Choosing the Right CBSE School A Comprehensive Guide for Parents
Partha Jyoti Das - Guwahati Dialogue, 10th September, 2013
1. Sustainable and improved water
governance in the Brahmaputra basin:
Issues and concerns
Country level dialogueIndia
Water, Climate & Hazard Programme
Transnational policy
Partha J Das
Water, Climate improved
dialogue forand Hazard Programme Aaranyak
Guwahati-781028
AARANYAK
water governance in
Guwahati-781 028,
Brahmaputra river Assam
Email: partha@aaranyak.org
10 September, 2013
www.aaranyak.org
Partha J Das
4. Water governance issues in India
• Decision making is top down sans community
participation
• Project implementation is non participative, often
technically flawed
• Lack of appropriate policies: policy gaps
• No state level water policy in Assam till date
• No specific integrated flood & erosion
management policy in the basin states in India
• Institutions in general lack transparency,
accountability, efficiency, coordination and
flexibility
5. Water governance issues in India
• Inadequately empowered PRIs, DDC/DACs
• No strong public activism against
inappropriate water management at state and
national levels
• No attention to the problem of land
degradation due to sand casting as well as
land reclamation
• Flood and sand adapted agriculture is a
neglected area
6. Policy Gaps
• Lack of an integrated flood and erosion
management policy
• Land acquisition policy for embankments(state
and central) not pro-people
• No locally acceptable R&R policy
• No bilateral arrangement for exchange of
information about river status and hydrological
data for monitoring and forecasting and warning
of flash floods
7. Transboundary Governance
• India-Bangladesh: Advantage India
• India-China: Advantage China
• India-Bhutan: Strategically more feasible and
manageable to deal with downstream hazards
• Civil society participation in track II/III
diplomacy
• Sharing of knowledge among basin sharing
countries
8. Governance :Inter-state issues
• No common platform for regional panning of
the basin
• Clash of interest and priorities among states
• NEWRA didn’t materialise
• Difference in opinion on hydropower
development(e.g. Arunachal Pradesh and
Assam)
• Upstream-downstream linkages in
hydrogeomorphology not recognised in policy
and practices
9. Need of AP-Assam collaboration
• Flood and erosion hazards cannot be adequately
mitigated in Assam without interventions in
upstream in AP
• Joint action of AP and Assam a must to prevent
deforestation, boulder extraction, hill slope
stabilisation and reduction of landslide potential
and silt and water retention(e.g. in small
structures)
• No bilateral arrangement for exchange of
information about river status and hydrological
data for monitoring and forecasting and warning
of flash floods
11. (Dash et al., 2007)
(Das, 2004)
Das, 2004
Summer monsoon rainfall has significantly decreased over the NMMT
meteorological subdivision @10 mm/decade; Annual rainfall show no trend.
12. South Asia Region
Extreme(heavy)
rainfall events have
increased in
magnitude and
frequency in eastern
Himalayan region
Eastern Himalaya Region
Increasing trend in the
contribution of very wet days to
the total precipitation amount
indicates the rise in extreme
rainfall events
Dash et al(2007)
13. Trends in discharge in BPRB
• Brahmaputra is most susceptible to reductions
of flow, threatening the food security of an
estimated 26 million people(Immerzeel et al,
2010)
• Melting of glaciers leads to increased dry
season runoff in the short term, in the longterm there could be a decline of dry season
river runoff from glaciers, turning perennial
rivers like the Brahmaputra into seasonal river
systems(Cruz et al, 2007)
14. Trends in discharge in BPRB
• There will be an initial increase in increase in mean
rainfall over the upstream of Brahmaputra basin by
about 25 %, till 2040s
• Flow in the Brahmaputra basin will increase due to
accelerated glacial melt till about the fourth decade of
this century
• But the overall summer and late spring discharges are
eventually expected to be reduced consistently and
considerably, at least by 19.6% on an average during the
years 2046 to 2065(Immerzeel et al, 2010)
• A very strong increase in peak flows is projected during
1961-2100(Gain et al, 2011)
15. CC and water availability of BPB
• CC may alter both intensity and reliability of the
monsoon, and thus affect both high and low flows
leading to increased flooding but possibly also to
increased variability of available water, both in
space and time (Postel et al., 1996).
• It may not be possible to utilise the high flows
during floods and wet seasons to augment flow in
the river in the dry season unless large storage
systems are in place (Oki and Kanae, 2006).
17. ILMS: CC scenario assessment for IWRM
Source: Brahmatwinn Project
Mean discharge in the UBRB
Past ERA
B1
A2
A1B
COM
30250
Mean discharge [mm]
25250
20250
15250
10250
5250
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
Source: Brahmatwinn Project
2020
2030
2040
2050
2060
2070
2080
18. The Yigong Flash Flood, 2000
• A huge complex landslide occurred in the valley of the Zhamulongba
stream
• About 300 million cubic meters of displaced debris, soil and ice
dammed the Yigongzangbu river - a large tributary of the
Yarlungzangbo river (the upper stream of the Brahmaputra), in the east
of Tibet.
