CAUVERY.MEKADATU & INTER-STATE RIVER WATER TURBULENCE

INTER-STATE water problems have existed since ages - ever since Independence and even before. The Indus and the Teesta water issues with Pakistan and Bangladesh respectively, continue to be contentious.

- T MURUGANANDHAM

Disputes between upper riparian states and those downstream rarely get amicably resolved, bringing an adjudication mechanism into play that leaves most sides less than happy. Almost all rivers, including the Ravi-Beas, Narmada, Godavari, Krishna, Cauvery, Vansadhara and Mahadayi, besides the Indus and the Brahmaputra have been locked in controversies from time to time .

The Cauvery water dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu is simmering even after it was officially resolved with the formation of the Cauvery Water Management Authority in 2018. It raises its head when there is deficit rainfall like it did this year as Karnataka received lesser precipitation and delayed its water release.

While farmers in TN are worried about their standing Kuruvai crops, Karnataka claims lack of adequate reservoir storage even to serve the drinking water needs of the state. TN Chief Minister M K Stalin and water resources minister Duraimurugan recently flagged the matter before Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union minister for Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. They argued that Karnataka refused to release water despite having more than 80% of storage in their dams.

Though Karnataka did release some water a couple of weeks ago, it did not meet the monthly deficit season formula fixed by the Supreme Court. TN knocked the SC door, which set up a division bench to hear the matter. (Early this week, the Cauvery Water Management Authority directed the release of 5,000 cusecs for 15 days and the state began to comply.)