GUWAHATI, Feb 6 � In the wake of the reports of the Chinese proposal to build three more dams on the Brahmaputra (Yarlung Tsangpo) in the Tibetan Autonomous Region, noted river engineer Prof Nayan Sarma of the IIT, Roorkee has called for a comprehensive water management co-operation treaty among the four co-basin countries of China, India, Bhutan, and Bangladesh.
While talking to The Assam Tribune, he said such an agreement has become imperative for these co-basin countries for sustainable, equitable, safe and judicious exploitation of the water resources of the Brahmaputra. This treaty should be signed in a climate of trust, cooperation and harmony, he said.
There are many instances of similar water use of trans-boundary rivers amongst big and small countries without generating any sense of deprivation in a win-win situation for the co-basin countries, he maintained.
In the current context of climate change and rising population growth, it is anticipated that there will be steep hike in water demand in the coming decades which potentially may give rise to discord among the co-basin nations in the absence of appropriate water management co-operation mechanism, said Prof Sarma.
It needs mention here that the Chinese authorities have proposed to build three more dams on the Brahmaputra at Dagu (640MW), Jiacha (320MW) and Jiexu (capacity yet to be known), in addition to the 510-MW Zangmu, which is under construction.
In the event of major earthquakes, any possible structural failure of above dams on the Yarlung Tsangpo sited at an altitude of about 3 kilometres above Assam plains in Eastern Tibet may pose very serious hazard for the Brahmaputra valley in North East India, he said.
Prof Sarma also points to the unconfirmed reports about the future plans for probable diversion of the Yarlung Tsangpo to Xinjiang province / Gobi desert and also to acute water scarce northern areas of China for various uses.
In the above context, there is an imperative need to scientifically study the impact of any such possible future plans for flow diversion of the Yarlung Tsangpo by constructing storage or diversion dams or by simply making dams at a very high altitude for run-of-the-river hydel project.
Notably, out of the average annual flow of 455,000 million cubic metres of the Brahmaputra at Pandu in Assam about 44 per cent of the average flow is contributed by the Dihang or Siang mainstream which is known as the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet. While during monsoon season, the balance 56 per cent flow comes from the tributaries in Assam, the bulk of non-monsoon dry weather base flow of the Brahmaputra is mainly generated from the source glaciers in the Tibetan high Himalayas, said Prof Sarma.
