Climate change and interlinking of indian rivers: Lessons from canadian inter-basin water transfer experiences

Abstract

Interlinking of river (ILR) programme is of national importance for India and has been taken up on high priority to ensure greater equity in the distribution of water by enhancing the availability of water in drought-prone and rainfed area. Under the National Perspective Plan (NPP) prepared by Ministry of Water Resources, 14 links under Himalayan Rivers Component and 16 links under Peninsular Rivers Component for inter-basin water transfer (IBWT) based on field surveys and detailed studies have been identified. On the other hand, Canada is one of the countries having implemented a large number of inter-basin water transfer projects. This paper analyses previous assessments and examines the costs and benefits of large-scale IBWTs implemented in Canada. Further, it examines past and current research taken up by various researchers of Canadian universities and similar research institutes in the field of IBWT projects of Canada and ongoing as well as proposed Indian river linking projects related to emerging issues in sustaining water resources and ecosystems. Moreover, the expected goals and impacts of such projects and alternates, namely the virtual water trade, expanding use of desalination and climate change adaptation, are also examined. In the past, Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute has supported various researchers to study these environmental impact assessments of such projects which usually disturb the finely tuned water balance in both the donating and the receiving river basin revealing the short-, medium- and longer-term impacts of moving water from one community and providing it to another. Some studies expose weak governance which is also evocative of IBWT development, with poor to non-existent consultation with project-affected people commonly being witnessed and a lack of concern at proper management scale. Currently, the climate-induced changes in hydrology make investments in stubborn water infrastructure increasingly perilous because of expected increase in the frequency and magnitude of extreme weather events such as droughts and floods. Inter-basin water transfer and potential for conflict can be avoided if there is in place a committed policy of water conservation in order to ensure ecosystem health.