16 more barrages and Rooppur

INDIA'S plan to build 16 more barrages on the Ganges (100 km apart) was a stunner. I am more stunned by the fact that there had been no discussion or debate on this issue that I am aware of. Are we all suffering from the fatalistic syndrome, “What will be, will be”?

Just one barrage at Farakka has reduced the lean season flow from around 22,000 cubic feet per second (cusec) to a reported low of 3,100 cusec in the recent past. Imagine what will happen if 16 more barrages are built. The southwest of Bangladesh will turn into a wasteland.  

We talked a lot about Tipaimukh and Teesta. But these will become insignificant when compared to the devastation that the 16 barrages will bring about to the ecology of southwest Bangladesh. Add to it India's plan to divert Brahmaputra's water to irrigate the south of India. That will be the last nail in the coffin of Bangladesh's ecology. Our government and the civil society need to wake up.

There is a solution to this problem. India's former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh was fond of repeating that India would not do anything to the detriment of Bangladesh. Why don't we appeal to the good sense of India's current PM, Narendra Modi, that as lower riparians we have a right to a fair share of the waters in the rivers flowing from India through Bangladesh and ultimately to the Bay of Bengal? We would like to have a comprehensive solution covering all cross-boundary rivers. If our government takes up this nationally important issue, the entire nation will wish them God-speed.

This brings me to the next issue. Currently, Bangladesh is in the process of acquiring two large nuclear power plants (NPP) from Russia. NPP's are thirsty creatures. When we were planning for Rooppur in the early sixties, it would have been feasible then to use river water directly for cooling the condenser and returning to the river slightly warmer. Now, cooling towers will be a must, adding much extra cost. But even cooling towers require make up water to replace the water lost through evaporation, drift and blowdown.  

When Rooppur NPP materialises, it will possibly be the largest project of the country. However, if the Ganges dies as river Gorai has already done, it will jeopardise the whole project.  

Think before you leap.

The writer is a former BAEC and IAEA official.