Ten Fundamental Questions for Water Resources Development in the Ganges : Myths and Realities

Sadoff, Claudia ; Harshadeep, Nagaraja Rao ; Blackmore, Donald J. ; Wu, Xun ; O'Donnell, Anna ; Jeuland, Marc ; Lee, Sylvia ; Whittington, Dale

IWA Publishing

关键词: FLOODING;    WATER QUALITY;    UPSTREAM DAMS;    SURFACE WATER SYSTEM;    GROUNDWATER STORAGE;   

DOI  :  10.2166/wp.2013.006
RP-ID  :  103887

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This paper summarizes the results of theGanges Strategic Basin Assessment (SBA), a 3-year,multi-disciplinary effort undertaken by a World Bank team incooperation with several leading regional researchinstitutions in South Asia. It begins to fill a crucialknowledge gap, providing an initial integrated systemsperspective on the major water resources planning issuesfacing the Ganges basin today, including some of the mostimportant infrastructure options that have been proposed forfuture development. The SBA developed a set of hydrologicaland economic models for the Ganges system, using modern datasources and modeling techniques to assess the impact ofexisting and potential new hydraulic structures on flooding,hydropower, low flows, water quality and irrigation suppliesat the basin scale. It also involved repeated exchanges withpolicymakers and opinion makers in the basin, during whichperceptions of the basin could be discussed and examined.The study’s findings highlight the scale and complexity ofthe Ganges basin. In particular, they refute the broadlyheld view that upstream water storage, such as reservoirs inNepal, can fully control basin wide flooding. In addition,the findings suggest that such dams could potentially doublelow flows in the dry months. The value of doing so, however,is surprisingly unclear and similar storage volumes couldlikely be attained through better groundwater management.Hydropower development and trade are confirmed to hold realpromise (subject to rigorous project level assessment withparticular attention to sediment and seismic risks) and, inthe near to medium term, create few significant tradeoffsamong competing water uses. Significant uncertainties,including climate change, persist, and better data wouldallow the models and their results to be further refined.