serve as a source material for research and as a supplementary reading material for courses in history, political science, international relations, and environmental economics. Policymakers who have anything to do with varied aspects of inter-national water-sharing issues will have a lot to benefit from it.

[Prem]

http://www.moneylife.in/article/water-s ... 23316.html
Water supply to run out by 2030

According to a study by National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training, by 2030, water supply will begin to run out in India, China and the Middle East due to over-extraction of groundwater, which currently makes up 97% of all fresh water available on the planet. Apart from acute drinking water scarcity, groundwater depletion will have a serious impact on industries. Over-extraction has serious implications for the ecology as well.

[ramana]

^^^ Is this another scare like carbon emissions? Some sort of pressure tactic to make India compromise with TSP? Is that Pachuri guy involved in any way?

[chaanakya]

^^This is an Australian Research Organisation. I don't think Mr Pachuri is involved with it.
But their research areas do not include Indian subcontinent. Hence I would not bother about what they might have said.

[chaanakya]

States must have a say in river deals: water policy draft

Having burnt its fingers over the Teesta river water agreement with Bangladesh, that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stalled, the draft National Water Policy (NWP) envisages “consultative association with riparian states” while negotiating such deals over trans-boundary rivers.

“Negotiations over sharing and management of water of international rivers should be done on a bilateral basis in consultative association with riparian states, keeping paramount national interest,” the policy says, asking the government to establish appropriate mechanisms at the Centre for this.

The draft policy was put in the public domain Tuesday, inviting comments from the public before it could be finalised.

The suggestion marks a departure from the time-tested Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan, where negotiation with the riparian state concerned (Jammu and Kashmir) was not a must, though at an informal level, J&K has been kept in the loop.

The draft water policy also suggests that the government consider establishing a “permanent Water Disputes Tribunal” at the Centre in place of the existing mechanism of different tribunals for different inter-state water disputes.

Underlining the need to treat water as an “economic good”, the policy urges governments to put a price on its usage to promote efficiency. “While the practice of administered prices may have to be continued, economic principles need to increasingly guide the administered prices,” the policy lays down.

The policy also advocates setting up of a “Water Regulatory Authority” in each state, to be vested with powers to “fix and regulate the water tariff system”, “regulate allocations, monitor operations, review performance and suggest policy changes” along with assisting the state government in resolving intra-state disputes.

Besides, the policy envisages state governments relinquishing their role as “service providers” to the private sector through PPP models and becoming “regulators of services”, working on better management of water resources.

[chaanakya]

Massive water diversion project nears completion in China

China's ambitious $80-billion project to divert waters of southern rivers to the arid north is nearing completion and will begin supplying water next year, officials have said.

The project's eastern and central routes, which will bring waters from the Yangtze river to the Yellow river, will be fully constructed in the next two years, planners told a review of the project conducted over the weekend in eastern Shandong province.

Reports of the meeting were silent about long-pending proposals for a controversial western route, which has so far been stalled over environmental and technical concerns. The western route includes a plan to divert the Brahmaputra's waters to northern China.

The south-to-north water diversion plan is one of the most ambitious construction projects embarked on by Chinese engineers, estimated to cost more than 500 billion yuan (around $80 billion). It envisages diverting 44.8 billion cubic metres of water every year from Yangtze by 2050. The water-deprived and drought-affected north, home to 35 per cent of the population, has only seven per cent of the country's water resources.

Construction of the eastern route began in 2002, when the whole project was given approval after decades of planning. The project was first proposed in the 1950s and backed by Mao Zedong. The central route began to be built the following year. It will be completed in 2014. Officials said last year more than 440,000 people would be relocated for the eastern and central routes, bringing criticism of project's costs. Around 100,000 people will be displaced every year until 2014. The project has also been delayed by a number of environmental problems.

Construction has not yet begun on the western route, which plans to divert water from the upper reaches of the Yangtze as well as a number of rivers on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, including the Brahmaputra and Mekong.

This plan has triggered concern among many of China's neighbours, including India, which lie downstream of these rivers and depend on their waters. Of the western route, the Xinhua report of Saturday's meeting only said construction had not begun. It, however, remains unclear whether the central government has given the green light to any of the proposed diversions, amid environmental concerns of the project's impact on the ecologically sensitive Tibetan plateau.

Chinese officials have recently ruled out diverting the Brahmaputra, or Yarlung Tsangpo as it is known in Tibet. In October, Jiao Yong, Vice Minister of Water Resources, said China had no plans to divert the river considering “technical difficulties, environmental impacts and state relations”.

The central government has, however, come under increasing pressure from hydropower lobby groups to allow the construction of run-of-the-river power generation projects on the middle and upper reaches, with proposals from hydropower companies for as many as 27 dams, including a massive 38-gigawatt plant on the river's “Great Bend”, where it begins its course towards India.

[Prem]

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-0 ... risis.html
India May Spend $1 Billion to Map Aquifers, Avert Water Crisis

Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- India may spend as much as 50 billion rupees ($1 billion) in the next five years to map underground water as indiscriminate sinking of wells by farmers depletes resources in the world’s second-most populous nation.The government’s goal is to avert a water crisis in the South Asian country, where agriculture accounts for 20 percent of the $1.7 trillion economy, Mihir Shah, a member of the Planning Commission that sets five-year targets for economic growth, said in an interview in New Delhi.“Now people have begun to feel the pinch,” said Shah. “Competitive drilling for water has led to the destruction of our groundwater tables. This has happened because we don’t know what lies below the ground.”Mapping of aquifers, or large underground reservoirs, is expected to help India manage cropping patterns and ensure drinking water for its growing population. More than 85 percent India’s villages and half of its cities rely on wells for water. Farming accounts for about 90 percent of total water withdrawals in India, with the irrigated acreage almost tripling since 1950

[Vipul]

Brahmaputra suddenly dries up in Arunachal.

