Transboundary impact assessment of Indian dams: a case study of Chenab River Basin in perspective of Indus Water Treaty

Abstract

Several transboundary rivers are being shared in South Asia by neighbouring states within a certain framework. A comparative analysis of the Indus Water Treaty has been carried out with other South Asian water treaties while suggesting measures to enhance mutual cooperation over shared rivers between India and Pakistan. With a specific focus on Chenab River, transboundary impact assessments of Indian dams have been carried out keeping in view the aspects of quantity, quality and temporal change in river course. A decreasing trend and significant fluctuation in river discharge was observed with an average decrease of 0.5 billion (10 9 ) cubic metres per year in annual inflow. In terms of water quality, pH (7.90 to 8.06), nitrates and other parameters were found within permissible limits. Total coliform (34 to 280 no/100 ml) and faecal coliform (21 to 193 no/100 ml) values were higher than permissible limits in three streams, whereas Escherichia coli was found þve in only the Jummu Tawi River. Water was found unsuitable for drinking while suitable for agriculture and aquatic life. Temporal analysis shows significant change in river course over a span of 40 years. As a result of impact assessment evolving threats and their remedial measures have been suggested.

Future upstream water consumption and its impact on downstream water availability in the transboundary Indus Basin

“…The results of this study therefore support the claims of previous studies that the Indus Water Treaty needs to be revisited (Ahmad and Iqbal, 2016;Kalair et al, 2019;Qamar et al, 2019;Wada et al, 2019) and include the Kabul tributary, and thereby Afghanistan (Zawahri and Michel, 2018), in order to ensure equitable and sustainable future water allocation between riparian states and provide a robust platform for the development of basin-wide adaptation strategies. The role of climatic changes in this process has been at the forefront of scientific attention (Kalair et al, 2019;Qamar et al, 2019) and policy-making (Parvaiz, 2021) in recent years.…”

“…Water quality issues can similarly play an important role in upstream-downstream relations (Wolf, 2007), as exemplified by transboundary water quality disputes emerging in the Chenab and Jhelum sub-basins (Ahmad and Iqbal, 2016;Zawahri and Michel, 2018). Return flows from domestic, industrial and agricultural water usage upstream may be polluted and reduce the downstream availability of water that is of usable quality (Yoon et al, 2015).…”

“…However, the Kabul and Jhelum sub-basins are transboundary. Past plans to construct additional hydropower dams, with limited storage capacity, in the Indian share of the Chenab sub-basin have led to disputes over fears that this infrastructure could be used to further control the flow of vital dry season water resources to downstream Pakistan and infringe on the terms of the Indus Water Treaty (Ahmad and Iqbal, 2016). Both the increasing upstream water use projected for these sub-basins, and hydrological interventions to facilitate this use such as storage dams and diversion canals, may therefore intensify upstream-downstream water competition and aggravate existing hydropolitical tensions between riparian states (Atef et al, 2019;Gupta and Ebrahim, 2017).…”

Thirst for food security : drivers, trade-offs and integrated adaptation strategies for future water and food security in the Indus basin

“…Water quality issues can similarly play an important role in upstream-downstream relations (Wolf, 2007), as exemplified by transboundary water quality disputes emerging in the Chenab and Jhelum sub-basins (Ahmad & Iqbal, 2016;Zawahri & Michel, 2018). Return flows from domestic, industrial and agricultural water usage upstream may be polluted and reduce the downstream availability of water that is of usable quality (Yoon et al, 2015).…”

“…However, the Kabul and Jhelum are transboundary sub-basins. Past plans to construct additional hydropower dams, with limited storage capacity, in the Indian share of the Chenab sub-basin have led to disputes over fears that this infrastructure could be used to further control the flow of vital dry season water resources to downstream Pakistan and infringe on the terms of the Indus Water Treaty (Ahmad & Iqbal, 2016). Both the increasing upstream water use projected for these sub-basins, and hydrological interventions to facilitate this use such as storage dams and diversion canals, may therefore intensify upstream-downstream water competition and aggravate existing hydro-political tensions between the riparian states (Atef et al, 2019;Gupta & Ebrahim, 2017).…”