Perspectives on Regional Collaboration for Himalayan River Basins

Nakdong River International Water Week -2014, 20 – 22 October, Daegu Gyeongbuk, Republic of Korea
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Himalayan Rivers –Perspective on regional collaboration
Jagat K. Bhusal,
Chairperson, Society of hydrologists and meteorologists Nepal and Member, Nepal National
Committee of International Hydrological Program Nepal
Abstract
The Himalayas are the sources of big rivers. They also provide a physical screen within which the monsoon
system operates and enrich water bodies. Tibet plateau which is also the source of the largest rivers like Indus, Satlej,
Brahmaputra, Yaluzangbu, Yellow, Mekong, Yangtze, lies in the north of Himalaya range. Brahmaputra joins Ganga
river in Bangladesh. The Indus basin lies in Pakistan, China, Afghanistan and India.
Rivers of Himalayas are not only the flows of fresh water but also carry appreciable quantities of sediment to
the alluvial the Indo-Gangetic Plain, also known as Indus-Ganga and the North Indian River Plain. This great Ganga
plain consists most of northern and eastern India, the most populous parts of Pakistan, plain parts of southern Nepal and
virtually all of Bangladesh. Given the seasonal nature of the Himalayan runoff, roughly 75 to 85% of annual flows runs
in the summer season only. The impacts of climate change and global warming on Himalayan watersheds have been
already noticed. This new challenge has added risk in flow regimes by increasing trend of large peaks in rainy season
and decreasing trend in lean season flow. Topography, soils, rainfall, and the availability of water for irrigation have
been major determinants of the crop and livestock patterns characteristic of the Himalayas and the Indo-Gangetic Plain.
The plain's population density is very high due to the fertile soil for farming. The plains support one of the most
populous areas on Earth, being home to nearly 1 billion people.
Although there are added risk of flood disasters due to high dams, but the purpose of storage projects in
Himalayan region also serve in improving flood security for three northern states of India and Bangladesh. Besides, the
stored water would also increase agricultural products many folds. Large reservoirs not only store water for lean
season but also increase air moisture in surrounding areas.
The Himalayan rivers from Nepal including Tibet, Bhutan and Northern India are recognized as an economic
lifeline for the region. In this context, regional cooperation for harnessing the water resources -the renewable natural
gift, would benefit the economical growth of vast population. It is now high time to look for a common regional
consensus on national and regional policies based on realities, priorities and international norms.
1 Background
1.1 Location
The Himalayan range aged to about 50 million years, contains the world's largest glaciered portion
outside the Polar Regions. This is also among the youngest mountain ranges on the planet and is a part of a
large catchment “Ganga-Meghana-Brahmaputra Basin (GMB)” of about 1.7 million sq. km. GMB basin
extends over Bhutan, China, India Nepal and Bangladesh (Figure 2). The Indus river which drains about
1.165 million sq. km; originates in Tibetan Plateau; flows through China (western Tibet), India (Kashmir)
and Pakistan (Figure 2). A part of Afghanistan also falls on Indus basin. The Himalayas, the world's tallest
mountain range which extends from Pamir to Burma. Mt. Everest (Nepal), the world's tallest peak which rises
8,848 meters above mean sea level is the glory of Himalaya. (Figure 1). The snow line of Greater Himalayas
averages 4,500 to 6,000 meters on the southern side and 5,500 to 6,000 on the northern side. The Lesser
Himalayas, area between 1,500 to 5,000 meters altitude, also called vegetation zone; Southern Himalayas,
also called the Siwalik Hills, area between 900 to 1,200 meters in elevation.
A brief relevant introductions of countries that are fed by Himalayan rivers are given below.

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http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Himalayas_Map.png
Figure-1: View Himalayan range. Figure-2: View of the Indus and Ganga-Brahmaputra Basin
1.2 Pakistan
Pakistan is bordered with India, China, Afghanistan, Iran and Arabian. It has a total area of
796 100 km² and is broadly divided into five physiographic regions -The Himalayan mountain
ranges in the north-western part on the border with India and China; The Hindu Kush and the
Western Mountains in the north on the border with Afghanistan. The Potwar Plateau (300 to 600
meter elevation) south of Islamabad; The Indus Plain (Figure 3), stretching from the Salt Range to
the Arabian Sea. The Balochistan Plateau in the south-west of the country, with an average altitude
of about 600 meter has a large part of the northwest as desert. The total cultivable area was estimated
to be about 38 % of the total country’s area and out of which 74 % is cultivated which contributed
about 25% to GDP (Shahid Ahmad. 2007).
