Bharat Rakshak

From "The News" article posting in full.

Joint Indo-Pak watershed management proposed for Chenab, Jhelum

Friday, December 04, 2009
By our correspondent

ISLAMABAD: With a view to save the future water in Jhelum, Chenab and Indus rivers, Pakistan has proposed a joint Pak-India watershed management of the said lifeline. The watershed of the said rivers lies in India. The same watershed also stands for the Indian rivers of Ravi, Sutluj and Beas.

In the wake of zero management by the Indian authorities, which had been burning down huge swaths of forests to flush out the Kashmiri freedom fighters in the catchments areas of the said rivers, water flows have alarmingly reduced in the River Chenab and experts are of the view that the River Jhelum would become a seasonal river in case its watershed was not properly preserved. The massive deforestation has devastated the economy of the area, which damaged the water flows in both Pakistani and Indian rivers.{It is always India's fault}

In the 1970s, Pakistan used to receive a generous water inflow in Jhelum and Chenab Rivers but now even in the summer season this inflow stands reduced to dismal low levels. Experts attribute this drastic reduction to the destruction of forests in the catchments areas by the timber mafia in connivance with the Indian authorities. Pakistan, under the proposal, offered to jointly develop and manage the watershed in the catchments area.

The quantum of water flows in the River Chenab stood at 26 million acre feet in 1922-61 period, which has alarmingly tumbled to 20.6 MAF because of the massive deforestation in the catchments area of the river.

Pakistan came up with this prudent proposal during the Indo-Pak track II dialogue on Conflict Resolution and Peace Building in Bangkok from October 5-7, 2009, with support from the Ploughshares Fund, according to the minutes of the meeting available with The News.

The Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies facilitated and organised this vital and crucial dialogue with the aim to provide members of the strategic community on both sides with a common platform to discuss issues that plague the Indo-Pak relations and reflect on the possibilities of charting alternative course in the near future.

The significance of this Track II initiative was further reinforced by the stalling of the composite dialogue process at the Track I level in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks. The discussions, spanning over eight sessions, touched a number of issues, including the bilateral ties ranging from analysing Confidence Building Measures, cross-LoC interactions, the Siachen issue, sharing of the River Indus waters, possibility of forging a common strategy for Afghanistan, expansion of the Indo-Pak trade, to evolving better joint mechanisms for countering terrorism.

Foreign Office Spokesman Abdul Basit said he was unaware of any such meeting held in Bangkok from October 5-7, 2009. He said right now there was no Track II diplomacy going on between the two countries. “However, this meeting might be arranged privately.”

Asked if the proposal to jointly develop and maintain the watershed of the said rivers carries the weight in favour of Pakistan, Basit said he will only be in a position to answer when he will have a formal outcome of the Bangkok meeting. However, in the meeting, Indian experts came up with proposal to joint water management over three western rivers allocated to Pakistan by the Indus Water Treaty signed in 1960, which Islamabad forcefully rejected.

Joint watershed management ?

SSridhar wrote:Joint watershed management ?

They should just get used to wiping with leaves and twigs.

Punjab to move Centre against Irsa decision

Thursday, December 10, 2009

By Khalid Mustafa

ISLAMABAD: The Punjab government has constituted a three-member body, headed by Senior Minister Sardar Zulifqar Khosa and comprising secretaries irrigation and agriculture, to formulate the modus operandi to be recommended within a day or two to Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif to take up the issue of water closure dispute, The News has learnt.

Vivek_A wrote:Punjab to move Centre against Irsa decision

That's why the Pakistani Punjabis are called water thieves by the Sind & Balochistan.

X Posted.

The water situation and resultantly electricity situation looks grave.

Surprisingly there seems to be no accusatory reports in the Pakistani media claiming India is starving Pakistan of water:

Eight hour power outage in offing
By Khaleeq Kiani
Thursday, 24 Dec, 2009

ISLAMABAD: The electricity shortfall is estimated to cross 4200MW, or 35 per cent of the country’s demand, in two days because of massive reduction in water discharges for irrigation and resultant fall in hydropower generation.

This will result in a countrywide loadshedding of seven to eight hours a day.

