"Are India and Pakistan set for water wars?"

By Navin Singh Khadka, Environment reporter
BBC World Service
December 22, 2016

India is stepping up efforts to maximise its water use from the western rivers of the Indus basin, senior officials have told the BBC.

The move would involve building huge storage facilities and canals.

The three rivers flow through Indian-administered Kashmir but most of the water is allotted to Pakistan under an international treaty.

Experts say Delhi is using the water issue to put pressure on Pakistan in the dispute over Kashmir.

Relations have deteriorated since a deadly militant attack on an Indian base in September. Pakistan denies any link to the attack.

Excuse my interrupting but what "experts?" Would the reporter care to name the sources or at least specifiy the number?  Is it two experts or 20 or --

For the record, the water issues would be arising with or without the dispute over Kashmir and cross-border attacks. And if we go all the way to the end of the report, we find this 'little detail:'

Some water resources analysts believe Delhi will also have to be mindful of China before making any major move.

In September, Tibet blocked a tributary of the Yarlung Zangbo river (known as the Bramhaputra in India) as part of its most expensive hydro project, Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

The news came just when Indian media were suggesting that Delhi could pull out of the IWT.

"We need to remember that China is an upper riparian country in Indus and Bramhaputra basins and it is also Pakistan's closest ally," said [water expert] Mr Thakkar.

Many experts agree that completing such huge and complex infrastructure projects may not be as swift as some Indian officials suggest.

I don't know what the reporter means in the last sentence -- is the reference to Indian or Chinese projects, or both? And how many experts are we talking about? Never mind, because it's no use complaining about the state of journalism.

But in between the opening and closing paragraphs the reporter attempts to explain the current dust-up between Pakistan and India about a water treaty. 

At this point I am still focused on the Syrian War, which I hope against hope can be largely resolved once the new American administration settles in. At any rate, I will be returning to water issues soon after the start of the new year. For now, I repeat the advice I gave Indians a few years ago about water. To summarize: 

Don't get further entangled in water disputes with China and Pakistan. Focus, focus, focus on what you can do to repair and expand India's water infrastructures and increase water conservation in every way possible at this very primitive stage of humanity's knowledge of conservation methods. DO THIS BECAUSE YOU HAVE FAR LESS TIME THAN YOU REALIZE TO CONSERVE.

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