2nd World Irrigation Forum (WIF2)

6-8 November 2016, Chiang Mai, Thailand

W.1.2.06

EQUITABLE DISTRUBUTION OF WATER IN UPPER GODAVARI

SUB BASIN: A CASE STUDY FROM MAHARASHTRA

Suresh A Kulkarni1

ABSTRACT
Maharashtra state of India is located in the semi-arid climatic zone where assured
irrigation supply is essential for optimal crop growth. Presently, only about 20% of the
state's cultivable area is brought under irrigation. Since last four decades, the state
government has been giving emphasis on water resources development by
constructing large and small dams. The state now has the highest number of dams in
the country creating a storage capacity of about 40 billion cubic meters. About 70% of
surface water storages are used for irrigation. In absence of integrated approach at
basin/ sub-basin level, there has been lopsided development and use of water
resources in the state. As the basins/ sub-basins are getting closed due to over usage
of water, conflicts among upstream and downstream stakeholders and different
categories of uses are escalating. Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory
Authority was established in 2005 to regulate and ensure equitable distribution and
utilization of water resources in the state. Godavari basin, the second largest basin in
India covers about half of Maharashtra’s geographical area. Maharashtra part of the
Godavari basin is divided into 27 sub-basins. The Upper Godavari Sub-basin is one
of the most developed basin in terms of agriculture, urban and industrial growth in the
state. Many irrigation projects were constructed in the sub-basin to meet the growing
water demand for irrigation, domestic and industrial uses. As the water demand has
continually been increasing compared to the availability, the sub-basin has been
experiencing water scarcity situation frequently leading to conflicts for water sharing
between upstream and downstream stakeholders as also among different categories
of uses. The case study presented in this paper briefly describes the role played by
the water regulatory authority in addressing and resolving the dispute by framing
guidelines towards sharing the available water between upstream and downstream
reaches of the Upper Godavari sub-basin.

Keywords: Upper Godavari sub-basin, equitable allocation of water resources,

Water Resources Regulatory Authority, irrigation and non-irrigation uses

1. INTRODUCTION

The Godavari basin is the second largest river basin of India (30.2 million ha) and
partly covers six states viz., Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya
Pradesh, Odisha, and Karnataka. About 49% of Maharashtra’s geographical area
(15.26 million ha) comes under Godavari basin. In Maharashtra, the Godavari basin is
divided into 27 sub-basins. The Upper Godavari sub-basin has a geographical area of
2.2 million ha and about 8.6 million population lives in 45 towns and 1883 villages.
The sub-basin comprises the entire catchment of the Godavari river from its source to
Jayakwadi dam including the catchment areas of the rivers Mula, Pravara and all
other tributaries which joins the Godavari river in this reach. There are 17 major, 14
medium, and 558 small irrigation projects in the sub-basin with design live storage
capacity of 5.48 billion cubic meters (BCM). The location of Godavari basin in India
and a map of the Upper Godavari sub-basin is shown in Figure 1.

1
Secretary, Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority, 9th floor, World Trade Centre, Cuffe
Parade, Mumbai, India, Email: kulsur@gmail.com

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6-8 November 2016, Chiang Mai, Thailand
W.1.2.06

Maharashta state Godavari Basin

Upper Godavari Sub-basin

Jayakwadi
Dam

Figure 1. Location of the Godavari basin and the Upper Godavari sub- basin in
Maharashtra state

The present case study deals with the equitable sharing of water between 23 major
and medium dams located at the upstream of the sub-basin and the Jayakwadi dam
located exactly at the downstream border of the sub-basin. The upstream projects are
grouped in to five complexes viz., (1) Mula, (2) Pravara, (3) Godavari-Darna, (4)
Gangapur, and (5) Palkhed. The schematic diagram of these 23 major and medium
dams/reservoirs with their groupings in the sub-basin is shown in Figure 2. The
figures in parenthesis show their design live storages.

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W.1.2.06

Jayakwadi
4 Dam

1
2
2

Figure 2. Schematic of the reservoir complexes in the Upper Godavari Sub-basin

considered in the case study

The Jayakwadi irrigation project was planned in 1964 and commissioned in 1975. The
designed live storage capacity of the reservoir is 2.17 BCM and was planned to
irrigate about 0.26 million ha in Marathwada region. However, since 1975 the
Jayakwadi reservoir was filled to its design capacity only in 8 years. The Water
Resources Department (WRD) in 2004 carried out a study to assess the sub-basin
yield based on the latest hydro-meteorological data. Table 1 shows the comparison of
the virgin yield and utilization in the upstream dams as per the original planning and
the revised study.

