Even this percentage is rapidly shrinking due to growing human population, increased economic activity and rapid pollution.
When increase in population is read together with demands arising from prevalent consumption patterns, it presents a bleak future scenario.
The fact that rivers, which are an important source of fresh water, do not follow political boundaries and are more often than not trans-boundary in nature, makes the situation more complex.
While it is important for a nation to ensure water security for itself, yet it cannot be achieved unilaterally since rivers run through tricky terrains
Asia comprises 60 per cent of the world’s population (4.4 billion in 2016) and also has the highest growth rate today, with its population almost quadrupling during the 20th century.
However, Asia’s water resources have remained constant. The two most populous countries of the world – China and India – comprising 20 and 17 per cent of the world’s population, contain only seven and four per cent of the world’s water resources, respectively.
In 1998, then Chinese Deputy Prime Minister Wen Jiabao had stated that the very “survival of the Chinese nation” was threatened by looming water shortages.
First, the demand for water has been increasing given its large population size concomitant with economic growth and rising standards of living.
China’s per capita water supply is only 28 per cent of the world average, which is precariously below international standards for human sustainability.
Second, China has been historically a water scarce country with uneven distribution of its water resources..
The increasing pressure on water resources, particularly in north China, is of major concern to the Chinese Government. In 2011, China’s viceminister for water resources had declared that the country is facing an “increasingly grim” water scarcity situation
China’s water resource challenge consists of both quantity and quality issues.
Third, as per China’s 12th Five Year Plan (12th FYP), hydropower is being promoted as the centrepiece of China’s plan to expand renewable energy by 2020. Hydropower already accounts for six per cent of its power supply. China intends to triple its hydropower capacity to 300 GW.
China, therefore, is increasingly damming transboundary rivers to achieve its hydropower targets.
China’s unique position as the only country in the region which is completely upper riparian, lends it an unparalleled advantage and power to influence the flow of water to nations downstream.
As a result, China’s international water policy is at the core of Asia’s water security.
India functions as a middle riparian state. It is a lower riparian state in relation to China, but an upper riparian state vis-a-vis Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The upper and lower riparian nations often make incompatible claims about their rights over river waters. The upper riparian nations base their claim on the principle of ‘absolute territorial sovereignty’, meaning the right to use the river waters unilaterally regardless of lower riparian concerns. This is often called the Harmon Doctrine
Its distinctive position as a completely upper riparian nation allows it to act as a hydro-hegemon in the region. China’s hydro-hegemony is made possible by its control over Tibet. •
The Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau extends is home to the largest fresh water reserves outside north and south poles.
It is the source of some of the Asia’s most important river systems including the Indus, Ganga, Brahmaputra, Irrawady, Slaween, Mekong, Yangtze and Huang He. All these rivers are trans-boundary in nature, with the exception of Yangtze and Huang He.
The YarlungTsangpo enters India after passing the Great Bend, through Arunachal Pradesh where it is known as Siang/Dihang, then onto Assam where it is called Brahmaputra, and thereafter to Bangladesh where it is named Jamuna.
China completed the Zangmu Dam (510 MW capacity) built on the upper reaches of Brahmaputra in 2010. Three more dams at Dagu (640 MW), Jiacha (320 MW) and Jeixu are at present under construction.
China has not yet officially communicated anything about the construction of the other three dams – Dagu, Liacha and Jiexu – on Brahmaputra. Lack of communication by China has created an atmosphere of suspicion and mistrust in India, especially in its north-eastern region.
China had refused to sign and ratify the Helsinki Rules too. In 1966, a codification of the principles of international law relating to transboundary water resources was completed through the International Law Association’s (ILA) Helsinki Rules on the Uses of the Waters of International Rivers.
China, on its part, insists that the dams are and will continue to be run-of-river projects, wherein water will be returned to the river after use. As such there ought to be no fears of diversion, hoarding, and release of water later.
In the absence of a water treaty, China depriving India of water during lean seasons becomes a possibility.
Another risk is the release of flood waters during the monsoon season, which could inundate the already flooded Brahmaputra river basin in Assam. There is much apprehension that the Brahmaputra may lose the silt, which makes the plains in its basin fertile, because of sediment trapping in the dams.
Additionally , all hydropower projects, particularly around the Great Bend, are located in a highly volatile tectonic zone. Their proximity to known geological fault lines, where Indian Plate collides with the Eurasian Plate, makes them extremely earthquakeprone.
This raises serious concerns about risks posed by big dams built in such seismically sensitive areas.
In building its dams, China has also polluted its rivers.
The quality of water that flows downstream into India needs to be taken into account.
The disruption of natural flood cycles of the river could also adversely affect the rich geoenvironmental and bio-physical settings in India’s Northeast. These multifarious factors could also severely impinge on the economy of the region.
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