The Indus River System Authority (Irsa) decided on Monday to reduce water releases from Tarbela dam to 10,000 cusec with effect from Dec 26 from the current flows of 28,000 cusec.

Likewise, releases from Mangla dam would be reduced to 5,000 cusec from the current 21,000 cusec, sources in Irsa said. ………………….

Dawn

It would suit India splendidly if Pakistan carried out its threat to pull out of the IWT. The IWT has been overgenerous in providing water to Pakistan the lower riparian state:

Water crisis could result in Indo-Pak war: Aseff

* Education adviser says Pakistan will approach ICJ, will quit Indus Water Treaty if India constructs any new dam

Staff Report

LAHORE: The distribution of water is a sensitive issue and it may trigger a war between India and Pakistan, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Education Sardar Aseff Ali said on Saturday. ……………………………............

He said Pakistan might seek international arbitration on the water issue by taking it up with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or the United Nations Security Council if India tried to construct any more dams that affect Pakistan’s share of water. Pakistan would also back out of the Indus Water Treaty and India would be responsible for the consequences, Assef added.

He said a solution to the problem could not be found through sentimental rhetoric and the Indus Water Treaty was the proper forum for resolving the water crisis.

To a question regarding the Baglihar Dam, Aseff said former president Pervez Musharraf was responsible for the construction of Baglihar Dam. He said India had served two notices to the Musharraf regime before the construction of the dam, but the Musharraf government did not respond to them. The Musharraf regime only raised hue and cry when the dam had become operational, he said. Pakistan lost the arbitration case because of an inordinate delay by Musharraf in tackling the issue, he added.

About the Kishan Ganga Dam, he said the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) was the right forum to discuss the issue and reach a viable solution. ………………..................

Daily Times

arun wrote:

Water crisis could result in Indo-Pak war: Aseff

* Education adviser says Pakistan will approach ICJ, will quit Indus Water Treaty if India constructs any new dam

LAHORE: The distribution of water is a sensitive issue and it may trigger a war between India and Pakistan, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Education Sardar Aseff Ali said on Saturday. ……………………………............

He said Pakistan might seek international arbitration on the water issue by taking it up with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or the United Nations Security Council if India tried to construct any more dams that affect Pakistan’s share of water. Pakistan would also back out of the Indus Water Treaty and India would be responsible for the consequences, Assef added. . . . the Indus Water Treaty was the proper forum for resolving the water crisis.

Daily Times

The Adviser to the Prime Minister on Education had better restrict himself to the affairs of Education. He just doesn't know what he is talking about. Like almost all Pakistanis, he is parroting some cliches without really being aware of the issues he is talking about.

Leave alone the fetish with the ICJ, he talks on the one hand of IWT being the forum and then simultaneously of withdrawing from it.

The Adviser to the Prime Minister on Education had better restrict himself to the affairs of Education. He just doesn't know what he is talking about. Like almost all Pakistanis, he is parroting some cliches without really being aware of the issues he is talking about.

Leave alone the fetish with the ICJ, he talks on the one hand of IWT being the forum and then simultaneously of withdrawing from it.

This guy is a true blue blooded RAPE. He was Foreign minister in BB's cabinet in the mid 90s. He led the charge on J&K in international fora full throat in those days.

There was an article about him FT many years ago.

Interestingly, I do not see much soundbytes from Mushahid Hussain these days, wonder what this snake is upto. It is possible he is mending fences with PML-N to be in their cabinet after Zardari goes.

The Adviser to the Pakistani PM on Education needs to be reminded of the following:

Indus Waters Treaty Commissioner Jamaat Ali Shah, while leaving for New Delhi to talk about waters shared by India and Pakistan, said that Pakistan was getting its share of waters under the Indus Treaty and that building a dam was the right of India. He said less water in Pakistani rivers was because of lack of rain, not because India had blocked it.

Link from DT dated June 02, 2009

In Pakistan, it takes time for the truth to dawn on dull minds and even more time for it to be accepted

It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan has objected to the design of the Kishanganga Hydropower project, saying it is not in line with the provisions of the Indus Waters Treaty as India is diverting the river water to the pool of the project, which negates the treaty. India is allowed, under the treaty, to construct the project on the run of river in such a way that the river flow is not affected.

