Warring over water: River fights between states need a single dispute resolution body with real enforcement powers

The Supreme Court on September 20 rightly refused to intervene in a plea by Tamil Nadu over sharing of Cauvery waters between TN and Karnataka. But Karnataka on Wednesday said it would challenge in SC the Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee’s direction to it to release 3,000 cusecs of water to TN. This recurring fight between states over sharing of waters is not new and invariably flares up in years of deficient rainfall. The southern water disputes follow a pattern near-replicated in every other inter-state water dispute. GOI’s Jal Shakti website records five such tribunals, all several decades old. The Cauvery dispute is for all official purposes “resolved” – but, of course, it’s not.

There are lessons here on how not to tackle inter-state water conflicts. Experts have long held that tribunals for every dispute does not lead to lasting solutions. Dispute resolution operates almost on a permanent ad-hocism; in some disputes “formulas” themselves cause further dispute. While tribunals largely follow international practice and norms – equitable, reasonable water utilisation and mutual benefit – their decisions have little legal backing. When states challenge these, as is happening currently, the legal tangle only enlarges the dispute and delays resolution. Erratic and variable rainfall, rapidly depleting groundwater, land-use modifications, and water-intensive cropping patterns are intensifying river disputes.

The existing Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956, depends on tribunals as its main dispute resolution body. SC adjudicates on orders by various tribunals. The Lok Sabha in 2017 passed the InterState River Water Disputes (Amendment) Bill. It included a single permanent river-water disputes tribunal and a mediation committee. The implementation mechanism is still to be worked out. This is where states thwart or go to court on tribunals’ orders. India is likely to become “water scarce” by 2050. The Cauvery, like most major rivers, has seen declining water volumes – drought years worsen matters. Without urgently prioritising a legislative framework that gives tribunals teeth, the bickering between states will continue, benefiting no one.