Feature: Farmers short of water despite Bhutan being water abundant country

Khandu, an elderly villager from the western district of Punakha in Bhutan, has come to join hundreds of villagers to conduct a Buddhist ritual ceremony involving carrying religious texts on his back and walking along the streets.

The daylong ritual is to pay to bring rainfall in the coming days to help complete their paddy plantations, which have been delayed. With the majority of farmers dependent on rainfall for their paddies, rural villagers often seek religious help to bring rain.

Unlike previous years, Khandu and his neighbors were left with only half of their paddy fields to complete planting, and they are running out of time. While agriculture officials told Xinhua that they have started providing water pumps, but farmers have claimed that it isn't sufficient as they will have to be distributed among so many farmers.

The water shortage problem is being faced in several other districts of western, eastern and southern parts of the country. Famers from Baap village in the western district of Punakha told Xinhua that more than 600 acres of paddy fields are awaiting irrigation water. With 1,971 hectares of paddy fields, the Punakha district is one of the highest rice-producing valleys. The average production recorded was 6,274 tons of rice a year.

Both drinking and irrigation water shortages were reported from both rural and urban areas including several parts of the capital city of Thimphu.

However, it would be of surprising to see such shortages in a country that is not water scarce, but has an abundance of water. A study conducted by the National Environment Commission of Bhutan showed that the country has a per capita water availability of 109,000 cubic meters every year, the highest availability in the region.

Environment officials recently told Xinhua that Bhutan needs better development and coordinated management of existing water resources. Despite the abundance, water availability has varied between seasons.

Access to available water due to scattered communities living on mountain slopes, which draw water from small, distant streams and springs were some of the biggest challenge.

With many water sources either drying up or reducing in quantity, in some villages, farmers have left paddy fields fallow, and others migrate to lower lands.

Environment officials said delivering a stable water supply is inherently costly, especially being a mountainous country. There has been a lack of investment in water storage, reservoirs, pumps and operation systems.

A 2014 inventory of rural households carried out by the health ministry found that 13,732 rural households across the country faced drinking water problems, which is 17 percent of the total number of households.

Experts from the Asian Development Bank even pointed out that climate change is already affecting Bhutan, and it has both negative and positive implications. This will change farming practices and access to water in the long run. With climate change in many parts of Bhutan there will actually be more water throughout the year.

A climate assessment report by the environment commission pointed out that the country is likely to face rising climatic temperature, particularly in the north of the country.

It stated that increased snow and glacial melting would have an impact on river discharge. Rainfall will become more erratic and intensive, particularly in the south of the country during monsoon season when water is already abundant.

This will increase the runoff and sediment load in rivers during summer, increasing the risk of floods. Lower river flows are expected in winter, although there will likely be no overall change in minimum flows, the commission said. Endit