Uses and Exploitation of Water Conflicts Over Water- National and International

Uses and Exploitation of Water
Conflicts Over Water- National and International, Underground water, Flood, drought, Auqafiers, Cavery water conflict. characteristics of water.

1. Water Resources RAJESHWARI JAGADISH BMSCCM Uses and Exploitation of Water Conflicts Over Water- National and International

2. Water is indispensable to human life. Though plentiful, it is limited and global demand for freshwater has been growing rapidly due to population growth and greater affluence. At the same time, climate change and environmental degradation are altering the regional and seasonal availability and quality of water . The resulting competition over water use may lead to conflict and sometimes violence, though researchers emphasize that it is rarely the lack of water as such that fuels conflict, but rather its governance and management.

3. Out of the total water reserves of the world, about 97% is salty water, most of the animals and plants have 60-65% water in their body . Only 3% is fresh water. Even this small fraction of fresh water is not available to us as most of it is locked up in polar ice caps and just 0.003% is readily available to us in the form of groundwater and surface water

4. W ater i s cha r a c te r iz e d b y ce r tain un i q u e f ea t u r es w h i ch m a k e i t a marvelous resource : It exists as a liquid over a wide range of temperature i.e. from 0° to100°C. It has the highest specific heat, due to which it warms up and cools down very slowly without causing shocks of temperature jerks to the aquatic life. It has a high latent heat of vaporization Hence, it takes a huge amount of energy for getting vaporized. That’s why it produces a cooling effect as it evaporates.

5. It is an excellent solvent for nutrients . Thus, it can serve as a very good carrier of nutrients, including oxygen, which are essential for life. But, it can also easily dissolve various pollutants and become a carrier of pathogenic microorganisms. Due to high surface tension and cohesion it can easily rise through great heights through the trunk even in the of the trees like Sequoia .

6. It has an anomalous expansion behavior i.e. as it freezes, it expands instead of contracting and thus becomes lighter. It is because of this property that even in extreme cold, the lakes freeze only on the surface. Being lighter the ice keeps floating, whereas the bottom waters remain at a higher temperature and therefore, can sustain aquatic organisms even in extreme cold.

7. W a t er u s e a n d O v e r - exp l oi t a t i on Due to its unique properties water is of multiple uses for all living organisms. Water is absolutely essential for life. Most of the life processes take place in contained in the body. Uptake of nutrients, their distribution in the body, regulation of temperature, and removal of wastes are all mediated through water. Human beings depend on water for almost every developmental activity. Water is used for drinking, irrigation, transportation, washing and waste disposal for industries and used as a coolant for thermal power plants. Water shapes the earth’s surface and regulates our climate.

8. Groundwater About 9.86% of the total fresh water resources is in the form of groundwater and it is about 35-50 times that of surface water supplies. Till some time back groundwater was to be very pure. However, of late, even groundwater aquifers been found to be contaminated. A layer of sediment or rock that is highly permeable and contains water is called an aquifer .

9. Aquifers may be of two types : Unconfined aquifers which are overlaid by permeable earth materials and they are r e c h a r g e d b y w a t e r see p i n g d o wn f r o m a b o v e i n the form of rainfall and snow melt . Confined aquifers which are sandwiched between two i layers of rock or sediments and are recharged only in those areas where the aquifer intersects the land surface. Sometimes the recharged area is hundreds of kilometers away from the location of the well

10. E f f ects o f G r ound w a t er U s a ge Subsidence: When groundwater withdrawal is more than its recharge rate, the sediments in the aquifer get compacted, a phenomenon known as ground subsidence. Huge economic losses may occur due to this phenomenon because it results in the sinking of overlying land surface. The common problems associated with it include structural damage in buildings, fracture in pipes, reversing the flow of sewers and canals and tidal flooding . Lowering of water table: Mining of groundwater is extensively in arid and semi- arid regions for irrigating crop fields. However, it is not advisable to do excessive mining as it would cause a sharp decline in future agricultural production, due to lowering of water table . Water logging: When excessive irrigation is done brackish water it raises the water table gradually leading to wat e r- logging and salinity problems.

11. F L O ODS Heavy rainfall often causes floods in the low-lying coastal areas. Prolonged downpour can cause the over-flowing of lakes and rivers resulting into floods. Deforestation, overgrazing, ra pid industrialization, global warming etc. have also contributed largely to a sharp rise in the incidence of floods, which otherwise is a natural disaster.

12. D R O UG H TS When annual rainfall is below and less than evaporation, drought conditions are created. Ironically, these drought- hit areas are having a high population growth which leads to poor land use and the situation worse .

13. Anthropogenic causes : Drought is a phenomenon, but due to several anthropogenic causes like over grazing, deforestation, mining etc . there is spreading of the deserts tending to convert more areas to drought affected areas . Erroneous and intensive pattern and increased exploitation of scarce water resources through well or canal irrigation to get high productivity has converted drought - prone areas into decertified ones.

14. Remedial measures: Indigenous knowledge in of drought and desertification can be very useful for dealing with the problem. Carefully selected mixed help optimize production and minimize the risks of crop failures. Social Forestry and development can prove quite effective to fight the problem, but it should be based on proper understanding of ecological requirements and natural process.

