China and India 'water grab' dams put ecology of Himalayas in danger

[beijingwalker]

China and India 'water grab' dams put ecology of Himalayas in danger
John Vidal
The Observer, Saturday 10 August 2013 13.59 BST

The future of the world's most famous mountain range could be endangered by a vast dam-building project, as a risky regional race for water resources takes place in Asia.

New academic research shows that India, Nepal, Bhutan and Pakistan are engaged in a huge "water grab" in the Himalayas, as they seek new sources of electricity to power their economies. Taken together, the countries have plans for more than 400 hydro dams which, if built, could together provide more than 160,000MW of electricity – three times more than the UK uses.

In addition, China has plans for around 100 dams to generate a similar amount of power from major rivers rising in Tibet. A further 60 or more dams are being planned for the Mekong river which also rises in Tibet and flows south through south-east Asia.

Most of the Himalayan rivers have been relatively untouched by dams near their sources. Now the two great Asian powers, India and China, are rushing to harness them as they cut through some of the world's deepest valleys. Many of the proposed dams would be among the tallest in the world, able to generate more than 4,000MW, as much as the Hoover dam on the Colorado river in the US.

The result, over the next 20 years, "could be that the Himalayas become the most dammed region in the world", said Ed Grumbine, visiting international scientist with the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Kunming. "India aims to construct 292 dams … doubling current hydropower capacity and contributing 6% to projected national energy needs. If all dams are constructed as proposed, in 28 of 32 major river valleys, the Indian Himalayas would have one of the highest average dam densities in the world, with one dam for every 32km of river channel. Every neighbour of India with undeveloped hydropower sites is building or planning to build multiple dams, totalling at minimum 129 projects," said Grumbine, author of a paper in Science.

China, which is building multiple dams on all the major rivers running off the Tibetan plateau, is likely to emerge as the ultimate controller of water for nearly 40% of the world's population. "The plateau is the source of the single largest collection of international rivers in the world, including the Mekong, the Brahmaputra, the Yangtse and the Yellow rivers. It is the headwater of rivers on which nearly half the world depends. The net effect of the dam building could be disastrous. We just don't know the consequences," said Tashi Tseri, a water resource researcher at the University of British Columbia in Canada.

"China is engaged in the greatest water grab in history. Not only is it damming the rivers on the plateau, it is financing and building mega-dams in Pakistan, Laos, Burma and elsewhere and making agreements to take the power," said Indian geopolitical analyst Brahma Chellaney. "China-India disputes have shifted from land to water. Water is the new divide and is going centre stage in politics. Only China has the capacity to build these mega-dams and the power to crush resistance. This is effectively war without a shot being fired."


According to Chellaney, India is in the weakest position because half its water comes directly from China; however, Bangladesh is fearful of India's plans for water diversions and hydropower. Bangladeshi government scientists say that even a 10% reduction in the water flow by India could dry out great areas of farmland for much of the year. More than 80% of Bangladesh's 50 million small farmers depend on water that flows through India.

Engineers and environmentalists say that little work has been done on the human or ecological impact of the dams, which they fear could increase floods and be vulnerable to earthquakes. "We do not have credible environmental and social impact assessments, we have no environmental compliance system, no cumulative impact assessment and no carrying capacity studies. The Indian ministry of environment and forests, developers and consultants are responsible for this mess," said Himanshu Thakkar, co-ordinator of South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People.

China and India have both displaced tens of millions of people with giant dams such as the Narmada and Three Gorges over the last 30 years, but governments have not published estimates of how many people would have to be relocated or how much land would be drowned by the new dams. "This is being totally ignored. No one knows, either, about the impact of climate change on the rivers. The dams are all being built in rivers that are fed by glaciers and snowfields which are melting at a fast rate," said Tsering.

Climate models suggest that major rivers running off the Himalayas, after increasing flows as glaciers melt, could lose 10-20% of their flow by 2050. This would not only reduce the rivers' capacity to produce electricity, but would exacerbate regional political tensions.

The dams have already led to protest movements in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Assam and other northern states of India and in Tibet. Protests in Uttarakhand, which was devastated by floods last month, were led by Indian professor GD Agarwal, who was taken to hospital after a 50-day fast but who was released this week.

