Bangalore: When the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal was set up in June 1990 to decide the quantum of river water to be shared among Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Pondicherry, none of the parties involved imagined that it would take over 17 years and nearly 580 sittings of the Tribunal before a final award would be announced.

The award will be announced on February 5, and there is both anticipation and apprehension in the riparian States on what it has in store for them. The formal hearings concluded on April 21, 2006 with the closing of the arguments by the States on 50 issues that had been grouped under three categories. In May 2006 came the report of two assessors appointed on the apportionment of the total average availability of 740 tmcft in the Cauvery basin. The Tribunal's last sitting was in July 2006.

The Interim Award - a water sharing arrangement issued by the Tribunal in June 1991 - has clearly outlived its relevance as in the intervening years the Cauvery basin has seen major agro-economic and social changes — in agriculture and land use, water availability and demand, urbanisation and drinking water requirements, and in the expectations of farming communities. As the announcement of the award nears, there is some anxiety in Karnataka over its likely fallout. Although the State never welcomed the establishment of the Tribunal, it has cooperated fully with it, investing considerable technical and legal resources in presenting and arguing its case. While responsible opinion in the State has never questioned the impartiality or competence of the Tribunal, there is the worry that the Award may follow the Agreements of 1892 and 1924 in one crucial respect, namely to regularise Tamil Nadu's water usage. ``It must be a workable order, and for this to be so, it must set right past discrimination,'' said a senior official of the Karnataka Government.

The Karnataka side feels that the assessors' report gives an idea of what can be expected in the Award on the apportionment of water amongst the States. According to the report, Tamil Nadu is to get 395 tmcft for irrigating 24.70 lakh acres; Karnataka 250 tmcft to irrigate 18.85 lakh acres; Kerala 33.40 tmcft and Pondicherry 7 tmcft. The 1991 Interim Order put a cap on the State's irrigated area at 11.2 lakh acres. Senior sources in the irrigation department said the State required 389 tmcft for irrigation alone as it estimates that its ongoing and existing irrigation projects - there are six major, 20 medium and several minor projects - will be able to irrigate 20.98 lakh acres and a cropped area of 25.3 lakh acres (this includes double cropped land). It hopes that the Award will take into account groundwater availability of roughly 150 tmcft as a relevant factor .

A recent all-party meeting held in Bangalore took the decision to ensure peace in the State and not allow a repeat of the violence that broke out after the pronouncement of the Interim Award. In Mysore a recent meeting of the Cauvery family - a conclave of farmers representatives and academics that has been meeting over the years to keep a non-official track of dispute resolution and communication open - also urged that peace be maintained.

``It is unlikely that the award will satisfy all parties fully. After all, the combined demand of the four States is over 1,100 tmcft, when there is only 740 tmcft in the basin,'' said a senior political leader. ``But there are still avenues for the Award itself to be reviewed.''

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