AP gets biggest Krishna share, Almatti dam to rise

Fixing quotas for withdrawal of the Krishna river water by riparian states, the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal (KWDT) on Thursday allocated the maximum share to Andhra Pradesh but allowed Karnataka to increase the water storage level of the Almatti dam from 519 m to 524.26 m.

The tribunal, the second related to the dispute and constituted in 2004 under Justice (retired) Brijesh Kumar, allocated 1001 thousand million cubic (TMC) feet of the Krishna water to Andhra Pradesh, 911 TMC to Karnataka and 666 TMC to Maharashtra.

The award will be valid until May, 2050 and can be reviewed or revised by a competent authority or tribunal later.

Andhra Pradesh got the maximum water share (about 42.5%) from the additional yield arrived at using an annual water series of 47 years.

Karnataka was allowed to use about 39.5% of water as against 50% water suggested by the first KWDT.

Maharashtra, which had been objecting to the raising of the Almatti dam level citing apprehension of increase in submergence, got 18.1% of the surplus water with permission to divert up to 25 TMC for power generation at Koyna dam.

The KWDT-II also directed the government to set up the Krishna Waters Decision ? Implementation Board within three months for implementation of its decision and those decisions of the KWDT-I that remained unmodified after the award today. The Centre, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra will now have to nominate their members within three months.

The award had 23 operative clauses. The entire verdict, running into four volumes, was handed to the counsels of the states who have the option to approach the tribunal within three months for any review. ?States are free to seek clarifications. They can file for any review or modification within three months,? Justice Brijesh Kumar told The Indian Express after the tribunal award.

States cannot appeal in the Supreme Court since the decision of KWDT-II has the force of the decree of the Supreme Court.

The KWDT-I award, notified in 1976, had made allocations based on the water yield arrived on the basis of 75% dependability (at 2060 TMC per annum) on the basis of an old water series of 78 years plus return water flows estimated at 70 TMC, together totalling 2130 TMC. The award gave Maharashtra 585 TMC, Karnataka 734 TMC and Andhra Pradesh 811 TMC.

The KWDT-II, looking at the fresh yield of the river based on a new water series of 47 years, relied on 65% dependability and the surplus flow from the average yield. This resulted in over 20% more water (a total of 2578 TMC at average yield) for allocation among the states.

In this context, the award today maintained the water allocation already made by KWDT-I and shared the additional water among the three states under which Andhra Pradesh was allocated additional 190 TMC (42.4% of additional average yield), Karnataka 177 TMC (39.5%) and Maharashtra 81 TMC more.

The award imposed curbs on all three states regarding water usage for some specific projects. Karnataka can now store water at Almatti dam until 524.256 m but can utilise a maximum of 303 TMC of water from its Upper Krishna project (including 130 TMC for Stage-III of Upper Krishna project) in an average year. Karnataka cannot utilise more that 360 TMC from K-8 Tungabhadra sub-basin in a 65% dependable water year. Maharashtra cannot divert more than 92.5 TMC (including 25 TMC more than KWDT-I) from the K-I Upper Krishna sub-basin for the Koyna hydel project. Andhra Pradesh cannot utilise more than 1001 TMC.

In addition, the order directed all three states to contribute 3.30 TMC each (distributed equally during July, August, September and October) and 1.70 TMC each (during January, February, March and April) to Chennai city for its drinking water supply.

In Hyderabad, the first reaction to the tribunal award was that Andhra had been handed a sugar-coated pill. Until now, the state had sole right over 317 TMC of surplus Krishna water. But after the verdict today, that surplus water share is down to 190 TMC.

Irrigation projects worth Rs 50,000 crore that were taken up in the last five years were counting on the diversion of the 317 TMC surplus water but there is a question mark now. Chief Engineer (Irrigation, Krishna Waters) M K Rahman said that the full implications of how much surplus water Andhra Pradesh would be able to actually use will be known in the next monsoon. Hanumantha Rao, former Consulting Engineer to the state government, said at least a dozen new irrigation projects, including the Srisailam Left Bank Canal, may face a shortage of water.