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THE WATER WAR
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Continuing with our series on the Mahadei water dispute, The Goan today looks at Goa’s argument on the water basin being a deficit one. With the primary issue of drinking water being affected, the state also points to the biodiversity of the sanctuary it holds is also at a risk of being depleted if any water is diverted
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PANAJI: Goa’s argument in the ongoing Mahadei Water Diversion Tribunal has always been that the basin itself is a deficit one. Other arguments have included salinity ingress, danger to biodiversity and threat to fishing, river navigation and agriculture.
According to them, any alteration in the river would affect the drinking water needs affecting projects in Sanquelim and Opa, thus affecting the rest of the state. They have also held that the entire economic ecosystem that Goa functions on would be destroyed.
“The entire economic system, as also the ecological wealth in the form of Khazans, mangroves, agriculture, fisheries and navigation are rendered critically vulnerable. The salinity enhancement will completely alter the river/river basin profile, thereby destroying the prospects of agriculture, drinking water potential,” they state in the affidavit.
Goa has about 555 kilometers of inland water ways, out of which about 255 kilometers are navigable through the Cumbharjua canal and their respective tributaries. Also being affected, they state are the navigational channels used by the mining and export industry for transporting iron ore. Ferry routes including the Panaji to Betim, Ribandar to Chorao, Ribandar to Divar and Old Goa to Divar currently being used for passenger and vehicular movement would also be affected.
With an already troublesome sedimentation problem in the Mahadei river, the risk of water diversion according to the state would result in “enhanced sand deposition at the mouth of the Mhadei River, which would significantly affect the safe navigation during the fair weather season.”
An allegation the state of Karnataka has however leveled against Goa is that the Cumbharjua channel is an artificial one and that no water from Mandovi River flows down to Zuari River through the canal. In response, Goa justified the channel as helping in flushing of sediments in the navigational reach of Cumbharjua, Zuari and Mormugao Port.
The ruins of Bhimgad, the vertical rock cave amphitheaters of Krishnapur, rivers of Surla, Valvanti, Kotrachi Nadi, Dudhsagar, Ragada and several other major streams would also be affected.
The task now at hand for the Tribunal is to ascertain if the basin yields 220 TMC or 145 TMC and if in fact, Goa stands to lose much more compared to Karnataka and Maharashtra.
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IT’S A DEFICIT BASIN: GOA
According to the master plan prepared by the panel of experts for Mandovi basin area in Goa, the projected water requirement by 2051 would be:
* Domestic water supplies 208 MCM (7.34 TMC)
* Industrial water supplies: 208 MCM (7.34 TMC)
* Irrigation: 2050 MCM (72.41 TMC)
* Salinity control: 158 MCM (5.58 TMC)
* Forest management: 50 MCM (1.76 TMC)
* Total requirement: 2674 MCM (94.45 TMC)
Against the above projected annual requirement of 2674 MCM of water by 2051, the water resources actually available in the Mandovi basin for conservation and utilisation would be only 1531 MCM.
This 1531 MCM, includes the entire 75% dependable waters generated in the upper reaches of the basin in Karnataka (584 MCM) and Maharashtra (120 MCM) and from 530 Sq km foothill zones of Goa State (827 MCM). It is not possible to conserve practically or regulate the water resources from the remaining portions of the Mandovi river basin in the final tidal and saline reach and the coastal plains. Thus the Mandovi River Basin is a water deficient basin.
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KARNATAKA COUNTERS
Karnataka’s reply is based on the NEERI study which states:
* The total yield of the Mhadei river in Karnataka is 38.21 TMC
* The yield available in Goa after construction of the reservoirs in Karnataka is 92.61% of average flows during monsoon (June to October), 251% during non-monsoon months (November to May) and 94 % during June to May
* With only 2% of the yield being utilised in the form of diversion and evaporation the balance 98% will be put back into the river in a regulated manner during the operation of the project
* The consumption of 24.15 TMC of the Mhadei water in its territory would not prejudicially affect the interests of the State of Goa or its inhabitants in any manner
