China’s proposed dams on Brahmaputra River trigger concerns in India : Tit for Tat for India ’s water diversion policy
Unilateral water diversion or withdrawal of water from international or common rivers has been the long-standing policy of India . India bothered little the concerns of lower riparian country, such as Bangladesh in diverting waters from common rivers.
The Brahmaputra has its source in China ‘s southwestern Tibet region where it is known as the Yarlung Tsangpo, and it enters India in the mountainous, remote northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, where it is called the Siang. Thereafter it flows through Bangladesh as ‘Jamuna’ before it meets Padma/ the Ganges in Bangladesh and drains into the Bay of Bengal .
China building dams on Brahmaputra River :
Besides the Zangmu Dam, it is reported in an Indian paper that China has given the go-ahead for the construction of three new hydropower dams on the middle reaches of the Brahmaputra river, ending a two-year halt in approving new projects on the river amid concerns from India and environmental groups.
The three new dams have been approved by the State Council, or Cabinet, under a new energy development plan for 2015 that was released on January 23, 2013 according to a copy of the plan available with Indian newspaper The Hindu.
Zangmu Dam: China has, so far, only begun construction on one major hydropower dam on the main stream of the middle reaches of the Brahmaputra or Yarlung Zangbo as it is known in China – a 510 MW project in Zangmu in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), which began to be built in 2010.
Dagu Dam: One of the three approved new dams is bigger than the Zangmu project. A 640 MW dam will be built in Dagu, which lies 18 km upstream of Zangmu.
Jiacha Dam: Another 320 MW dam will be built at Jiacha, also on the middle reaches of the Brahmaputura downstream of Zangmu.
Jiexu Dam: A third dam will be built at Jiexu, 11 km upstream of Zangmu. The capacity of the Jiexu dam is, as yet, unconfirmed.
The three projects were listed in the State Council’s energy plan for the Twelfth Five Year Plan period (2011-15), which was released on January 23, 2013.
The plan said the government “will push forward vigorously the hydropower base construction” on the middle reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo. In the Twelfth Five Year plan period (2011-15), t the government will begin construction of 120 million kilowatt of conventional hydropower.
A pre-feasibility study report for the 640 MW Dagu dam passed review in November, according to the Huadong Engineering Corporation, a hydropower company that was tasked with conducting the study by the local government.
A notice posted on its website said a two-day review conference for the pre-feasibility study of the dam was held in November, organised by the Tibet Autonomous Region government’s Development and Reform Commission.
The notice said the study successfully passed review, adding that the dam would be located 18 km upstream of the already in-construction Zangmu dam. The catchment area at the dam site, according to the Huadong Engineering Corporation, is 157,400 square kilometres, and the average annual discharge is 1010 cubic metres per second.
The dam will be built with a height of 124 metres and 640 MW capacity.
The construction of the Zangmu dam in 2010 triggered concerns in India regarding possible impact on downstream flows..
Chinese officials, however, assured their Indian counterparts that the project was only a run-of-the-river hydropower station, which would not divert the Brahmaputra ’s waters.
The government has also built at least six smaller hydropower projects on the Yarlung Zangbo’s tributaries, which, officials say, will have no impact on downstream flows.
The Chinese government has, for now, shelved a long-discussed plan to divert the Yarlung Zangbo’s waters to the arid north, citing technical difficulties. The plan is part of the proposed Western route of the massive South-to-North diversion project, on which construction is yet to begin. Chinese officials and analysts say a diversion plan is very unlikely, considering the difficult terrain and technical problems.
However, with the three new approvals under the energy plan, four hydropower projects will now be built — all located within a few dozen kilometres of each other — on the main stream of the middle reaches of the Brahmaputra .
While they are run-of-the-river projects, they will be required to store large volumes of water for generating power. Their construction is likely to trigger fresh concerns in India
Beijing has regularly faced similar complaints over its water usage from Southeast Asian nations for damming the Mekong and Salween rivers, both of which originate in China .
According to a report by Prof. Brahma Chellaney of Strategic Studies at the New Delhi China attempts to dam or redirect the southward flow of waters from the Tibetan plateau, starting point of many rivers, such as Indus, the Mekong, the Yangtze, the Yellow, the Salween, the Brahmaputra, the Karnali and the Sutlej Rivers.
According to the same writer, China ’s intensive farming need waters and it is increasingly turning its attention to water reserves of Tibetan plateau. China is presently toying with massive inter-basin and inter-river water transfer projects.
Furthermore several Chinese projects in west-central Tibet have a bearing on river-water flows into India but China refuses to share information with India . The same tactics India adopted with Bangladesh are likely now to bite India .
Chellaney disclosed two Chinese projects that would likely to affect adversely India . One is the proposed Great South-North Water Transfer project diverting Tibetan waters and the first phase calla for building 300-kilometres of tunnels and channels to draw waters from the Jingsha, Yalong and Dadu rivers on the eastern rim of the Tibetan plateau.
India appears never to have considered the state of technology of Chinese water experts and hydrologists may acquire in which the Tibetan plateau waters could be re-routed northward towards China .
Indian water-diversion policy toward Bangladesh :
Now India has awakened up of the diversion of waters of its common rivers by China . India alleges that China does not find it necessary to consult, discuss and sit down with India in the proposed diversion of waters from Tibetan Plateau.
India forgets that it did not do so with the common rivers with Bangladesh . India never discussed the construction of dams on the common rivers although Indo-Bangladesh Joint River Commission exists since 1972. There cannot be one rule for India and China and another for India and Bangladesh .
The water dispute with India is as old as the birth of Bangladesh . It started with India ’s ill-conceived Farakka Barrage on the Ganges, (11 miles from Bangladesh ’s border) to divert water in the Hoogly river for flushing silt from the river, not for agriculture. The diversion has drastically reduced flow of Padma/ the Ganges river in Bangladesh and turned in many places the mighty river into sandy lands.
The unilateral withdrawal of water from upper reaches by India has been a grave concern for Bangladesh . India has reportedly built 30 dams on the upper Ganges and withdraws heavily water from the Ganges, leaving less and less water to Bangladesh .
India has steadily without any agreement with Bangladesh embarked on constructing dam or diverting water from many common rivers, such as Teesta, Gumti, Khowai. India had reportedly blocked of streams (such as Muhuri, Chagalnaiya, Fulchari, Kachua and many others ) in Tripura, flowing into Bangladesh . As a result, eight chars (islets) in the tributaries of Muhuri and Kachua are detected and they have blocked water flow in Bangladesh .
There is a wider dimension on availability of fresh water. The increased demand of fresh water has prompted the construction of dams and barrages on international rivers and it is reported that 60% of the world’s largest rivers has been interrupted by the artificial structures. Many of them are concluded in agreement with riparian countries and about 200 treaties are now in existence for the management of common water resources.
Fresh water is getting scarce according to a UNESCO study. The average supply of water is expected to drop by one-third within 20 years. UNESCO points out that up to 7 billion of people could face water shortages by 2020 and global warming may put 50 countries with severe water shortages. South Asia is one of the regions to be adversely affected partly because of melting of the Himalayan glaciers due to global warming.
Water experts believe that water disputes on intra-state and inter-state level may increase in future. It is the potential inter-state conflict over river-water resources that may be of greater concern.
By Barrister Harun ur Rashid
Former Bangladesh Ambassador to the UN, Geneva .