Indus river and its tributaries are the main sources of surface waters in Pakistan (Figure 3).
This river runs from locations where there are very good sites for reservoirs and hydroelectric power.
In 1994, hydropower represented 49.9% of total installed capacity, and 47.5% of total energy
generation, Tarbela dam alone represents 36.7% of the total. The reservoir capacity of Tarbela and
Mangla is 18 billion cubic meters. The gross theoretical hydropower potential was estimated in 1991
at 150 000 GWh/year.
The ground water stored in the Indus basin is estimated to be 50 to 100 times the annual
surface flow of the Indus river system. A report says that nearly 50 billion cu m of water is being
pumped every year. This uncontrolled development not only cause overexploitation but also results
in large scale subsurface movement of groundwater which is the threat of salinity intrusion into good
quality aquifers.
1.3 India
India shares about 14,000 kilometers of land border with six nations: Pakistan, China, Pakistan
is bordered with India, China, The Ganga River basin covers area approximately 25 percent of the
India. The Ganga has its source in the glaciers of the Greater Himalayas.

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Figure 3: The Great Indus-Ganga Plain (Source-Web Search)
The Great Ganga Plain of India stretching from Delhi to Kolkata mainly lies in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar
and West Bengal covering an area of about 375 thousands sq. km. The Upper Ganga Plain (100 to 300 m
above mean sea level) is about 550 km long in the east-west direction and nearly 380 km wide in north-south
direction, covering an approximate area of 149 thousands sq. km. The Middle Ganga Plain occupies eastern
part of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. It measures about 600 km in east-west and nearly 330 km in north-south
direction accounting for a total area of about 144 thousands sq. km. The Lower Ganga Plain includes a part
of Bihar, the whole plain of West Bengal and most parts of Bangladesh. The total area of this plain is about
81 thousand sq. km
The annual natural flow in rivers in India is about 1,850 billion cubic meters. Because of topographic
and other constraints, only 1,100 billion cubic meters can be put to use. This includes about 450 billion cubic
meters of ground waters [http://countrystudies.us/india/102.htm (07-10-2014)]
About 85 per cent of the total water is used for agriculture, 3 per cent for domestic purposes, less than 2
per cent for industries and the rest for miscellaneous purposes. The present annual fresh water requirement of
India is about 540 billion cubic meters. Out of which 360 billion cubic meters is met from surface water and,
180 billion cubic meters from groundwater. About two- thirds of the irrigation is by surface water sources
and one- third by ground water [Negi Mohita, (http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/geography/indo-gangetic-
plain-3-divisions-of-the-ganga-plain-in-india/13796/ ) (07-10-2014)]
.
1.4 Bhutan
Bhutan is a landlocked mountainous country with a total area of 47 000 km2. There are three major
landform forms- the southern foothills, the inner Himalayas and the higher Himalayas. Elevation varies from
about 200 meter at the Indian border to 7 500 m at the summit of Kula Kangri. There are number of mountain
streams fed by snow and glaciers. Numbers of glacial lakes are located in the north and northwest part of
Bhutan. Large rivers flowing southward join the Brahmaputra in India. Natural renewable water resources
which is the surface water produced internally is 95 billion cu. m. The Per Capita availability of water is
43,214 cu. m (IRWR, 2001). About 54 % of water is used in agriculture; about 36 % is used in Domestic and
10% in Industrial uses. Only 3.6 percent of the total area, or 169 108 ha, is cultivated, of which 17 092 ha are
under permanent crops. There is little room for expansion of acreage under agricultural production. (FAO,
2014). Hydropower potential is high in Bhutan (Table 1)
Table 1: Hydropower potential of Bhutan (Tashi Dorjee and Kencho Dorji, 2006
Total potential 30,000 MW Feasible 23,760 MW By December 2006 1488 MW (5%)
Prior to 9th plan (2002-2007), before hydropower era of Bhutan, Bhutanese economy almost entirely
dependent on foreign aid. After beginning of hydropower development, about 45% of national revenue;
almost 12% GDP comes from sale of electricity (75 % to India) and it is expected to be more than 60% after

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full commissioning of Tala project. (Tashi Dorjee and Kencho Dorji, 2006)
1.5 Tibet (PR of China)
Tibet, the highest plateau of the world is also called the “roof of the world”. It lies in the north of
Himalaya range. South bordered countries are India, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar. 92.8% of 2.91 million
population (data of 2009) in Tibet comprises of ethnic Tibetans. Tibet is the source of the largest rivers like
Houang-He or yellow river, Mekong, Brahmapoutra, Yangtze (blue river in Tibetan), Indus, Yaluzangbu
There are more than 1000 lakes including famous Mansarobar lake in Tibet.
