If investors could develop the futures market for water, they would probably reap stellar returns. One needs to look no further than the long-term tussle between Pakistan and India over shared water resources of the Indus Water Basin to be convinced of the importance of this precious element.
But, cooperation rather than confrontation is the way to go if the benefits of water from the Indus Basin have to be maximized—so suggests a report by the Stimson Center, a Washington-based think-tank.
The report titled ‘Connecting the Drops’ highlights how rising population and development initiatives on both sides of the border have put strains on the existing supply from the Indus Basin.
Water withdrawals by both India and Pakistan are on the rise, the extent of increase being greater from the former. Over a comparable time span, annual water withdrawals from Pakistan have risen by roughly 20 percent for the 1975-2008 period, while that from neighbouring India have more than doubled during 1975-2010.
Annual water withdrawals exceed the natural rates of renewal, making it an unsustainable and ecologically unfriendly depletion of the Basin’s groundwater resources. “Abstractions from the Indus aquifers reflect both the most intensive and the most unsustainable levels of groundwater exploitation on Earth,” warns the report.
Climatic changes—global warming that shifts seasonal timings, increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather calamities—will play their part in worsening the scenario, while greater urbanisation and awareness and demand of higher living standards will put additional strains on existing supplies that do not benefit from adequate planning and management.
The 1960 Indus Water Treaty has essentially governed the distribution of water resources between the two neighbours, physically dividing the river such that three western tributaries were allocated for Pakistan, while three eastern tributaries were assigned to India.
But, without any clauses defining how variations in water flow due to climatic changes should be dealt with or any details about water quality, pollution and groundwater supplies, the treaty leaves a lot to be desired, making the Indus Basin an Achilles heel in Indo-Pak diplomatic ties.
In Pakistan 13 million hectares of arable land lies unutilised. The case in India is not much different where irrigation efficiency in canal systems is at a paltry 38-40 percent.
For both countries, regular maintenance of canal infrastructure, use of laser land-leveling technology to improve water utilisation efficiency in small and mid-sized farms and initiatives to avoid water wastage such as better storage capacities or treating sewage water are good suggestions.
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RENEWABLE WATER RESOURCES AND WITHDRAWAL LEVELS IN THE INDUS RIVER BASIN
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Country India Pakistan Total
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Average long-term available renewable water supplies in the IRB 97 km3/year 190 km3/year 287 krn3/year
Estimated renewable surface water supplies in the IRB 73 km3/year 160-175 km3/year 239-258 km3/year
Estimated renewable groundwater supplies in the IRB 27 km3/year 63 krn3/year 90 km3/year
Estimated total water withdrawals in the IRB 98 km3/year 180-184 km3/year 257-299 km3/year
Estimated total surface water withdrawals in the IRB 39 km3/year 128 km3/year
Estimated total groundwater withdrawals in the IRB 55 km3/year 52-62 km3/year
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Source: Connecting the Drops:
An Indus Basin Roadmap for Cross-Border Water Research, Data Sharing, and Policy Coordination (2013)
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