"There is no other way but to continue because the state government is not keen to review the dam policy," said Mallika Bhanot, a member of Ganga Avahan, a group opposing proposals for a series of dams on the Ganges.

Governments have tried to calm people by saying that many of the dams will not require large reservoirs, but will be "run of the river" constructions which channel water through tunnels to massive turbines. But critics say the damage done can be just as great. "[These] will complete shift the path of the river flow," said Shripad Dharmadhikary, a leading opponent of the Narmada dams and author of a report into Himalayan dams. "Everyone will be affected because the rivers will dry up between points. The whole hydrology of the rivers will be changed. It is likely to aggravate floods.

"A dam may only need 500 people to move because of submergence, but because the dams stop the river flow it could impact on 20,000 people. They also disrupt the groundwater flows so many people will end up with water running dry. There will be devastation of livelihoods along all the rivers."

 

[WhiteMansBurden]

Well, this should be interesting...

 

[beijingwalker]

Tibet turns to be the most valuable piece of land on this planet...

 

[AyanRay]

What bull sh!t, 50% of india's waters come from China?? Apart from brahmaputra, which other indian river originates from China? And almost all indian major rivers get their MAJORITY of water supply from rain occuring inside indian territory and not glaciers including the ganga, yamuna and also brahmaputra.

 

[MohitV]

run-of-the-river hydro dams can solve this problem

What bull sh!t, 50% of india's waters come from China?? Apart from brahmaputra, which other indian river originates from China? And almost all indian major rivers get their MAJORITY of water supply from rain occuring inside indian territory and not glaciers including the ganga, yamuna and also brahmaputra.

exactly....but the problem is.....the entire north east part depends upon brahmaputra as its big enough to support the agriculture of the whole region

 

[Enemy]

What bull sh!t, 50% of india's waters come from China?? Apart from brahmaputra, which other indian river originates from China? And almost all indian major rivers get their MAJORITY of water supply from rain occuring inside indian territory and not glaciers including the ganga, yamuna and also brahmaputra.

India is a gift of the monsoon. If anybody can affect the delicate monsoon with a weather weapon system, can significantly affect India. Without monsoon India will be just like Saudi Arabia without oil fields.

Probably a billion people will starve, die and turn straight to cannibalism if rainy seasons disappear for just three/four years. Nobody can import food and feed a billion people.

 

[beijingwalker]

water wil be the future bone of contention in this world.

 

[Echo_419]

Can't we just Recycle Ocean water or even Sewage water at a Very Large scale
Scale of a Billion People

We must Invest Massively is this kind of technology & Spending must go into 10s of Billions if we are to make a Difference

 

[Enemy]

water wil be the future bone of contention in this world.

Lol, you don't get it, do you?

Major source of water in India comes from the monsoon rainy seasons. Melting of Himalayan glaciers play secondary role.

As I said, you will have to kill the monsoon with a potential weather weapon system such as contaminating the approaching clouds, so that the clouds either stop rain fall or create some kind of acid rains.

Monsoon of South Asia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Acid rain - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Building dams in the Himalayas is riskier, less effective and more difficult than to contaminate the clouds. Try to think outside the box.

 

[Kiss_of_the_Dragon]

Lol, you don't get it, do you?

Major source of water in India comes from the monsoon rainy seasons. Melting of Himalayan glaciers play secondary role.

As I said, you will have to kill the monsoon with a potential weather weapon system such as contaminating the approaching clouds, so that the clouds either stop rain fall or create some kind of acid rains.

Monsoon of South Asia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Acid rain - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Building dams in the Himalayas is riskier, less effective and more difficult than to contaminate the clouds. Try to think outside the box.

you want weapon to take care of your Monsoon, we will do our best to make one for you: first the worst enemy for India monsoon, it's India polution and climat change, By adding wind farm in Tibet, this will create some anomalies to the monsooon cycle, Tibet plateau is Indian's cursing neighboring land that your monsoon is so depending on, China will have opportunity to do some dirty job to twist the balance of nature than India's monsoon season will be like the menstruation of the lady that will become unpredictable...this is worst than all nukes combined on earth, India will wipe out itself as your #6 statement, it's evil isn't it.

