Page 24 - Water Every Drop Counts

SINGAPORE-MALAYSIA

Singapore and Malaysia have signed four agreements
(1927, 1961, 1962 and 1990) to regulate the supply
of water from Malaysia to Singapore. Water imported
from Malaysia meets about half of Singapore’s water
demand.

INDIA - BANGLADESH

Bangladesh and India signed a treaty on sharing of Ganges
water in 1996. India and Bangladesh are also in the
process of negotiating an agreement for sharing water of
other rivers (including Teesta) flowing from Indian territory
into Bangladesh.

RIVERS OF INDIA

WATERS OF DISPUTE

Almost all Indian rivers cross some state bounday or the other. Constructing efficient and equitable
mechanisms for allocating river flows has long been an important legal and constitutional issue.
Numerous inter-state river-water disputes have erupted since independence, such as:
1 Krishna-Godavari : Maharashtra, Karnataka, 4 Ravi-Beas : Haryana, Jammu Kashmir,
Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa Rajasthan, Punjab
2 Yamuna : Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh 5 Spillover of Bhakhra Nangal Dam : Haryana,
3 Cauvery : Tamil Nadu, Karnataka Punjab

KAVERI WATER SHARING DISPUTE

The sharing of waters of the river Kaveri has Kaveri Tribunal, constituted by the Government
been a bone of contention between the Indian of India in 1990, made an (annual) allocation
states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The state 419 billion ft³ of water to Tamil Nadu, 270 billion
of Karnataka feels that it has not got its due ft³ to Karnataka; 30 billion ft³ to Kerala and 7
share and claims that current agreements billion ft³ to Pondicherry.
are skewed heavily against it. Tamil Nadu
contends that any change will adversely affect The dispute however, seems far from over with
the livelihoods of millions of farmers in the state all four states deciding to file review petitions.
who have come to depend very heavily on the
existing pattern of usage.

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