Karnataka, Maharashtra agree to work together to mitigate floods

Karnataka and Maharashtra on Saturday agreed to share real-time rainfall data and manage their dams in a coordinated manner in the Krishna river basin, which both states hope will help mitigate floods.

A Maharashtra delegation, led by its Water Resources Minister Jayant Patil, held talks with Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, Law Minister Basavraj Bommai and other senior officials where both states jotted down some brass tacks on effective flood management.

“It was decided to have better coordination and communication at the levels of ministers, secretaries and field officials. Both the states have agreed to share real-time data on rainfall and water release from reservoirs both in Krishna and Bhima basins in order to manage the floods effectively,” Yediyurappa said.

Both states share the Krishna river basin, where Karnataka suffered devastating floods in 2019 due to heavy inflow from Maharashtra.

“Maharashtra already has a real-time data acquisition system in the Krishna basin. A similar system will be extended up to the Narayanapura dam in Karnataka,” Patil said. “That will make the entire Krishna basin more effective. We need to dynamically manage the height of the water in the Almatti dam and Maharashtra’s water flowing into it,” he added.

During the meeting, Karnataka stressed that Maharashtra should not release water from its dams “all at once”, which Patil’s side agreed upon.

“Maharashtra is the upper riparian state. We said Maharashtra should not release water all at once, but do so incrementally. That will give us a 48-hour window to ensure effective management in the Almatti dam,” Bommai, a former water resources minister, explained. “We face two challenges: One is to ensure there’s no flooding at Almatti and two, that there’s no flooding downstream towards Narayanapura.”

In other decisions, both states agreed to form a technical committee to work out mutual release of 4 TMC water. “During April-May, Karnataka faces a shortage of 4 TMC in the Krishna basin. Maharashtra will give Karnataka 4 TMC water during summer. We will give back 4 TMC during the rainfall season when Karnataka will have more water,” Bommai said.

Karnataka asked Maharashtra to complete its side of the Dudhganga inter-state canal project. “We’ve almost finished our side of works and Maharashtra has agreed to complete their side of works in two years,” Bommai said.