The talks at the Permanent Commission of Indus Waters (PCIW) level have failed and now Pakistan is thinking of either moving the International Court of Justice or engaging a neutral expert. Pakistan has already lost its case against the Baglihar Hydropower project when the neutral expert upheld the Indian stance.

Chenab waters

The data shows that the annual flow of River Chenab was 26 Million Acre Feet (MAF) between 1922 and 1984, that increased up to 27.5 MAF between 1985 and 1999. However, reduction in the annual flow started emerging in 2008-09, but during the last two years, there has been visible decline in the water flow by 24 per cent to just 20 MAF water.

This does not strike as excessive variation. Most rivers are only 75% dependable or less.

Indian plans of dams in Kashmir ring alarm bells
Published: January 09, 2010

ISLAMABAD –The business community on Friday showed concerns over Indian plan to construct 93 dams on Kashmiri rivers and other places, as this would destroy Pakistan’s agriculture and economy, and the expressed the need for the Government to take up the issue with India.
Vice Presidents of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) Karim Aziz Malik and Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari in a statement said that India reportedly has chalked out an action plan to build 93 dams at an estimated cost of Rs.230 billion. They said that execution of this plan will make our agricultural lands barren as it will almost completely dry up our rivers. They said India has already created acute water shortage for Pakistan by starting construction of 450-megawatt Baglihar hydropower power project on the Chenab River as the 470-feet high and 317-meter wide dam with a storage capacity of 15 billion cusecs of water.
has significantly reduced water flow to our agricultural lands.
They feared that another Indian dam Kishanganga on Neelum River would further reduce the water flow to Pakistan.
Karim Aziz Malik said that according to some estimates, only Baglihar Dam will cause a loss of 321,000 million acre feet (MAF) of water to Pakistan bringing some 405 canals and 1125 distributaries to dead levels and affecting 13 million acres of agricultural land on which rice, wheat, sugarcane and fodder crops are grown.

Vivek_A wrote:Indian plans of dams in Kashmir ring alarm bells
. . . . with a storage capacity of 15 billion cusecs of water. . .

only Baglihar Dam will cause a loss of 321,000 million acre feet (MAF) of water to Pakistan

These guys are high on some very potent stuff. 321,000 Million Acre Feet ? The entire Indus system of rivers do not discharge more than 120 to 130 MAF of water in a year and they are talking of Baglihar alone depriving them of 321,000 MAF of water !

Can somebody give details about how much water rivers in Pakistan discharge into sea annually, to give an idea of wastage.

Bheem, below the Kotri barrage, the Indus just trickles down before it reaches the Arabian Sea. The 1991 inter provincial water accord stipulated 10 MAF (Million Acre Feet) to be let down through this barrage (the last one on the Indus) to sustain the river and the ecology. But, that has not been happening at all. The Indus delta which consisted of 17 distributaries spread over 600,000 hectares has shrunk to 10% of its spread today with only one outlet to sea at Khobar Creek. The quality of water in the freshwater lakes of Sind, including the Hub Reservoir that supplies Karachi, has been affected greatly by poor discharge below Kotri barrage. Apart from environmental degradation such as salinity and loss of precious mangrove forests and the marine life they sustain, it has led to social deprivation also as thriving farmers have been driven to desperation and alternative livelihood. The discharge of freshwater from the Indus into the Arabian Sea has declined steadily from 85 MAF in the 1940s to much less than 10 MAF in the 90s and probably less today. The blind Dolphins, a variety peculiar only to the Indus, have almost become extinct now with their habitat severely restricted to the stretch between Sukkur and Guddu barrages.

But, the wastage in Pakistan comes from unlined canals which result in seepage-loss of water, and incorrect usage of water. It is generally agreed that 40% of all the water drawn through the canals at barrage heads is lost due to seepage. Another grave issue for Pakistan is the water-logging caused by excessive water usage affecting 4% (India, 2%) of agricultural land and the attendant salinity of the soil that affects ~ 14% (India, 2%) of the irrigated land in Pakistan.

