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China has expressed its willingness to help Bangladesh conserve fresh water from surface and trans-boundary Brahmaputra river, water resources ministry officials said.
China has also agreed to provide Bangladesh information on precipitation along its Liang Jangbo river banks (Jamuna in Bangladesh), so that the lower riparian gets 96 hours time to alert its riverside people.
Officials of the Chinese water resources ministry will sit with Bangladesh's Joint River Commission (JRC) soon to design projects to assist Bangladesh conserve rain water and get advanced information on flood of the Jamuna river systems.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh has lodged a protest with India for allocating lowest ever flow in the Padma (the Ganges) river during the last 10 days cycle of February.
Bangladesh has also criticised the neighbouring country for not holding JRC meeting to share flows of Teesta and six other rivers. The meeting is now long overdue.
"Brahmaputra is our lifeline as we get 65 per cent of our fresh water flows through this single river systems," said a senior official of the water resources ministry.
Water Resources Minister Hafiz Uddin Ahmad recently visited China where he discussed many water-relating bilateral issues, including receiving flood-warning data. China will share Bangladesh information on precipitation and flood in its territory from April 15, sources added.
Asif Nazrul of Dhaka University (DU), a water expert, told the Financial Express that Bangladesh felt helpless when India refused to ensure the quantity of water that Bangladesh might have been expecting.
He said the 1996 Ganges Water Sharing Agreement was a loose accord that lacks a guarantee clause, or a minimum flow to keep the river ecosystem functional.
"There is no 'Guarantee Clause' in the 1996 Treaty and that is why India is not legally obliged to keep a minimum flow in the Padma," Asif said, adding Bangladesh might propose India to review the treaty and insert a 'Guarantee Clause' there.
Asif said Bangladesh should observe whether India was intentionally depriving the lower riparian by not providing 35,000 cusec of water or it was just a case of real low flow in the Ganges.
The agreement says the flows are measured as per 'Indicative Flow' and it is not guaranteed by India.
Bangladesh's minister Hafiz Uddin Ahmad has criticised India for allocating this country 26,783 cusec of water at Hardinge Bridge point in late February. The flows should have been 35,000 cusec (cubic feet per second). The total flow was estimated at 53,560 cusec in the last 10-day-cycle of February at Farakka point.
"The water flow is the lowest in our history…we have protested against such a low flow," said the water ministry official.
He said China has constructed 88,000 dams and different structures in its 100,000 rivers and has gathered much experience in water management. "China is now willing to transfer some of its water management experiences to Bangladesh," the official pointed out.
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