Telangana asks KRMB to implement provisions without asking for opinions

Hyderabad: The State government has requested the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) to implement the provisions of Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-I (KWDT-I) without any further delay from the current water year and there is absolutely no necessity to seek any opinion from any other. In a letter to the Board Chairman, Telangana Engineer-in-Chief (General), Irrigation […]

Hyderabad: The State government has requested the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) to implement the provisions of Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-I (KWDT-I) without any further delay from the current water year and there is absolutely no necessity to seek any opinion from any other.

In a letter to the Board Chairman, Telangana Engineer-in-Chief (General), Irrigation and Command Area Development (CAD), said Telangana has been repeatedly requesting KRMB to account water drawn for domestic and municipal water supply as per KWDT-I final order.

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It has also communicated the following aspects for further appreciation of the issue. As per Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act- 2014 (APRA- 2014) Section 85(8) (i) and (ii), the functions of KRMB are to regulate water having regard to tribunal awards and interstate agreements.

Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka made an interstate agreement on August 17, 1973 and submitted jointly to KWDT-I that only 20 per cent of water drawn for domestic supply should be measured as consumptive use.

The same was stipulated in the Clause-VII of KWDT-I. The KWDT-I also held that “the question of return flows from these uses will not arise, as they will be measured by the quantity of water consumed by them, in terms of above direction.”

The Clause-VII of KWDT-I is so explicit that there is no need of any clarification or any agreement as being called for by KRMB. As such, question of reviewing this issue in any forum as being called upon by KRMB is totally unwarranted.

Hence, the KRMB has to implement provisions of the interstate agreement and KWDT-I final order with regard to measuring consumptive use of drinking water supply drawls. The Central Water Commission (CWC), in its latest reassessment of water availability study in India in June 2019, considered the consumptive use of domestic water utilization as 15 per cent.

When an official of Telangana raised the issue of consumptive use given in KWDT-I award as 20 per cent during a webinar organized by National Water Academy on “Reassessment of water availability in India using space inputs”, the CWC considered it as 15 per cent.

The CWC project team clarified as whenever the tribunal awards are in vogue, they should be followed otherwise it should be considered it as 15 per cent. It is most unfortunate that KRMB is not recognizing methodology adopted by CWC in above studies.

Due to delay in decision, Telangana has lost its share of about 31.952 TMC per year since bifurcation with respect to Hyderabad water supply and Mission Bhagiratha. It has already communicated relevant points regarding measuring the consumptive use of drinking water drawls.

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