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Indian River Projects Threaten Bangladesh Water Security
New Delhi is starting massive series of new projects to divert water from major rivers in the north and the east of the country to India's drought-stricken western and southern regions. This news has sounded alarm bells in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka, according to the UK's Guardian newspaper.
The $400 billion project involves rerouting water from major rivers including the Ganga and Brahmaputra and creating canals to link the Ken and Batwa rivers in central India and Damanganga-Pinjal in the west. Its target is to help drought-hit India farmers who are killing themselves at a rate on one every 30 minutes for at least two decades.
The Indo-Gangetic Plain, also known as Indus-Ganga and the North Indian River Plain, is a 255 million hectare (630 million acre) fertile plain encompassing most of northern and eastern India, the eastern parts of Pakistan, and virtually all of Bangladesh, according to a Wikipedia entry.
India and Pakistan have a formal internationally-brokered and monitored treaty called Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) signed in 1960 between Indian Prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Pakistan President Ayub Khan in Karachi.
The IWT allocated water from three eastern rivers of Ravi, Beas and Sutlej for exclusive use by India before they enter Pakistan, while the water from three western rivers of Jhelum, Chenab and Indus was allocated for exclusive use of Pakistan. The treaty essentially partitioned the rivers rather than sharing of their waters. The treaty also permits India to build run-of-the-river hydroelectric projects on the western rivers but it can not divert any water from them for its own use.
In the east, River Ganga upon reaching the Indian state of West Bengal splits into two main branches, the Hooghly which continues its course south into West Bengal and the Padma that flows into Bangladesh. Similarly, the Brahmaputra upon reaching Bangladesh splits into two main distributaries, the Jamuna and the Meghna. Both enter Bangladesh at different points.
At least 100 million Bangladeshis living downstream in Jamuna (Brahmaputra) and Padma (Ganga) river basins will be hit hard if India carries out the project as planned.
Alarmed by this development, Bangladesh’s minister of water, Nazrul Islam, has pleaded with the Indian government to take Bangladesh’s water needs into consideration, noting that 54 of 56 Indian rivers flowed through his country.
Bangladesh is already suffering from India's increasing withdrawal of Ganges water in recent years. India has built at least 26 water diversion projects upstream the Ganges which has led to crop failure and even desertification of certain areas in the lower riparian Bangladesh, according to Dhaka Tribune.
Unlike the internationally-brokered and monitored Indus Water Treaty (IWT) between Pakistan and India, there is no similar water-sharing treaty between Bangladesh and India. The 1996 Farakka treaty has done little to help Bangladesh. It is dependent entirely on the good-will of the rulers in Delhi for its water life-line.
Will Modi respond positively to the pleas of his strong ally in Bangladesh's Shaikh Hasina to take its eastern neighbor's water needs into consideration? Will Modi assure Bangladesh by signing a binding water-sharing treaty along the lines of the Indus Waters Treaty? Unfortunately, the history suggests otherwise.
Related Links:
Indian Farmer Suicide One Every 30 Minutes
Recurring Floods and Droughts in Pakistan
Riaz Haq
Arnaud Bertrand
@RnaudBertrand
It's done: China just launched the construction of the Yarlung Tsangpo dam project (https://scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3318875/chinas-li-qia...).
It'll be by far the world’s largest hydroelectric facility, generating 3 times more electricity than the Three Gorges dam, 300 billion kilowatt-hours (and store 40 million acre-feet of water).
This dam project alone could power almost a quarter (21.6%) of all US households, since the average U.S. household consumes about 10,500 kilowatthours (kWh) of electricity per year (https://eia.gov/energyexplained/use-of-energy/electricity-use-in-ho...) and there are 132 million households in the US (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/TTLHH).
It could also power the entirety of France and Italy COMBINED, since the average electricity consumption in France is 2 223 kWh per person per year (https://particuliers.engie.fr/electricite/conseils-electricite/cons...), the scale is almost too unfathomable to believe.
https://x.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1946854532043899326
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China’s Li Qiang announces launch of Tibet mega dam project that has worried India
Premier Li Qiang attends groundbreaking ceremony for Yarlung Tsangpo dam on Tibetan Plateau with projected 300 billion kWh annual capacity( and store 40 million acre-feet of water).
