Keoladeo National Park in Rajasthan, India is a world-class bird sanctuary and world heritage site experiencing serious ecological stress due to drought and upstream dam construction. In response to this reoccurring scarcity of water, Indian authorities have announced a new 17 km pipeline to divert water to the wetland. Both the dam-induced water shortage and proposed pipeline solution raise the question of how surface waters are allocated. Based on interviews conducted during May 2010, I compare the socially efficient outcome to the one agreed upon by lawmakers, highlighting the unique regional tensions and socioeconomic context of allocating water in a water-scarce developing nation.
Keywords: Keoladeo National Park, KNP, India, wetlands, water resources, water sharing disputes, world heritage sites, dam construction, droughts, monsoon failure, bird sanctuaries, regional tensions, socioeconomics, water shortages, developing countries, water allocation