Unlike river of adjoining countries, which depend on precipitations; the hydrological flows of Tibetan
rivers comes from underground water, snow and glaciers, Tibet accounts for 6% of the annual throughput in
Asia and between 11 and 14% of stable water. About 90% of running water of Tibet crosses its borders.
Abundant water bless Tibet with a potential exploitable hydraulic power of 250.000 megawatts.
Figure 4: Tibetan plateau Figure 5: Left Map of Bangladesh & right Inundation
(Source (F4):http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/122_china_tibet_Texture-cop.jpg
and (F5) maps-of-bangladesh.blogspot.com )
1.6 Bangladesh
Bangladesh is situated in the deltaic plain formed by three large rivers – the Ganges, the Brahmaputra
and the Meghna (Figure 5). About 8.23% Surface area of Bangladesh consists of rivers, channels and other
water bodies. There are 57 trans-border rivers including the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna out of
which 53 come from India, 1 from China and 3 from Myanmar. These rivers carry both huge quantity of
floodwaters and sediments. The annual freshwater potential of Bangladesh is about 1,200 billion cubic
meters. More than 90% is inflow from upstream countries. Peak flood flow reaches up to 120,000 cumecs but
the minimum flows are about 7000 cumecs only. In the last 25 years, Bangladesh has experienced six severe
floods (1984, 1987, 1988, 1998, 2004 and 2007). In 2007, two successive and damaging floods inundated the
country in the same season. During high floods, river bank erosion is common, the loss of thousands of
hectares of agricultural land take place and thousands of people are displaces from their homes (MoEF, 2005).
The annual rainfall reaches a maximum of 5,690 mm at Lallakhal in the northeast region zone and it
decrease a minimum of 1110 mm at Nawabganj. About 80 to 85 per cent of the total rainfall occurs in the five
months period from May to September. The mean annual rainfall over Bangladesh is 2,320 mm.
Out of some 85,000 sq.km of arable land, about 52% is irrigated. About 70% of irrigation is from
groundwater resources. Groundwater also accounts for nearly 95% of the household water supply. During dry
season water is scarce. Drought is widespread during dry periods. Bangladesh has no potential to store flood
flows for use in dry periods and to cope with water scares. The country has 1000 people per square kilometers
and nearly 50 % ( about 71 million people of the population) is categorized as poor and 20 % as hardcore poor
(Emmanuel M. Nyambod, Huq Nazmul. 2010).
1.7 Nepal
Nepal is a landlocked Himalayan country. Nearly a thousand kilometer of Himalayan range fall in
Nepal. Elevation varies from about 70 meter at the Indian border to 8848 m at the summit of Mt. Everest
within a span of about 200 km. There are more than 6000 rivers in Nepal. Main river basins of Nepal are

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Karmali in the west, Gandaki in the Central and Kosi in the east (Figure 6). About 78% of the mountainous
part and about 70 % of the Nepal territory is drained by these three rivers. Only a very small portion of
watersheds of these rivers lie in Tibet, China. Mahakali river basin is a sub basin of Karnali river and lies in
India and Nepal. Tributaries of these rivers that are originated from glacier on ice caped mountains above the
snow line are categorized as the first grade rivers. These rivers are perennial and carry sufficient flows in all
seasons. Rivers from other major sub basins that do not contain year round snow covered zones are called
second grade rivers. Rivers that are originated from Siwaliks hills as well as from the Tarai plain are
considered as the third grade rivers. These rivers contain either very less water in the winter or no surface
flow in the dry period.
