Cauvery dispute: Karnataka asked to release a third of the water in its reservoirs

Revised draft national water policy restores priority to agriculture

The ministry of water resources has made public the revised draft National Water Policy (NWP) that will determine water allocation for different purposes in future. The revised draft, uploaded on the ministry website earlier this week, was prepared after taking into account numerous newspaper reports and more than 600 comments received before February-end, in response to the initial draft. The earlier draft had been severely criticised by civil society groups for giving priority to industrial needs over agriculture.

Subansiri dam protests: Akhil Gogoi goes on indefinite fast

Activist Akhil Gogoi went on an indefinite hunger-strike starting Sunday in Guwahati,. He was demanding the release of 27 anti-dam protesters, arrested from Ghaghar Village in Lakhimpur district on May 11. They were planning to stop construction machinery from being transported to National Hydroelectric Power Corporation's Lower Subansiri Hydroelectric Project site near the Assam and Arunachal Pradesh border, say officials. Gogoi accused the state police and the central reserve police of “unleashing inhuman atrocities on our peaceful and democratic protesters”.

Telengana's water grouse

For the past four decades Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have been jostling for a share of the Krishna river waters. A tribunal formed to set  the legal limit on how much water each state can use, submitted its provisional award in December 2010, which is presently being contested by all three states. Each is seeking to enhance its allocated share. But the dispute is not just between these states. The fight for a share of the Krishna waters can be witnessed within Andhra Pradesh, too.

‘No need to decommission Mullaperiyar dam’

Is there a solution to the current impasse? Interviewee:  T Hanumantha Rao

Water pollution hot spots identified in Indian rivers

The Central Water Commission has compiled and averaged a decade (2001-2011) of water quality data, collected from 371 monitoring stations located at all major, medium and minor rivers in India. The report, made available recently, but published in August this year, has identified hot spots or stretches of rivers where certain water quality parameters have been found to exceed permissible limits (see map).

Central Water Commission overestimates the country's usable water resources

If the government is to be believed there is enough usable water in the country to meet projected demand until 2050. Stumped by this claim, scientists at iit Delhi and Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, pored over official calculations for estimating the country's water resources. They say the government has overestimated its usable water resources by at least 66 per cent.