Bilateral Water Sharing Model

Abstract

Food grain production using irrigation water through implementation of the Teesta Barrage Project began in 1980s. However, soon after this, India built another barrage only 60 km upstream on the same river, leaving the Bangladesh project area waterless by withdrawal of dry season water. Bangladesh and Indian authorities met many times in order to reach a fruitful agreement on water sharing of this international river, but only in vain as those meetings were politically induced. Many research works have been conducted to solve this issue but could not bring any success due to lack of regional cooperation. Dearth of earnest sincerity on part of the authorities was evident. In this chapter, some recommendations have been made relying on some computer simulation results and a recently carried out survey in the region to ensure an equitable share of the Teesta river water (for Bangladesh) through enhancing regional cooperation.