From the Islamic Republic of Pakistan :

Water woes

Published: January 12, 2010

…………………….. When one considers what was said by PML(Q) Senator Muhammad Ali Durrani to the participants of a protest walk in Bahawalpur, it becomes clear what the real problem is. Senator Durrani has accused India of a plot to turn the Bahawalpur civilisation into a Death Valley. Senator Durrani wanted the federal government to build pressure upon India to obey international law, as well as the Indus Waters Treaty it was violating to divert water for its own use. Senator Durrani was particularly eloquent, because in that area river water is not just used for agriculture, but also domestic use, and thus Indian diversions do not just prevent agriculture, but they also affect living in the area.

That India is behind this mischief is indubitable. Its shifting of the waters of Kashmir, which it has illegally occupied, down South, all the way to Rajasthan, is too well known. Also, in the most recent attempts, it has made diversions for the Wullar Barrage and now the Baglihar Barrage, which are not only causing crippling shortages in Pakistan, but are also in violation of the Indus Waters Treaty. …………………….

The Nation

Yet more from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan :

Friday, January 15, 2010, Muharram 28, 1431

India stealing Pakistan’s water

Sultan M Hali

Water in Pakistan’s rivers has touched perilously low levels. The reason for it is not just lack of rains. India is controlling the water flow of rivers that flow from India into Pakistan, especially the Indus, Chenab and Jhelum rivers that pass through India’s Jammu & Kashmir state. Pakistan has raised objections to Indian water projects, but a World Bank-appointed neutral expert rejected most of the Pakistani objections, especially with regard to the Baglihar Dam on Chenab River, while also advising India to make some changes to the dam’s height. Pakistani commentators, pressure groups and religious leaders are convinced that India is controlling the river waters to strangulate Pakistani agriculture, which could affect Pakistani exports and increase its dependency on food imports. Pakistani commentators fear future war with India may break out over water disputes. There is a realization in Pakistan that the 1960 Indus Water Treaty that establishes legal framework for use of river waters has been to the advantage of India. However, Pakistani authorities are raising the issue of water sharing between the two nuclear neighbours. …………………….

Pakistan Observer

The clown senator Durrani is cribbing about Sutlej waters which were given to India to IWT.

Demo for ‘restoration’ of river Sutlej

The participants carried banners inscribed with demands ‘Do not turn Bahawalpur into barren land by stopping waters of River Sutlej’, ‘Return our waters’, ‘The stoppage of water of river Sutlej is violation of human rights’ and ‘Restore Bahawalpur province’ and raised slogans in support of their demands.

Senator Muhammad Ali Durrani, Malik Habibullah Bhutta and other leaders spoke on the occasion. They criticised the late President General Muhammad Ayub Khan for selling the waters of River Sutlej to India under the World Bank pressure.

Thanx Sridhar for the detailed answer. One more query, how much water from "Indian portion of water/rivers" still flows into Pakistan annually?

the usual Iftikhar Gilani BS filter applies...

India plans to build 3 dams on Chenab

* Trade, civil society bodies say giving 49 percent share to IHK will handicap government

By Iftikhar Gilani

NEW DELHI: The Indian-held Kashmir government is planning to build three hydel projects on the River Chenab in collaboration with the New Delhi-owned National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC).

A joint venture company – Chenab Valley Power Projects Limited – will take up construction of the 1,000-megawatt Pakal Dul, 600MW Kiru and 520MW Karwar, worth Rs 112.79 billion in Doda district. These projects will be launched in five years.

^^^ The filter can likely be taken off for this particular story which is based on an earlier article that appeared in the newspaper, "Greater Kashmir":

Chenab Power Projects

Bheem wrote:One more query, how much water from "Indian portion of water/rivers" still flows into Pakistan annually?

Bheem, this requires a somewhat lengthy answer, which I propose to do. The simple answer is that these rivers on the Pakistani side are dry except largely for flood flows that we cannot handle. Anyway, let me explain.