Figure 6: River basin on Nepal Figure 7: Monthly total (Available) Water (Bhusal)
The average annual rainfall over Nepal is about 1700 millimeters. Monsoon wind from Indian Ocean brings
about 80% of the annual rainfall in four months. About 250 billion cubic meters of waters fall over Nepal
annually as precipitation (Climatic and Hydrological Atlas of Nepal, 1996). About 200 billion cubic meters of
water enter India annually (Bhusal, 1999). About 150 billion cubic meters of water runs during the raining
season only (Figure 7). The remaining 50 billion cubic meters is the sum of the remaining eight months
(winter -October to May) flows. February and April/ May are the driest months. In general, the river flows
follow exponential recession
Nepalese rivers fed by snows and due to their steep gradients possess high hydropower potential. Out
of 83000 MW hydropower potential (Shrestha H. M.) Nepal has been tapping only about 600 Mega Watt
(MW). By January 2010, licenses issued and application received amounted to more than 62000 MW (Table
2). The largest capacity project identified are Karnali River at Chisapani (10500 MW), Mahakali rivers at
Pancheswor (6000 MW) and Kosi river at Chatara (3000 MW). Hence, hydropower production of Nepal
would bring an economic revolution in Nepal if high dam concept is materialized with neighboring countries
especially with India and Bangladesh.
Table -2: Hydropower potential in Mega Watt (MW)
Small Projects Sub total Medium Projects Sub total Large Projects Sub total Total
1- 10 MW 2302 MW 10 - 100 MW 6998 MW Above 100 MW 53000 MW 62300 MW
(Licenses issued and applications for licenses till 2009, Source- www.doed.gov.np)
2 Water Conflicts in the region
Crucial component lies on the part of the policy makers to perceive the upstream-downstream linkages,
which have become a major source of conflict over water use in river basins all over the world. News of
widespread conflict have been received from many regions. There are trans- boundary water conflicts
between countries over Himalayan rivers.
Indo-Nepal Controversies
 There are treaties in three major rivers Kosi, Gandaki and Mahakali and recently (2014) a Power
Trade Agreement with India and Project Development Agreement (PDA) with a private
company GMR of India for the construction of 900MW Upper Karnali hydropower project is
signed. Karnali is one of the three big rivers of Nepal. All bilateral water resources agreements
between and India are not successful in creating good faith among general peoples in Nepal.
Prof. S. D. Muni, in his article in the issue of 15 September,2008 of The Hindu said, “The

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Kosi/Gandak agreements of the 1950s were not inspired by any large visions of ‘regional
cooperation’; they were essentially projects conceived by India to meet its requirements or solve
its problems, with some benefits to Nepal included”. Suspicion and mistrust grew and became a
massive impediment to good relations between the two countries
 Kosi Agreement was signed between India and Nepal in 1954 to regulate the flow of the river
and ensure flood management. Embankment breach in Nepal in 2008 is due to India’s neglect in
maintaining the upkeep of the embankments of the barrage. Pancheswar Multipurpose
Development Project on the Mahakali River under the Mahakali Treaty of1996 is almost dead. It
has not given any desired benefit to Nepal but it has just legitimized India's unilaterally
constructed Tanakpur barrage and use of Mahakali river water.
Indo- Bangladesh conflict
 There are conflicts between Bangladesh and India on lean period water of Ganges at Farakka the
Farakka Barrage; built by India across the Gangues which lies at 10 km from the Indo-Bangla
border. India have control over Barrage as well as control over dry season Ganges flows into
Bangladesh. The water resource minister of Bangladesh has reportedly said that its government
had protested to India but had so far not had any response (Vidal, 2003). “The north of
Bangladesh is already drying out after the Ganges was dammed by India in 1976. Now India is
planning to do the same on [many of] the 53 other rivers that enter the country via India.
