Krishna Water Dispute Tribunal dismisses AP's demand

The Tribunal said in an order that "there is no merit in the case made out by Andhra Pradesh" which sought a fresh survey by Survey of India of the crest height of Alamati dam located in Karnataka.

Andhra Pradesh had apprehended that the additional height at full reservior level of the dam would block the flow downstream of the Krishna river, affecting its riparian rights by diminishing the flow due to additional storage.

Andhra Pradesh had complained to the Tribunal that Karnataka had wrongly reported the Almatti dam's benchmark height as 519.6 metres while it was actually 520.2 metres.

In its response before the Tribunal, Karnataka argued the bench mark was correctly carried to the dam site and was checked periodically to verify the calculations made during the survey.

Karnataka proposes to raise the level of Alamati to 524.296 metres. AP fears that once Karnataka raises the level to capture the excess waters of the river, they will not reach the command areas of Krishna valley dams in AP - including Srisailam, Nagarjunasagar, Jerula and Krishna barrage - thereby jeopardising the economy of AP's rice bowl.

The Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal was constituted on April 2, 2004, for adjudication of the dispute relating to sharing of waters of inter-state river Krishna and river valleys.
Justice Brijesh Kumar, a retired Judge of the Supreme Court, is the Chairman of the Tribunal.