The rivers Ravi & Beas rise around the Rohtang Pass and cross the Siwalik ranges before entering the plains of the East Punjab. The Sutlej rises near Manasarovar Lake in the Tibet and crosses the Siwalik ranges at the Bhakra gorge. The Beas flows wholly within India as it joins the Satluj near Harike in East Punjab. These rivers mostly get their waters only from the upper mountainous catchment areas and not from rains elsewhere. So, their flows are more or less accurately measured at the 'rim stations' situated at the places they emerge from the mountain range into the plains.

The mean annual flows of these rivers were based on the 1921-1945 flow series. Accordingly they were estimated as follows:

Ravi 6.4 MAF (Million Acre Feet) or 7.9 BCM (Billion Cubic Metre)
Beas 12.8 MAF or 15.8 BCM
Sutlej 13.6 MAF or 16.8 BCM

They add up to 32.8 MAF ( or 40.5 BCM) that was allocated to India as per the IWT.

While the fertile and alluvial Indus basin had been a bastion of food crops from time immemorial, the British built canals, headworks and barrages for controlling floods and to award the Indian soldiers of the British India Army loyal to the Crown. Thus, they built the Upper Bari Doab Canal (UBDC) from Ravi to irrigate Central Punjab and settle the decommissioned Sikh soldiers there. This also resulted in the construction of the famous Madhopur Headworks (the closing down of which by India on April 1, 1948 precipitated the first water crisis).Later, the Sirhind canal project was constructed from the Sutlej with headworks at Ropar to irrigate East Punjab and some Princely states such as Patiala.

Encouraged by these successes, the British built a number of canals, headworks and weirs to convert what were known 'crown waste' into cultivable lands. Most of these works later benefitted what came to be known as the Terrorist State of Pakistan. These were the Triple Canal Project linking the Jhelum, Chenab and the Ravi, the Upper Jhelum Canal at Mangla, the Upper Chenab Canal on the Chenab at Marala, the Lower Bari Doab Canal (LBDC) on the Ravi at Bulloki, the Sutlej Valley Project with three headworks and nine canals, the Panjnad headworks on the confluenced Sutlej, the Sukkur barrage with its seven canals on the Indus, and the Haveli and Thal canals on the Chenab. All these works had been completed by the beginning of circa 1940 and added 26 million acres for agriculture and was achieved without building any reservoir. That was a remarkable achievement !

Anyway, the total pre-partition usage of these three rivers by India was a meagre 9 MAF consisting of Beas 1.61 MAF, and Ravi 1.52 MAF and the rest Sutlej. At that time, Pakistan was using 66 MAF and the rest were going to the sea (that was the 85 MAF going to the Arabian Sea that I mentioned in my earlier post). As one can see clearly, they eventually turned the later-day TSP very well watered and irrigated leaving not much in what turned out to be India on Aug. 15, 1947.

The IWT had been signed in circa 1960 which stipulated a 'transition period' of ten years which put conditions on the usage of the eastern river waters by India and guaranteed deliveries to Pakistan. So, the waters of the Ravi-Beas-Sutlej became completely available to India only in March 1970. Pakistan again raised some issues and the 'transition period' was further extended upto March 1973 !! As usual, Pakistan objected vigorously whenever India started any preparatory work during this period, even when it did not affect water flows to that country. The idea was to delay any storage/headwork/canal being built for as long as possible so that Pakistan can get all the waters even if more than half of that was going as waste into the Arabian Sea. This approach has continued ever since. What is more audacious is that we paid Pakistan 62 Million Pounds Sterling to enable them complete their side of the works. That approach, of demanding money from everyone including its worst enemy, accepting it shamelessly and then abusing the donor has also continued ever since.

India was thus placed in a very disadvantageous position and irrigation structures had to be urgently built to not only grow more food but also accommodate the uprooted Sikhs and Hindus now settled in the 'crown waste' areas of East Punjab and have them productively employed and stave off starvation. Unlike Pakistan, which was also helped by the US, UK & Australia through aid for building dams and link canals apart from the Indian aid, India had to fend for herself, which she proudly did of course. The first was the Harike Barrage just below the confluence of Beas and Sutlej. Several feeder canals take off from the Harike Barrage including the Rajasthan feeder (Indira Gandhi feeder). Then the construction of the massive Bhakra-Nangal Project (BNP) was started on the Sutlej. The BNP was meant to fully utilize the Sutlej waters. Similarly, in order to use the Beas waters completely, the Beas Project was designed. This consisted of Beas-Sutlej Link (including the Pandoh Dam) and the Pong Dam. As for utlizing the waters of the Ravi, the Madhopur-Beas Link Canal was constructed to divert waters from the Ravi into Beas. This takes off from above the Ranjit Sagar (Thein) dam which itself was completed only in circa 2001 .