• The dam failed on June 10, 2000 and caused havoc of flash flood in the
river Siang with an estimated property losses of not less than a billion
rupees, 30 deaths, more than 100 people missing, and more than
50,000 homeless in five districts of Arunanchal Pradesh, India. The
Jonai area of Dhemaji district of Assam was also heavily affected
• Chinese scientists predicted the flash flood on the basis of rising of
water level in the Yigongzangbu river in April 2000.
• Indian authorities ignored the warning
• Source: Li et al. 2001; GBPIHED, 2001
19. Climate change and sedimentation
• The increase in the sediment yield in the
Himalayan region is up to 25%, which can be
detrimental for the existing water resources
projects and has the potential to cause
considerable damage to the environment.
• Sediment yield will also increase in the NorthEastern region up to 25%.
Source: 4X4 assessment, MoEF, GoI, 2010
24. Drought like situations & water crisis
Moderate and intense drought like situations in Assam in
2005 and 2006 respectively
Mentioned by the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment report of
2007
2006: 15 districts of Assam had below normal (nearly
40%) rainfall in the region
More than 75% of the 26 million people associated with
livelihoods related to agriculture were affected
State suffered a loss of more than 100 crores due to crop
failure and other peripheral affects.
25. Drought like situations & water crisis
• Other states of the region also received
rainfall 30 – 40 % below their normal rainfall
except Mizoram.
• Dry spell from October 2009 to March 2010 in
Nepal, NEI, Orissa
26. Drought like situations & tea production
• Early onset of winter in NEI in 2011 resulted in
loss of 15 million KG of tea
• Rainfall deficit for West Bengal at around 31%
to 42% during the period January-March 2012
compared to the same period in 2011.
• Upper Assam estates in the South Bank of the
Brahmaputra are also experiencing severe
drought conditions
• Net estimated loss of tea production is 60% of
normal (about 26 million KGs)
27. Scarcity of drinking water
Kekuri village,
in lean season: Lakhimpur & Dhemaji Dhemaji
Tekjuri Barman, Dhemaji
Kekuri village,
Dhemaji
Mingmang-Lakhimpur
28.
29.
30. Hydropower Projects, Large river dams
and Climate change
• Storage reservoirs of large hydro dams emit
significant amount of green house gases(Methane,
CO2)
• Hydropower being a green energy source is a myth
• Climate change impacts are not factored in
designing the dams(e.g. DPR, EIA)
• CC effects on hydrological regime of rivers may
make many of the dams inefficient
31. Collapse of the coffer dam of the Lower Subansiri HEP on June 13, 2008
(Courtesy : PMSBV)
32. Burial of a School under sand: the All Assam Miri Higher
Secondary School at Khamon Birina village, Matmora in
2009
33. FEWS System in the village Kesakathani in Dhemaji on 02.09.13
34. The FEWS site buried in silt upto about 6 feet on 08.09.13 after the floods during 5-6
September
35. The flood gauge placed in the river Jiadhal at village Dihiri
38. Governance of food mitigation infrastructure
Institutional mechanism of decision making
WATER RESOURCE
DEPARTMENT
EXECUTIVE
ENGINEER (Circle)
Junior Engineer / Asst. Engineer / Asst.
Executive Engineer
SUPERINTENDING
ENGINEER (Sub-Division)
ADDITIONAL CHIEF
ENGINEER (Division)
Re view
CHIEF ENGINEER
(Division)
Re view
Role of local governance agencies
District Administration
Panchayats
Autonomous Councils
TECHNICAL ADVISORY
COMMITTEE (<Rs. 75 million)
Re view
CENTRAL WATER
COMMISSION
(> Rs. 75 million)
Re view
PLANNING
COMMISSION OF INDIA
COMMUNITIES
LOCAL GOVERNANCE
AGENCIES
Civil Society
Organisation
39. Changes in area of sand deposition and sandy soil (1973-2010)
Jiadhal River catchment, Dhemaji
171.03
180
Area in Square Kilometer
160
140
121.29
120
106.13
100
80
60
40
20
0
1973
1990
Year
2010
40. Changes in area of Rabi Crops(1973-2010)
Jiadhal River Catchment, Dhemaji
120
110.34
100
Area in Square Kilometer
87.9
80
58.67
60
40
20
0
1973
1990
Year
2010
41. Changes in area of Kharif crop(1973-2010)
Jiadhal River Catchment, Dhemaji
Area in Square Kilometer
250
233.56
189.17
200
166.19
150
100
50
0
1973
1990
Year
2010
42. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION
Acknowledgement
ICIMOD, Brahmatwinn Project, Original authors of papers cited, A>K>
Mitra, all sources of other information , communities of our study
sites
