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Resolving disputes over water sharing

V. Jayanth

BOTH ANDHRA Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have never had it so good. The reservoirs feeding the Krishna and the Cauvery delta basins are fast filling up. This is not because the upper riparian State, Karnataka, has obliged them, but because its dams cannot impound the inflows coming in from the heaviest monsoon activity in recent years. With Maharashtra opening all its dams and rain pounding the Western Ghats heavily over the past 10 days, Karnataka has no option except to open its sluices and issue flood alerts to the habitations along the Cauvery.

The inflows into the Krishna from Maharashtra via Karnataka have crossed five lakh cusecs. The Andhra Pradesh Government has decided to open its dams by August 6 to let waters into all the irrigation canals in the delta and surrounding areas. Srisailam is already full and the Nagarjunasagar dam will also surplus soon. The waters will flow into Somasila through the network of irrigation canals, raising Chennaites' hopes of substantial inflows in the Telugu Ganga canal to meet the city's drinking water requirements.

While the crisis that has hit Mumbai and western Maharashtra has cast a shadow and crippled life in the country's commercial capital, the extravagant monsoon, caused by a vortex, has demonstrated the potential of inter-linking rivers. Although Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu depend more on the Northeast monsoon, they have gained substantially from the bounty of the South West monsoon.

It is not just the Maharashtra-Andhra Pradesh-Tamil Nadu link that has gained from the rain. It has been a similar development on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border. The Mullaiperiyar has also got a surplus as a result of which the southern districts of Tamil Nadu will have more than enough water for both irrigation and drinking for the rest of the year. On the western border, Coimbatore and the Siruvani have received more than copious inflows. The Amaravathi dam has also been opened. The suffering of Mumbai and its surroundings on one side and the sheer beauty of the major dams of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu letting out water in all its majesty provide a dramatic and poignant contrast, highlighting what the sharing of river waters means to States.

For four years, both Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have been crying hoarse for water, appealing to Karnataka to release at least a portion of what they say is legitimately due to them as lower riparian States — but to no avail. Their appeals to the Government of India also proved futile. Tribunal awards were of little avail in this context as Karnataka and its political leaders maintained that the State had little water for its people and could not afford to release any under the circumstances.

Faced with repeated representations from Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and under pressure from UPA constituents in Tamil Nadu, the Central Government dispatched a team of officials to look at the various reservoirs and assess the situation. By the time the Central team submitted its report to New Delhi, Mettur was receiving close to one lakh cusecs of inflow and the dam level has crossed the 100 feet level (against a maximum of 120 feet). The Krishna delta in Andhra Pradesh and the Cauvery delta in Tamil Nadu can be assured of a bountiful crop if the Northeast monsoon does not misbehave in any way later in the year.

What the Centre or the tribunals could not solve, Nature in its bounty has done for these two lower riparian States. However, irrigation authorities contend that this should not lead to complacency and an end to the dialogue that has begun. A senior Tamil Nadu irrigation official cautions: "Just because this season's problem has been solved does not mean the inter-State river waters sharing arrangements are resolved. It is the Centre's duty to ensure that when there is a surplus and the climate is congenial to discussions between the rival States, a distress-sharing formula must be hammered out.

"It is in the interest of all concerned to evolve that formula in 2005 so that farmers can be sure of their crop in 2006. Just as industry wants a stable investment and taxation climate, farmers have a right to expect an assured crop and enough water for it. Everybody must understand and accept this. It is now the most favourable environment for a dialogue to clinch a distress sharing formula."

The key question for the southern region is: will the Central and Karnataka governments respond to this situation and utilise a `surplus year' to narrow the gap on the outstanding issues in a conciliatory way?

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