Water remains a politically contested issuein much of South Asia.  India shares its rivers with several international neighbours including China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. Ganga, Brahmaputra and Indus are important river systems which India shares with its neighbours. These river basins are of immense importance for the future socio-economic growth of India. The water-sharing treaties and agreements signed with these countries have become more relevant in times of increasing water crisis and the higher capability of all partner countries to tap the most difficult of the waters from the shared basins.

• Over-extraction of groundwater is of particular concern, with an estimated 23 million pumps in use across Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan.
• Moreover, salinity and arsenic contamination affects over 60% of groundwater in the Indo-Gangetic plain.
• Combine these factors with the impact of climate change that’s reducing the amount of water in the Brahmaputra basin and changing the patterns of water flow.
• Under such circumstances, the increasing need for power and stable water levels could prompt reconsideration in bilateral water-sharing treaties in future.

With time, the geopolitical and economic strength of these countries has also dramatically changed. Such as, China has gained immense economic and diplomatic power in the last few decades making it a difficult partner to negotiate on issues of mutual interests and conflicts.

The construction of a large number of storage structures by China upstream of Brahmaputra is a cause of concern both for India and Bangladesh. The 1960 Indus Water Treaty between India and Pakistan has again opened up the conflict, and the Baglihar and Kishanganga projects have come under dispute. India shares 54 rivers with Bangladesh. Disputes with Bangladesh over the Farakka barrage, Hardinge Bridge and Teesta river have remained in news for long. If not resolved amicably the transboundary water disputes are bound to get more severe and difficult to settle.

The fresh negotiations will have to go beyond the historical treaties based on age-old data of precipitation and surface water flows. This becomes more important considering the increasing groundwater withdrawal and alteration in catchment areas which is hugely impacting the river flows. As this exercise would be time-consuming and require professional support, a unified agency at the national level with a strong implementation framework to negotiate interstate water disputes will have a positive impact.

In context to the international water conflicts, the Convention on the Protection and Use of Trans boundary Water courses and International Lakes of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) 1992 and the UN Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses (UNCIW) 1997 can be the good guiding principles in taking fresh negotiations ahead.

To mutually succeed in negotiations the critical part is to convince people beforehand, and this would require developing trust with them about the sincerity of the governments in addressing the regional and local water security issues first.

• Near-term hydro diplomacy in south asia could start with less sensitive areas like
  
  • managing flooding by sharing forecasting data
  • collaborating on navigation, electricity generation, and water quality
• If successful, these types of less formal cooperation might eventually make countries more willing to consider an official multilateral forum, which (despite some limitations) could help them further build trust, resolve grievances, and manage shared waterways.