PANAJI
Karnataka’s own water-use data has thrown the spotlight on the State’s overwhelming dependence on irrigation, with its major and medium irrigation projects using nearly 27 times more water for agriculture than for drinking and industrial purposes, while it continues to seek diversion of Mhadei river water citing drinking-water requirements. The scale of Karnataka’s irrigation infrastructure is further evident from the fact that of the 108 projects, 42 are storage projects, 23 are diversion projects and 28 are lift irrigation projects, while the remaining projects combine two or more systems. The figures are part of the first Census of Major and Medium Irrigation (MMI) Projects conducted by the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti. The census covers 108 major and medium irrigation projects in Karnataka, of which 53 are major and 55 medium projects. As per the census, these projects actually utilised 30,586.03 million cubic metres (MCM) of water for irrigation, while only 1,145.60 MCM was utilised for drinking and industrial purposes. In other words, irrigation accounted for about 96.4 per cent of the combined water utilisation recorded under these two heads, against around 3.6 per cent for drinking and industrial use. The census also shows that irrigation is the overwhelming objective of these projects. 35 major and 48 medium projects are exclusively meant for irrigation, while only 18 major and seven medium projects are multipurpose. The projects have an irrigation potential utilised of 3,898.38 thousand hectares, representing 98.3 per cent of the irrigation potential created.
The data assumes significance against Karnataka’s continuing demand for diversion of Mhadei waters through the Kalasa-Bhandura project, which the State has consistently projected as a drinking-water project for north Karnataka. Under the Mhadei Water Disputes Tribunal award, Karnataka was permitted to divert 2.18 TMC at Bhandura and 1.72 TMC at Kalasa, besides being granted 1.5 TMC for in-basin consumptive use for drinking water and irrigation. The State has maintained that the diversion is required to augment drinking-water supplies to north Karnataka. The contrast is therefore stark: while Karnataka’s case for Mhadei diversion centres on drinking-water requirements, the Jal Shakti Ministry’s census records an overwhelmingly irrigation-oriented water-use pattern across its major and medium projects.
The census also reveals that 102 of the 108 projects use conventional flood irrigation, while only six use drip irrigation and two use sprinkler irrigation, pointing to the continued dominance of water-intensive irrigation practices.