The Siang (Brahmaputra) river originating from Tibet was suddenly found to have almost dried up at a town in Arunachal Pradesh, a state government spokesman said tonight.
People of century-old Pasighat town in East Siang district found that the water level of the river receded so much this evening that it almost dried, Tako Dabi said.Dabi, also the political advisor to Chief Minister Nabam Tuki, expressed apprehension that China could have diverted the water of the river, which is known as Yarlong Tsangpo in Tibet, or there could be some artificial blockade due to which this has happened.
On June 9, 2000, the water level of Siang rose suddenly by 30 m and inundated almost the entire township causing widespread destruction to property besides claiming seven lives following the collapse of a hydropower dam in Tibet, said Dabi, who himself inspected the dried bed of the river.
Dabi suggested that the Centre and its agencies like the Central Water Commission should immediately conduct a study in collaboration with the state government to find the crux of the problem.
The panic of the people cannot be simply brushed off, he said.
Yarlung Tsangpo, the highest river in the world, is a watercourse that originates at Tamlung Tso Lake in western Tibet, southeast of Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar.
It later forms the South Tibet Valley and Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon, before entering India at Tuting in Arunachal as Siang, takes the name of Brahmaputra in Assam and enters Bangladesh and is known as Megna.
In the Upper Mekong Basin in Yunnan Province, China has planned to construct eight cascade hydropower dams, the first of which, the Manwan Dam, was completed in 1996.

[chaanakya]

Growing water shortages carry economic risks that are as damaging as political corruption

By Brahma Chellaney

Water is the most critical of all natural resources on which modern economies depend. Water scarcity and rapid economic advance cannot go hand-in-hand. Yet, with its per-capita water availability falling to 1,582 cu m per year, India has become water-stressed.

In 1960, India signed a treaty indefinitely setting aside 80% of the Indus-system waters for downstream Pakistan - the most generous water-sharing pact thus far in modern world history.

India, however, is downriver to China and gets almost one-third of all its yearly water supplies from Tibet. But Beijing, far from wanting to emulate India's Indus-style water munificence, rejects the very concept of water-sharing and is building large dams on rivers flowing to other nations, with little regard for downriver interests. An extensive Chinese water infrastructure in Tibet will have a serious impact on India.

India thus faces difficult choices on water. It must manage its water resources wisely, including by building greater storage capacity, improving quality, and raising water efficiency and productivity levels.

The largest dam India has built since Independence is the 2,000 mw Tehri, which pales in comparison to the giant Chinese projects, such as the 18,300 mw Three Gorges Dam and the latest dam on the Mekong, the Xiaowan, which is taller than the Eiffel Tower. China's proposed Metog (Motuo) Dam, to be built almost on the disputed border with India, is to produce 38,000 mw of power.

In this light, the National River Linking Programme looks like a plan of the dream world: a colossal water grid to handle 178 billion cu m of inter-basin water transfers a year through the construction of 12,500 km of new canals, generating 34 GW of hydropower, creating 35 million hectares of additional irrigated land, and opening extended navigation networks.

To be sure, it was the Supreme Court that prodded the government in 2002 to embark on this water-grid programme. It is also true that partisan politics has been at play, with the UPA government loath to endorse its predecessor's programme. It told Parliament in 2009 that the $120-billion programme - centred on the separate linking of the Himalayan and peninsular rivers - is cost-prohibitive.

Yet, it has not tried to put forward a cost-effective alternative to a programme that the National Water Development Agency and the National Commission for Integrated Water Resource Development vouch is essential to stem droughts and floods and to double India's annual grain production to more than 450 million tonnes to meet the demands of increasing prosperity and a growing population.

[Prem]

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-new ... 31287.aspx
Water: New weapon of mass conflict

A classified US report listed India’s three major river basins — Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra —among the world top 10 water conflict zones in ten years from now.The report based on National Intelligence Estimate on water security said the chances of water issues causing war in next 10 years were minimal but they could disrupt national and global food market and cause tension between states.“Beyond 2022( They concur with my assesment of 2022 being the turning point) , use of water as a weapon of war or a tool of terrorism will become more likely, particularly in South Asia (India), the Middle East and North Africa,” the report said.An insight on where India stands on water crisis is available in the recent household census data for 2011.The per capita availability of water for a household has reduced with increase in number of households from 24.1 crore in 2001 to 33.1 crore in 2011. As a result around 3.8 crore women travel on average more than 500 meters to fetch drinking water — an addition of 1.2 crore women in this water fetching women club. Their collaborative effort means covering 47 times the distance between earth and moon every day. More and more water conflicts have been reported from Haryana-Punjab in north to Arunachal Pradesh and Assam in north-east to Tamil Nadu and Kerala in southern India. “Such conflicts would rise further if we fail to improve efficiency in our water management,” said a plan panel member Mihir Shah.
Even as the nation battle with scarcity of water, another problem that is becoming acute is the quality of water. India records world’s highest per capita water borne diseases even more than some of the world’s least developed nations. “The source of drinking water in most cities is directly from ground which may be contaminated,” said Sunita Narian, director-general of NGO Centre for Science and Environment.The problem will aggravate with India's population in cities expected to rise from 340 million by 2030. Indicating impact of such migration, the US intelligence report said solving water scarcity through negotiations will become tough. The US report predicts that upstream nations — more powerful than their downstream neighbours due to geography - will limit access to water for political reasons and that countries will regulate internal supplies to suppress separatist movements and dissident populations.