The Ganga Basin Management - The Ganga: Water Use in the Indian Subcontinent - page 245

Indus river controversy between Pakistan and India was to find a scheme in which
Pakistan would have control over the works on which it would be most dependent.
International agreements should be as flexible as possible to adjust water use
and manage unforeseen changes in conditions. Inflexibility freezes political motiva-
tions, technological possibilities and economic conditions at the time of signing.
Some inflexibility is, however, unavoidable. Dams, once constructed, are a per-
manent commitment to one form of technology and can hardly be modified for
adopting a newer technology. Nevertheless, within this limitation, flexible cooper-
ation is possible. A treaty is a framework which sets out the principles on which
joint development can proceed, with detailed planning. Implementation of projects
has to be left to joint technical groups, operating under political direction. This per-
mits a response to changing economic and technological circumstances within the
terms of the agreement, obviating the need for re-negotiation of a major international
undertaking.
Treaties and agreements between and among basin countries, which call for
development on shared costs and benefits, should be flexible enough to maintain
an equitable division of net benefits over a period of time. The exact arrangements
for working out the net benefits for each country must be made in accordance with
political and economic opportunities and constraints at the time of negotiation.
Where the prospects for agreement are limited because of too many riparian
countries being involved, sub-dividing a water resource system into sub-systems,
each involving as few countries as possible should be explored. The interest and
priorities for the management and use of a river basin will vary in each coun-
try, according to their dependence on the river, the opportunities for increasing
their benefits from the use of the river and their contribution to the problems,
faced. What may appear critical to basin countries in one region may be of little
concern to another. When many countries share a basin, the problems of differ-
ing priorities, involvement with the river along with other domestic and foreign
policy issues between the basin countries complicate negotiations and reduce the
prospects for basin-wise agreement. Limiting the agreement to the countries, among
which mutual interest and concern prevail, is the most feasible approach. The Rhine
basin is an example where several countries like Austria, Switzerland, the federal
Republic of Germany, France and the Netherlands are involved.
Where an international river is expected to achieve a high degree of development
and use, the basin countries should give early consideration to joint planning so as to
avoid conflicting claims on the resources that may arise in the future. Disputes arise,
when demands on a common resource exceed its capacity to meet them. In many
cases, the basin countries can avoid such disputes, if they compare the projected
demands by each country on the river water; this will reveal the incompatibility of
claims. Given time, joint plans can be drawn up to regulate the flow, increase the
capacity for use, apportion the waters, or to work out some other schemes to use,
equitably, the shared resource without conflict. Varder-Axios project is an example
where Greece and Yugoslavia exchanged information and found that the plans for
developments of the resource were greater than the supply available. The incentive
for co-operation was received to avoid conflict over possible future water shortages.