China building highest wind farm in Tibet - Times Of India

The Tibetan plateau and the Indian monsoon - The Hindu

 

[Enemy]

you want weapon to take care of your Monsoon, we will do our best to make one for you: first the worst enemy for India monsoon, it's India polution and climat change, By adding wind farm in Tibet, this will create some anomalies to the monsooon cycle, Tibet plateau is Indian's cursing neighboring land that your monsoon is so depending on, China will have opportunity to do some dirty job to twist the balance of nature than India's monsoon season will be like the menstruation of the lady that will become unpredictable...this is worst than all nukes combined on hearth, India will wipe out itself as your #6 statement, it's evil isn't it.

China building highest wind farm in Tibet - Times Of India

The Tibetan plateau and the Indian monsoon - The Hindu

You know what, there is nothing new I said. While reading the Rig Veda, I focused more on the tactics that the Aryans applied in order to conquer the land. How could a bunch of Aryans defeat an already flourishing civilization on the Indus river valley?

The Aryan warlord Indra himself was considered as the thunder god and he was the first to use natural attributes as weapons. He just destroyed the dams of the Harappans and that alone was enough to put an end to the Harappan settlements.

If anyone wants to conquer India, he must conquer the way, Indra conquered it.

But Indra was soldier not a thinker, so there must have been someone, still unknown, who asked Indra to destroy the dams that Harappans had built. But that appeared to be a decisive action.

Building dams on the Tibetan plateau may not serve your purpose but may erode your strength. Of course, that is your land and you can do whatever you want.

Kautilya said in the Arthashastra.

विद्वत्वं च नृपत्वं च नैव तुल्यं कदाचन।
स्वदेशे पूज्यते राजा विद्वान् सर्वत्र पूज्यते॥

Scholarship and kingship can never be equated. A king is respected in his own kingdom whereas a scholar is respected everywhere.

Without Kautilya's wisdom, there would not have been any Mauryan empire.

So what you need is wisdom, first.

 

[Kiss_of_the_Dragon]

You know what, there is nothing new I said. While reading the Rig Veda, I focused more on the tactics that the Aryans applied in order to conquer the land. How could a bunch of Aryans defeat an already flourishing civilization on the Indus river valley?

The Aryan warlord Indra himself was considered as the thunder god and he was the first to use natural attributes as weapons. He just destroyed the dams of the Harappans and that alone was enough to put an end to the Harappan settlements.

If anyone wants to conquer India, he must conquer the way, Indra conquered it.

But Indra was soldier not a thinker, so there must have been someone, still unknown, who asked Indra to destroy the dams that Harappans had built. But that appeared to be a decisive action.

Building dams on the Tibetan plateau may not serve your purpose but may erode your strength. Of course, that is your land and you can do whatever you want.

Kautilya said in the Arthashastra.

विद्वत्वं च नृपत्वं च नैव तुल्यं कदाचन।
स्वदेशे पूज्यते राजा विद्वान् सर्वत्र पूज्यते॥

Scholarship and kingship can never be equated. A king is respected in his own kingdom whereas a scholar is respected everywhere.

Without Kautilya's wisdom, there would not have been any Mauryan empire.

So what you need is wisdom, first.

I don't know what you're to get at, are we talking about Monsoon weapon?

 

[Enemy]

I don't know what you're to get at, are we talking about Monsoon weapon?

Lets make it easier.

You are building dams in Tibet to use them as weapons. But they are vulnerable to enemy air strikes because you can't hide or camouflage dams. You can't protect your weapon systems leaving them open under the sky.

Then how about using sky as the weapon itself?

 

[Kiss_of_the_Dragon]

Lets make it easier.

You are building dams in Tibet to use them as weapons. But they are vulnerable to enemy air strikes because you can't hide or camouflage dams. You can't protect your weapon systems leaving them open under the sky.

Then how about using sky as the weapon itself?

What's your concern about India?, don't you want to make China the worst enemy of India with all your threads, what's matter now your conscient wake you up with this theorical monsoon weapon?

 

[Enemy]

What's your concern about India?, don't you want to make China the worst enemy of India with all your threads, what's matter now your conscient wake you up with this theorical monsoon weapon?

Building dams in Tibet just to block water flow is only what a stupid would do. You do that, India will simply be forced to bomb them in retaliation.