Bangladesh depends completely on water…We want no kind of war, but international law on
sharing water is unsure and we would request the UN to frame a new law. It would be a last
resort.”
 A solution to the problem of sharing the Teesta waters continues to elude India and Bangladesh,
pushing villagers in northern Bangladesh to the brink of desperation as the river dries up (Pinaki
Roy, 2014)
Indo-Pakistan conflict
 India–Pak water disputes over water is complicated as the rivers originate in and pass through a
number of countries. The Indus river originates in Chinese-controlled Tibet and flows through
Jammu& Kashmir. The Chenab originates in India Himachal Pradesh state, travels through
Jammu & Kashmir. The Jhelum rises in Jammu & Kashmir and flows into Pakistan, finally
joining Chenab. Pakistan has exclusive use of the Western Rivers- the Indus, the Jhelum and
Chenab. India exclusive use of all of the waters of the Eastern Rivers and their tributaries before
the point where the rivers enter Pakistan. But no intercession was agreed by India and Pakistan in
the natural flows of the western rivers (Indus, Jhelum and Chenab) and eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas
and Sutlej), respectively
Indo-China conflict (Likely)
 China has long been eyeing the water reserves of Tibet, especially during and since the period of
Mao (1949-1976) (Ninkovic and Lehmann, 2013). Elizabeth Economy, the director of Asia
Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, said in an interview that it’s not
surprising that China is circumspect about the strategic consequences of the Tibetan Plateau’s
freshwater supplies. According to Economy, control of water resources in the Tibetan Plateau
might be an issue internally, but externally, it is not. “China wants to minimize the range of
issues it needs to negotiate. Once this issue of water resources comes up, and it seems inevitable
at this point that it will, it also raises emerging conflicts with India and Southeast Asia. (Keith
Schneider and C. T. Pope, 2008).
 The Brahmaputra is a shared river between India, China and Bangladesh. There was a
misunderstanding in information sharing information. In 2000, India accused China of not
sharing information of the river's status in the run up to landslides in Tibet which caused floods
in northeastern India and Bangladesh. This river water could be a flashpoint for two of the

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world's rising powers.
Interstate disputes
 India, whether it is between Haryana and Punjab in the North or between Karnataka, Tamilnadu
and Andhra Pradesh in the South, has had interstate of conflicts on water. Similarly, there exists
disagreements on sharing water between provinces in Pakisthan.
3 Regional Sharing of Water Resources
Regional cooperation for harnessing the water resources, -the renewable natural gift in an integrated
approach would benefit the economic growth of vast population and also would help in removing mistrusts on
sharing waters that exist between counties. Monsoon type of climate that prevails over the region provides
more than 70 % rainfall in four months and major portion of which runs to ocean as floods. Such
characteristics always demands mechanisms to store water within watersheds whether it is biotechnology and
land use management or infrastructure development like multipurpose reservoirs which also reduce the
severity of floods and flood damages at downstream areas. Stored water would reduce the seasonal imbalance
in the availability of water over the region. Food security and energy security of the region would largely be
increased from stored and regulated waters of Himalayn rivers.
3.1 Multipurpose Storage projects
High dam reservoirs facilitate multiple uses. There are several storage sites identified in the Himalayan
region. Although there are added risk of flood disasters due to high dams, but the purpose of storage projects
also consist in improving flood security for three northern states (Utter Pradesh, Bihar, and West Bengal) of
India and Bangladesh. Besides, the stored water would also increase agricultural products many folds. Large
reservoirs not only store water for lean season but also increase air moisture surrounding the reservoir.
3.1.1 Water Storage Potential in Nepal (a case study)
Nepal being a mountainous country possesses large number of suitable sites of storage projects
Preliminary study (MoWR) reveals that Nepal could hold about 128 billion cubic meters of water out of
which about 82 billion cubic meters of water could be regulated (Table 3). This indicated that about 40 % of
the total annual run off and 50 to 60 % of the monsoon flow can be held and released in lean season period
annually. Similarly, such storage potential would be made available elsewhere in the foot hills of Himalayan
region.