Thanks for a detailed spendid answer.

Chenab Flow Heartburn

He said Pakistan had asked India to proportionately reduce their water use on its side when river water declined abnormally.

Is that correct. I thought India's quota's were absolute and not proportional, certainly not a least priority escrow.

He said India was irrigating about 800,000 acres in Chenab area against 1,345,000 acres permissible under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty.

Got to wonder what the delay in use is on the part of GOI.

Mr Abbasi said India was justifying the decline in river flows on the wrong premise of climate change, although India itself was responsible for causing the melting of Himalayan glaciers through unnecessary military presence and massive deforestation in Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh regions and adding to the effects of the climate change.

I'm hearing the awful argument muchly recently. Wait for some foreign media to run it soon.

If you go to Google Earth Mr Abbasi if you follow the LOC/Border you will find that you can trace the outline very easily, even from space. This is because sir, the land on your side is almost devoid of trees, while the side towards India mostly lush with trees. This is true of one other border, the India Bangladesh one.

At first I thought people were kidding me about this, but you can see for yourself. The difference is staggering.

Theo_Fidel wrote:Chenab Flow Heartburn

He said Pakistan had asked India to proportionately reduce their water use on its side when river water declined abnormally.

That Pakistani demand is a load of rubbish. The IWT has no such clause. It does not talk about the quantum of water flow in these rivers. Secondly, by the same token, if the water flow is reduced in India's Eastern rivers, Pakistan has to somehow make good that loss from its western rivers then. Why is it that Pakistanis feel that only others must come to its rescue everytime ? It is this sense of entitlement that allows Pakistan to make atrocious and audacious demands.

That Pakistani demand is a load of rubbish. The IWT has no such clause. It does not talk about the quantum of water flow in these rivers. Secondly, by the same token, if the water flow is reduced in India's Eastern rivers, Pakistan has to somehow make good that loss from its western rivers then. Why is it that Pakistanis feel that only others must come to its rescue everytime ? It is this sense of entitlement that allows Pakistan to make atrocious and audacious demands.

I wouldn't blame the Pakis since we never dismiss these stupid demands with a jhapad but actually entertain these requests ( even if they are not granted finally). No wonder, they get emboldened to ask even more stupid stuff..

Council backs call for Indus River day on Jan 24
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/daw ... -110-za-07

After the resounding jhapad from WB appointed neutral expert on Bagilhar Dam where only advise was to minimally reduce the height , they have no other options apart from either embarassing themselves again or using domestic propoganda to futhur their cause , no prizes for guessing which ones their fav.

Bheem, a few days back you asked a question about how much water was being discharged into the Arabian Sea by the Indus. To get a graphic account of how the mighty Indus looks like below the Kotri barrage in the Sind, see the picture in the DAWN link that Stan_Savljevic has posted. That is actually the Kotri barrage, after which the Indus reaches the Arabian Sea.

If the Pakis have so much problem, why dont they withdraw from IWT.

SSridhar wrote:That is actually the Kotri barrage, after which the Indus reaches the Arabian Sea.

Just for reference.

Elevation above MSL is 42 ft @ this barrage.

It is 250 km as the crow flies from the ocean.

Theo_Fidel wrote:

SSridhar wrote:That is actually the Kotri barrage, after which the Indus reaches the Arabian Sea.

Just for reference.

Elevation above MSL is 42 ft @ this barrage.

It is 250 km as the crow flies from the ocean.

So in essence it is just a dry riverbed for 250 kms upto the arabian sea until they open up the floodgates when required.

