Drawing lines in water

The Cauvery water dispute is back in the news after the main co-basin states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka rejecting the verdict given by the prime minister at the Cauvery River Authority (CRA) meeting held recently. The authority's meeting was convened after a gap of nearly 10 years, that too after the Supreme Court pulled up the Centre on the Cauvery issue.

The sharing of the Cauvery waters has been a contentious issue for decades. In 1990, the Centre set up the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) to adjudicate on the dispute. The tribunal had issued an interim order in 1991, directing Karnataka to make available to Tamil Nadu 205 thousand million cubic feet of water in a water year (June to May), following a monthly time table. As part of the scheme for implementing this order, the Centre constituted the CRA in 1998, chaired by the prime minister. Other members included the chief ministers of the basin states — Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Pondicherry. The CRA is not entrusted with the task of deciding on water availability or planning and management of the river; it only ensures implementation as long as the interim order is in force.

The CWDT order of 1991 did not provide a formula for sharing waters in times of distress, when the rains fail. Although a group of experts at the Union ministry of water resources considered the issue in 2003, they could not arrive at a consensus. The Cauvery Monitoring Committee (CMC), a panel set up to assist the CRA, decided in 2009 to refer the matter to the authority for decision as and when such conditions arose.

The CWDT gave its final award in 2007. As the Centre and the states needed further clarifications, the award has not been notified till now. Hence, the CRA continued to ensure the operation of the interim order. Since its implementation became difficult due to failed monsoons, the authority had to convene a meeting to decide on the releases to be made. With there being no consensus among the members, the PM ruled that Karnataka should release 9,000 cubic feet per second daily, till October 15, to Tamil Nadu.

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