India-China water relations "EMPOWER IAS"

In news:

• A recent study highlighting the impact of China’s dams on the Mekong river has raised new questions on whether dams being built on other rivers that originate in China might similarly impact the countries downstream.

 

About the study on Mekong river:

• It was published by the Sustainable Infrastructure Partnership in Bangkok and the Lower Mekong Initiative.
• The study was funded by the U.S. government.

 

Findings of the study

• Reduction in the rainfall:
  • Study found based on satellite data from 1992 to 2019 a “severe lack of water in the lower Mekong”.
• Assessing impact of the dams built:
  • The study has said that six dams built since the commissioning of the Nuozhadu dam in 2012 had altered natural flow of the river. 

 

India-China Water Disputre:

• Both Brahmaputra and the glaciers that feed Ganga originate in China. As an upstream riparian region, China maintains an advantageous position and can build infrastructure to intentionally prevent water from flowing downstream.
• Owing to previous tendencies where the Chinese have been reluctant to provide details of its hydro-power projects, there is a trust deficit between the two neighbours.
• China’s dam-building and water division plans along the Brahmaputra (called Yarlung Zangbo in China) is a source of tension between the two neighbours, despite the two having signed several MoUs on strengthening communication and strategic trust.

 

• As lower riparian countries, India and Bangladesh rely on the Brahmaputra’s water for agriculture.
• China has now plans to build four more dams on the Brahmaputra in Tibet. Both India and Bangladesh worry that these dams will give Beijing the ability to divert or store water in times of political crisis.
• India, for its part, has built dams on the Teesta River, a tributary of the Brahmaputra, to utilise the flow of the Teesta during the dry season.