Table - 3: Water Storage potential in Nepal
Number of
Sites
Dam height Catchment km2
Storage capacity, million. m3
Submerged. Area, km2
Gross Live
9 144 m to 315 m 9111 to 54100 100310 66330 1394
10 85 m to 230 m 1190 to 16200 25570 13910 503
8 51 m to 140 m 126 to 30800 2824 2031 76
27 Total 128704 82271 1973
3.1.2 River linking project of India
India’s river linking project is a very ambitious concept to transport water from 'surplus
basin' to 'deficit basins’. Concept offers a solution to the scarcity of domestic water supplies in the
drier parts of India. However, it does not give any guarantee for providing security of domestic
water supplies to the drier uplands.
The river linking is projected as necessary for food security of India. Because the food grain
demand has an increasing trend of yearly growth rate of 4.5 per cent per capita food grains
(NCIWRDP, 1999). Though the agricultural productivity also depends on technological
breakthroughs but the basic requirement is the availability of good water and lands, the interlinking
project is considered as an essential step for food security.

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Among 14 inter-links under consideration for Himalayan component) Nepalese concerns
would be in: Ghaghara -Yamuna link; Kosi- Ghaghara link; Kosi-Mechi link; Gandak-Ganga link.
But, Bangladesh would face effects by all 14 interlinking projects.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Rivers_Inter-link#Himalayan_component)
Further, conflicts arise also due environmental degradation associated with storage projects
and river linking. It becomes necessary to examine whether the storage and river linking project
would end up intensifying the already embittered inter, intra and trans boundary conflict over water
sharing and availability.
4 Major constraints
4.1 Environmental degradation
 ‘‘It has predicted that one degree temperature raise at sea level will correspond to two degree
temperature raise in high altitude (Shrestha et al., 1999).
 ‘‘Bangladesh in grave danger: deforestation in Himalayas aggravating floods.’’ (Bangladesh
Observer, 2 June 1990)
 ‘‘When the Himalayas were covered in trees, Bangladesh suffered a major flood about twice
a century; one every four years is now the average.’’ (UNEP 1992)
 ‘‘The severe floods in eastern India and Bangladesh are not the result of a natural disaster,
but of a ruthless exploitation of wood which has been practiced over centuries in the forests
of the Himalayas.’’ (Basler Zeitung, 15 September 1998)
 The Chinese government, in its studies, acknowledges the changing condition of Tibet’s
water supply. Last summer, the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, a unit of the Chinese
Academy of Sciences, reported that the area and mass of the region’s glaciers had decreased
7 percent since the late 1960s. The Chinese scientists reported that the melting phenomenon
was widespread, though it was not known how many of China’s 46,298 glaciers were
affected. (Ninkovic and Lehmann, 2013)
 “At least 500 million people in Asia and 250 million people in China are at risk from
declining glacial flows on the Tibetan Plateau,” due to Climate Change (IPCC)
4.1.1 Sedimentation
Along with severe seismic hazards and earthquakes at the plate boundary all along the Himalayan
foothills; there lies knowledge gap and uncertainty in dynamics of sediment generation, wasting
characteristics and sediment discharge in the Himalayan rivers due to steepness and fragility of the Himalaya.
The Ganges/ Brahmaputra system has the third largest discharge and largest sediment load in the world,
1,086,000 ft³/s and 1.84 billion tons a year respectively. The storage capacity of reservoirs built in this region
has been decreasing considerably due to siltation. While the project-planners might claim that they have
answers for all these problems, but environmentalists would suggest to leave Himalayan rivers with no
intervention.
4.2 Risk; flood and inundation
On mountainous country, flood plains, debris fans, and river deposits on both sides of riverbanks are
developed as paddy fields and irrigable terraces. There are settlements on most of river banks. So in cases of
high dam projects displaced families and inundated areas is a serious problems in mountainous countries
especially in Nepal. Nepal Terai will get flood control benefits also from high dam reservoirs; Depending on
scale of monsoon flows storage, Bangladesh might get benefit from minimized inundation, but India gets such
benefit much more than Nepal and Bangladesh from stored and regulated flows. However, in cases of Nepal,
southern plain of Tarai becomes the worst and first victim of dam breaks (Breaching of Kosi embankment,
2008).