Editorial in the Dr. Shireen Mazari edited Nation on the “cunning ways” of the “archenemy” of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan:

Indian water theft

Published: January 26, 2010

A recent report, which warns that water theft by India on the river Chenab on a wide scale, involving diversion of thousands of cusecs of water could result in crop failure on 10 million acres of land on Pakistani soil, is alarming. This particular form of water theft is being carried out with the help of powerful pumps installed across the border along the rivers and their tributaries flowing into Pakistan. Basically, it speaks volumes about the cunning ways, which our archenemy can invariably conjure up when it comes to doing us harm. ………………………

The Nation

Bheem wrote:One more query, how much water from "Indian portion of water/rivers" still flows into Pakistan annually?

A letter in DT on how much water flows in the Sutlej

The Punjab government has planned to develop a lake in the dried-up riverbed Sutlej at a cost of Rs 500 million. The river Sutlej along with Beas and Ravi were surrendered in 1960 to India under the Indus Waters Treaty. However, in the monsoon, the Sutlej goes beyond control, India releases extra water in this dead river, at times without any prior intimation, which results in loss of lives and properties in the area downstream.

Although developing a lake in the dried-up riverbed will increase the subsoil water table, providing water for cultivation in the surrounding areas, what will happen when inundation water is released by India into the river during high floods? Will the proposed lake be able sustain the thrust of flood waters? The provincial government has to make a through case study for contingencies before going ahead with such an ambitious plan.

http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=1 ... =&supDate=

Baglihar Dam: compensation water

What is compensation water? According to the British Dam Society, when a dam is constructed across a river valley, an outlet pipe usually in a tunnel must be provided from the reservoir to allow some water to continue to flow in the river downstream. Sufficient water must be let through to maintain the fish and wildlife that use the river and the natural vegetation in and around it. This water is called compensation water.Initial one-time filling of a newly constructed reservoir, such as Baglihar, is governed by specific provisions of the IWT, under which filling can be done through mutual consent of the two countries.However, if a consensus solution cannot be evolved, the Treaty authorises India to go ahead with the filling process, subject to two primary conditions in case of the River Chenab projects: One, the filling must be done between June 21 and August 31, when the monsoon is at its peak, and two, the flow in Chenab, above the Marala headworks, must not fall below 55,000 cusecs at any time.

Prem wrote:http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=1 ... =&supDate=

Baglihar Dam: compensation water

What is compensation water? .

At the next BR meet, we should put down a few crates of microbrew, find a Paki flag and give them compensation water.

Prem wrote:http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=1 ... =&supDate=

Baglihar Dam: compensation water

However, if a consensus solution cannot be evolved, the Treaty authorises India to go ahead with the filling process, subject to two primary conditions in case of the River Chenab projects: One, the filling must be done between June 21 and August 31, when the monsoon is at its peak, and two, the flow in Chenab, above the Marala headworks, must not fall below 55,000 cusecs at any time.

The Pakistanis have a knack of keep on talking about settled issues.
India rejects Pak. charge on Chenab River Flow - The Hindu dated Oct. 24, 2008

At the meeting of Indus Water Commissioners here in the backdrop of Pakistan's allegations, the Indian side furnished data related to outflow of water in river Chenab from this country to show that it had released sufficient quantity despite low availability.

India categorically rejected Pakistan's demand for compensation as it furnished hydrological data to prove that the quantity of water was actually 55,000 cusecs and that Islamabad had no case.

Pakistan wanted India to share data of Baglihar Dam water at an hourly basis, which also was rejected by New Delhi.

The Indian side made it clear it will share with Pakistan data only under the requirements of the 1960 Indus Water Treaty and nothing beyond that.

"Pakistan is using arithmetical gymnastics to prove that India breached the provisions of the treaty," a source told PTI, adding Islamabad was trying to "politicise" the matter.

Bheem wrote:One more query, how much water from "Indian portion of water/rivers" still flows into Pakistan annually?

One more thing that I forgot to mention was that in March 2008, GoI sanctioned funds for a second Ravi-Beas link to divert from Ravi into Beas any excess water that the existing Ravi-Beas Link I (the Madhopur-Beas Link Canal) cannot handle.