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3318875/chinas-li...
Meredith Chen
Published: 10:41pm, 19 Jul 2025Updated: 10:47pm, 19 Jul 2025
Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Saturday announced the launch of a mega dam project on the Tibetan Plateau, in what is expected to be the world’s largest hydroelectric facility.
The massive project, located in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo River, has raised concerns about water supply and environmental impact downstream in India and Bangladesh.
Li attended the dam’s groundbreaking ceremony in Nyingchi, a southeastern city in the Tibet autonomous region, state news agency Xinhua reported on Saturday.
The Yarlung Tsangpo becomes the Brahmaputra River as it leaves Tibet and flows south into India’s Arunachal Pradesh and Assam states, and finally into Bangladesh.
Beijing first announced plans for the dam in 2020 under its five-year plan, as part of a broader strategy to exploit the hydropower potential of the Tibetan Plateau. The plan was approved last December.
The project is said to be the largest of its kind in the world, with an estimated annual capacity of 300 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity – three times that of the Three Gorges Dam.
However, it has raised concerns in India and Bangladesh about the impact on their water and food security. There are also worries about population displacement and major environmental disruption, as well as potential weaponisation of water by China, which could use the dam to cause floods or induce droughts.
China asserts that the project has undergone rigorous scientific evaluation and will not adversely affect the ecological environment, geological stability, or water resource rights of downstream countries. Beijing has also emphasised that it will not try to benefit at the “expense of its neighbours”.
Rather, the project could help in disaster prevention and mitigation efforts, and support climate change adaptation in downstream regions, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.
The dam has reportedly prompted India to speed up its own hydropower projects on the Brahmaputra in Arunachal Pradesh to assert water resource rights.
India maintains that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of its territory, while China claims it as part of southern Tibet and has objected to other Indian infrastructure projects there.
The mega project in Tibet will have five cascade hydropower stations, with a total investment estimated at around 1.2 trillion yuan (US$167 billion), the Xinhua report said.
Jul 20
Riaz Haq
Tejasswi Prakash
@Tiju0Prakash
Modi government’s reckless suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty has backfired, China has now begun construction on the Yarlung Zangbo (Brahmaputra) project.
By breaking international norms, Modi handed upper riparian states like China a perfect excuse to do the same.
This isn’t strategy, it’s self-sabotage. India’s water security is now at serious risk.
#OperationSindoor
https://x.com/Tiju0Prakash/status/1946948939434934573
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Dr. Brahma Chellaney
@Chellaney
The Assam chief minister’s comments on China’s super-dam project are not just ill-informed — they exemplify the dangerous distortions that foster complacency in India. https://moneycontrol.com/news/india/no-immediate-cause-for-worry-ov...
A river’s perennial flow is sustained by mountain springs, upland wetlands or peat bogs, glacial melt, and perennial tributaries. In the case of the Brahmaputra, these enduring water sources lie more in Tibet than in India. Within India, it is the intense monsoonal rains that swell the river seasonally.
China’s super-dam will disrupt the Brahmaputra’s natural flow of nutrient-rich sediment from the Himalayas — a lifeline for the river’s ecological health. Depriving the river of this sediment will erode riverbeds, destabilize banks, degrade natural habitats, and shrink the delta and estuaries, rendering them more vulnerable to sea-level rise.
The super-dam will also disrupt the Brahmaputra’s natural flooding cycle, which sustains fisheries and rejuvenates overworked soils. Without the seasonal delivery of silt, the floodplains of Assam and Bangladesh will lose their natural fertility.
https://x.com/Chellaney/status/1947316820349719007
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Dawn.com
@dawn_com
India's Arunachal Pradesh chief minister says that the project, barely 50km from the border, can dry out 80pc of the river in the state while potentially inundating downstream areas in Arunachal and neighbouring Assam state.
https://x.com/dawn_com/status/1947276507476267313
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Jayant Bhandari
@JayantBhandari5
Modi said he would shut off river water flow to Pakistan. He has no mechanism to implement this. Now, China is building a dam upstream of one of the most important Indian rivers. India sets itself up for mind-boggling embarrassment and humiliation.
https://x.com/JayantBhandari5/status/1947227265164574879
Jul 21
Riaz Haq
Aug 11