Dams are often not planned with flood moderation as the primary aim and irrigation and power
generation often override the flood moderation function. This is what happened in the case of the Deodar

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Valley Corporation (DVC), which was planned for multiple functions (flood moderation, power generation,
irrigation and the general development of the area), but the planned flood moderation was never achieved.
(Sengupta et al., 2000).
4.3 Technical Challenges
Positive version is that the threat of a dam collapse or cracks due to an earthquake or tremor is very real
throughout the world (Schneider, 2009) but seismic issue is a challenge for high dam storage projects in fragile
Himalayan region. The effects of climate change on the Himalayan glaciers pose unprecedented floods not
only to settlements on river banks but also poses major threats to infrastructure. Can we design and construct
economically which stands to devastating floods and landslides caused by multi-day cloudburst of June 2013
over the North Indian state of Uttarakhand ?
4.4 Downstream benefits
Irrigation, hydropower, flood control and water supply are major uses of reservoirs. Plain and arable
land of Nepal is very less, and India gets much benefits of regulated flow from big reservoirs to be
constructed in future. Bangladesh will be also highly benefitted in minimizing flood damages and by
availability of more water in lean period storage projects in Nepal, Bhutan and India itself. Reaching to
acceptable benefit sharing mechanism for irrigation, hydropower, flood control, navigation, and heights of
huddles to regional cooperation could be minimized.
5 Conclusion
Nepal, Bhutan, India, Bangladesh and Tibet (PR of China) inherit specialties in geography and
topography. Economy and capacity of countries also differs. Multinational regional cooperation on water
resources development has not yet been flourished in the region. Regional strategies on water resources
development are to be developed on common shared goals and benefits sharing making consensus on ground
realities Priorities of the countries as mentioned below are integrated in their respective development process
to facilitate regional cooperation.
Nepal - Water resource development of Nepal be prioritized to the production of hydroelectricity which
does not have any effect for other uses of water i.e. drinking and irrigation; and which may provide
additional flood control. Development policy trend is in the same direction but need further thrust
Bhutan – Bhutan has been already moving ahead in the production and sell of hydroelectricity in bilateral
agreements with India.
India - Indo-Gangetic plain of India possesses high potential of agricultural development and so irrigation
comes on the top priority. Himalayan mountain of India also have appreciable power hydropower
potential but not enough to meet countries requirements.
Pakistan - Pakistan also have similar situation as India.
Bangladesh - Bangladesh possesses a greatest risk from cyclones and floods disasters. Though irrigation
cannot be ruled out but safeguarding its people and properties from flood and inundation comes on the
top priority in water resource management.
Making Himalayan rivers navigable, possibly upto Indo-Nepal border, Nepal, and landlocked
state of India get highest benefits.
Knowledge gap and uncertainties which lies in dynamics of sediment generation and deposition
characteristics in the Himalayan rivers. A significant weight has to be given for the study of sediment
yield and transport.
High dam multipurpose reservoir projects are to be owned at regional level on humanitarian
ground for which much affords has to be made to get consensus among countries. River linking project or

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river diversion projects on trans-boundary rivers or on trans basin rivers be justified to minimize the
adverse effects on upstream and downstream ecology and water uses.
Finally, regional cooperation for harnessing the water resources, - the renewable natural gift in an
integrated approach would benefit to economic growth of vast population of the region and also would
help in removing mistrusts. It is now high time to look for a common regional consensus on national and
regional policies based on realities, priorities and international norms for trans-boundary rivers
development.
6 References
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century”. Water Resources Development 11(4).
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Third National Conference on Science and Technology, March 8 – 11, 1999, Kathmandu, Nepal.
CBS (Central Bureau Statistics)/ICIMOD (International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development), 2003,
“Mapping Nepal Census Indicators 2001 and Trends”, Kathmandu, Nepal
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by Country. Rome
FAO, 2014, Information and reporting system for water and agriculture in Asian monsoon areas;
http://www.fao.org/nr/water/espim/country/bhutan/index.stm (08/10/2014)
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