Water politics in Charnea

Karkaari Resevoir in the Agala highlands, one of many resevoirs earmarked for use by the industries and inhabitants of the Agnannet metropolitan area

Water politics in Charnea deal with the control and use of the water supply in the central Scipian country of Charnea. The region possesses the unusual combination of a large population, an industrialized economy and an arid, infertile climate which makes the allocation of the available water rescources of paramount importance and a topic of political contention. Most of Charnea resides within the expanse of the Ninva Desert, in which most of the available water originates in the Agala ecoregion straddling the southern border between Charnea and Itayana. Water reaches the arid central and northern regions of Charnea from the Agala through a number of major and minor rivers traveling north, as well as the underground aquifers including the Great Ninvite Aquifer and the Achra Aquifer which are both replenished by the rainfall which falls in the Agala and travels down the northern slopes of the highlands into the desert.

Water Supply

Groundwater

The most immedeate means by which most Charnean communities access water is by way of groundwater extraction from one of the major Charnean aquifers. These vary widely in their size, capacity and equilibrium rate, making the extraction of water variable across the country. In most places, groundwater is extremely deep under the surface an can only be accessed through the expensive proccess of excavating deep wells into the earth. At oases the level of the underlying aquifer is either elevated or, more commonly, the desert landscape dips into a deep depression which allows the normally burried body of water to be accessed directly from the surface or through shallow wells and watering holes. Water extraction from aquifers is closely monitored along with the recharge rate of the local aquifer in order to avoid groundwater depletion, a condition considered to be severe and threatening as it would cause the water table to drop deeper into the ground and make it financially unfeasible to draw any more groundwater which would cause the extinction of any desert communities relying on that particular aquifer. In many Charnean aquifers, a condition of groundwater depletion has already set in, requiring the national government to relocate thousands of people from local settlements, and subsidize the drilling of new deep wells to sustain certain communities which would otherwise be unable to afford the rising cost of reaching the water supply.

Artificial Recharge

Charnean water authorities persue a policy of groundwater banking in the arid areas of the country, injecting water relocated from the southern Agala regions into the depleted regions of aquifers under the Ninva desert in order to replenish the groundwater supplies tapped by the major Charnean cities beyond the natural recharge rate of these areas.

Fossil Water Regulation

Underground supplies of non-replenishing fossil water left over from a time of greater rainfall in the distant past exist across many areas of the arid Ninva desert, and have historically been utilized by many Charnean communities for irrigation. This includes the Charnean precursor state of Tamazgha, based in the city of Ekelhoc in what is now western Charnea. Tamazgha is widely believed to have collapsed due to the depletion of the limited and non-renewable water rescources, exploited by means of a foggara irrigation system, which led to the collapse of the agricultural base of Ekelhoc and a prolonged famine which dispersed the ancient Amazigh people, creating the modern divide between coast dwelling peoples of Talahara and the desert dwelling Amazighs known as Tenerians inhabiting Charnea. The collapse of Tamazgha, often called the "Lesson of Ekelhoc", has been regarded as a cautionary lesson which became an often repeated parable during the 15th and 16th centuries in the Charnean empire.

The Lesson of Ekelhoc remains of political and social significance today. Fossil water supplies are nationalized by law in Charnea, dissalowing the sale of mineral rights of fossil water areas to any private entity. Today, fossil water resevoirs in Charnea are allowed to be exploited on an emergency basis, being treated as an emergency reserve in the possesion of the national government to be tapped only in conditions of catastrophic shortage in order to preserve human life. This policy led to significant unrest, as it forced many communities entirely dependent on fossil water for agriculture and base survival to disband and migrate elsewhere as they would no longer be able to legally access the only locally available water supply. The government justification for these relocations follows that such communities would inevitably be forced to relocate eventually once the non-replenishing fossil water deposits run out, and that it would be better for the nation to keep such water deposits in reserve in case of drought or other severe shortage rather than to allow them to be depleted for everyday use.

Conservation

Reduction of the consumption of water is considered a high priority by the Charnean government, which seeks to conserve as much water as possible for industrial uses to sustain its economy while avoiding at any cost water shortages for consumption by the population. Conservation of water represents a political imperative and a matter of national security for Charnea, making it one of the most tightly regulated and frequently legislated issues in the nation.

Water Rationing

The Water Rationing Law, passed by the Agraw Imgharan and ratified by the executives in 1968, represents the most visible and infamous of the Charnean water conservation laws. The law establishes the Water Allocation Authority of Charnea, an independent agency of the Imperial government, and empowers it to directly control and restrict the use of water by businesses and individuals in Charnea. This law was not constitutionally compliant at the time of its passage, causing the 1969 constitutional crisis which resulted in the amendment of the constitution to permit all the provisions of the Water Rationing Law. Under the law, upper limits are imposed on how much water can be used by private individuals, households and a variety of businesses. The Water Allocation Authority controls these limits, with the power to raise or lower the limits, add or remove classifications and rationing brackets, and to assign penalties for overages.