Srinagar, July 17 -- Last spring, water came rippling through a section of a British-era canal and submerged Riyaz Ahmed Bhatt's mustard crop at Sangri Top Watlab, a breathtaking locale overlooking the jagged Pir Panjal mountain peaks in Kashmir's Baramulla district.

The following summer blasted a heat wave through Bhatt's eight-acre farm, shriveling his next crop, a popular rice variety called Shalimar. This year, Bhatt has sown rice again, but there's hardly any water flowing through the carriageway that is supposed to irrigate most of the valley. Experts have linked Kashmir's hotter summers to the climate crisis.

As water crises mount, the valley's residents say they are finally hopeful of getting a fair share of key rivers flowing t...