Sharing the Ganges: a critical analysis of the water sharing treaties

Abstract

This study examines the dry season water availability in the Ganges at Farakka (India) and Hardinge Bridge (Bangladesh) and critically examines the water sharing agreement/treaty to assess their relative merits in terms of the dry season water availability in Bangladesh. It has been found that the dry season flow at Hardinge Bridge has dropped significantly after commissioning of Farakka Barrage in India. Moreover, there is a sharp declining trend in the flow reaching Hardinge Bridge since 1975. As far as the performance of the 1996 and 1977 agreements are concerned, the latter performed better than the former during simulations based on pre-Farakka average dry season flow. The actual post-Farakka flow from 1975 to 1995 has been found to be less than the simulated flows as per the 1977 Agreement and the 1996 Treaty. Moreover, all of these have been found to be approximately 50% less than the pre-Farakka average flow at Hardinge Bridge, which means that signing of the Treaty in 1996 is unlikely to make any noticeable difference in solving the water crisis in the dry season in the south-western part of Bangladesh.