15. TRADITIONAL WATER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM In India, even today, there are several villages where water management is done not by the Irrigation but by local managers . In south India , a neerkatti manages the tanks very efficiently based on his/her knowledge of the terrain, drainage and irrigation needs . They usually give preference to the end fields and decide per capita allocation of water based on the stock of available water in the tank and crop needs . In Maharashtra , the water mangers are havaldars or jaghyas who manage and resolve conflicts by overseeing the water channels from main canal to the distributor canals

16. In Ladakh , the water manager is as churpun who has got complete charge with full powers over allocation of available water. The major source of water melt water from glaciers and snow supplementary by water from springs and marshes. The water is distributed different fields through an intricate network of earthen channels.

17. 2. Water shortages and public discontent in Yemen As a consequence of severe mismanagement, Yemen’s water availability is declining dramatically. The impacts on the people are unequally distributed, and corruption and nepotism are at the core of this imbalance. This has increasingly frustrated the disadvantaged, with water scarcity playing a role in fuelling the political and security crisis in Yemen.

18. Dispute over water in the Nile Basin The Nile basin features significant conflict over access to and rights over the Nile water resources among its eleven riparian countries. The Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), founded by 9 out of 10 riparian countries in 1999 with backing from major donor institutions, has achieved some successes in its attempts to strengthen cooperation. Yet, since 2007, diverging interests between upstream and downstream countries have brought negotiations to a standstill, pitting Egypt (and, to a lesser extent, Sudan) against upstream riparians , especially Ethiopia. In 2015, trilateral negotiations between these countries over a major dam under construction in Ethiopia led to a framework agreement that may, in time, prepare the ground for a broader agreement.

19. 3. Turkey, Syria and Iraq: conflict over the Euphrates-Tigris The Euphrates-Tigris Basin is shared between Turkey, Syria and Iraq, with Iran comprising parts of the Tigris basin. Since the 1960s, unilateral irrigation plans altering the flows of the rivers, coupled with political tensions between the countries, have strained relations in the basin. Disputes have prevented the three governments from effectively co-managing the basin’s rivers. Although cooperation efforts were renewed in the 2000s, these have yet to result in a formal agreement on managing the basin waters.

20. Afghanistan’s efforts to harness the waters of the Helmand River and the Harirud to support post-conflict reconstruction and development have alarmed Iran. The Iranian government perceives Afghanistan’s agricultural expansion and dam construction activities as threats to water security in its eastern and northeastern provinces. With a largely ineffective water treaty in place, cooperative initiatives have not yet achieved a breakthrough. Afghanistan’s reluctance to engage in water negotiations, coupled with Iran’s alleged “paradoxical” activities of support vs. disruption, have further complicated the resolution of transboundary water disputes between the two countries. 4. Transboundary water disputes between Afghanistan and Iran

21. The Mekong basin is witnessing an enormous expansion of dam-building for hydropower generation, especially in China and Laos. This has led to diplomatic tensions as countries downstream of the dams fear the negative impacts they may bring about, from greater flooding to seasonal lack of water. The Mekong River Commission’s (MRC) effectiveness in resolving these tensions has so far been limited due to its lack of enforcement powers and China’s reluctance to join as a full member. Instead of joining the MRC, China is trying to engage with downstream riparians by proposing alternative institutional mechanisms and offering assistance for dam construction downstream in the Lower Mekong basin. However, without more formalized cooperation, especially between the lower riparians and China, contemporary dam-building activities might continue to act as a destabilizing force in the Mekong River Basin. 5. Dam projects and disputes in the Mekong River Basin

22. The long-standing conflict over water from the Cauvery River between the Indian states Karnataka and Tamil Nadu has recently resurfaced in the context of drier climate conditions. The implications are not only legal battles, but also violent protests following decisions to alter water distribution between the two states. 6. Dispute over water in the Cauvery Basin in India

23. Frequent droughts in Somalia put significant pressures on pastoral livelihoods. Droughts cause herders to sell more of their livestock than they would under normal conditions, resulting in plummeting livestock prices and deteriorating rural incomes. Widespread poverty and lack of economic alternatives, in turn, provide incentives for illicit activities and for joining armed groups such as Al Shabaab , which offer cash revenues and other benefits to their fighters. Especially the record drought of 2011 is believed to have swelled the ranks of the militant Islamist group. 7. Droughts, livestock prices and armed conflict in Somalia

24. The Turkish-Armenian case is a prominent example of how two coriparians can put their tensions aside, work together in their mutual interest, and share transboundary waters equitably. 8. Turkey-Armenia: Water cooperation despite tensions

25. Egypt is currently using more water than its internal renewable resources - mainly based on Nile fresh water inflows - supply. Water stress in Egypt is expected to further increase in the future as a result of rapid population growth, rising temperatures and increasing water consumption. If not properly dealt with, growing freshwater scarcity will put severe strains on Egypt’s economy and make the country more vulnerable to renewed internal strife. Moreover, it risks putting increasing pressure on Egypt’s diplomatic relations with other states along the Nile. 9. Security implications of growing water scarcity in Egypt

26. In 2000, privatisation of the drinking water in Cochabamba incurred violent protests and escalated into the so-called ‘Water War of Cochabamba’, which killed at least nine people. Eventually, the city’s water was renationalised and access to water received new legal backing. However, dwindling water supplies induced by global climate change, over-consumption and technological deficiencies continue to heavily strain the city of Cochabamba. 10. Water privatisation in Cochabamba, Bolivia