Table1. Comparison of the virgin yield and upstream utilzation in the Upper Godavari
sub basin as per the planning and the revised study

As per As per revised

Parameter project report study by WRD
(1964) (2004)

Annual 75% dependable virgin yield at the

5.566 4.450
Jayakwadi dam (BCM)
Utilization at the upstream of Jayakwadi
3.270 4.073
dam(BCM)

It can be seen from the Table 1 that as per the revised study the annual 75%
dependable virgin yield of the Jayakwadi reservoir was worked out as 4.45 BCM
which is 20% less than the project design; while the upstream utilization has

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W.1.2.06

increased by 25% compared to the project design. Further, the non-irrigation use of
water from upstream projects has increased from 247 million cubic meter (MCM) at
the time of planning of the Jayakwadi project to 976 MCM at present (Godavari Study
Group Report, 2013). This has adversely impacted the yield of Jayakwadi dam
affecting significant reduction in the irrigated area as envisaged in the project design.
Incidentally, the upstream and downstream sub-basin areas belongs to different
administrative regions and thus the conflict seemingly became inter-regional. As the
water demand for irrigation and non-irrigation purposes from both upstream and
downstream of the sub-basin has continually been rising over the years, conflicts
between the regions for water sharing are also escalating.

2. POLICY AND LEGAL PROVISIONS

Maharashtra state is at the forefront in the country in introducing various policy

measures, acts, institutional reforms and initiatives in the water sector.The 'State
Water Policy' formulated by the Government of Maharashtra (2003) envisages that
the water resources of the state shall be planned, developed and managed at the
river basin/ sub basin level adopting multi-sectoral approach. The policy states that
the distress in water availability during deficit periods shall be shared equitably
amongst different water use sectors and also amongst upstream and downstream
users. In the year 2005, two important acts viz., the Maharashtra Water Resources
Regulatory Authority Act and the Maharashtra Management of Irrigation System by
Farmers Act were enacted by the Government. Subsequently, Maharashtra Water
Resources Regulatory Authority (MWRRA) was established to regulate and facilitate,
ensure judicious and equitable allocation and utilization of water resources in the
state.

Due to scanty rainfall during 2012-15, there was a drought situation in most part of
Maharashtra state. The live storage in the Jayakwadi reservoir in 2012 was only 3%
and there was accute shortage of water for drinking, irrigation, and industry in its
command area. The storages in the upstream dams were relatively higher than the
jayakwadi. So the downstream stakeholders filed a 'Public Interest Litigation' in the
High Court requesting to release water from upstream reservoirs to Jayakwadi. As
directed by the Court, the WRD released 298 MCM water from the upstream dams of
which 62% had reached the Jayakwadi reservoir. For the subsequent years (2014
and 2015) too when the Jayakwadi reservoir was filled only about 43% and 6 %
respectively, the downstream stakeholders filed petition(s) to MWRRA requesting
equitable distribution of water in the sub-basin invoking the relevant provisions in the
MWRRA Act, 2005.

3. DECISION ON EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION OF WATER

Based on the various petitions filed both by the upstream and downstream parties,
the matter was heard and MWRRA issued an Order on 19 September 2014 asking
the WRD to release 355 MCM water to Jayakwadi reservoir. In view of the intricacies
involved in the matter, the Government of Maharashtra in 2013 constituted a
‘Godavari Study Group’ for formulation of guiding principles towards integrated
operation of the reservoirs in Upper Godavari sub-basin (up to jayakwadi dam). The
MWRRA in its order adopted the guiding principles of the reservoir operation and
equitable distribution of water among the upstream and the downstream reservoirs as
proposed by the Study Group Report. The Study Group has proposed operating
strategies for the reservoir operation under six different storage level positions to help
achieve the approximate equitable and judicious distribution of water in the upstream
and the downstream reservoirs for irrigation and non-irrigation uses. This is to be
achieved by following a step-by-step synchronization of storages in upstream

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reservoirs with that of Jayakwadi reservoir under different annual rainfall situation viz.,
from bad or low rainfall year (Strategy-I) to good rainfall year (Strategy-VI) as shown
in Table 2.

Table 2. Strategies for upstream reservoir operation with respect to Jaykwadi

reservoir storage for different dependability of flow during their filling
(monsoon) period

Jayak- Ganga- Godavari -

Complex Mula Pravara Palkhed
wadi pur Darna

Paithan Mandhol, Bhandar- Ganga- Alandi, Karanjwan,

Mula dara, pur, Kadwa, Waghad,
Nilwande, Kashyapi, Bham, Punegaon,
Dams
Adhala, Gautami Waki Ojharkhed,
included in the Palkhed,
Bhojapur Bhawali,
complex Tisgaon
Darna,
Mukane,
Waldevi

Operating
Strategy
(Dependable Utilizable water including monsoon use and excluding carry over (MCM)
flow at ( % of design live storage)
Jayakwadi
dam,%)

Strategy I 797 303 320 187 461 254

(100% ) (37%) (49%) (56%) (61%) (64%) (73%)

Strategy II 1173 402 425 227 604 254

(90%) (54%) (65%) (74%) (74%) (84%) (73%)

Strategy III 1409 489 500 252 736 287

(75%) (65%) (79%) (88%) (82%) (102%) (82%)

Strategy IV 1645 576 575 277 870 345

(50%) (76%) (93%) (101%) (90%) (121%) (99%)

Strategy V 1738 611 605 287 918 369

(Average yield) (80%) (99%) (106%) (93%) (128%) (105%)

Strategy VI 2237 689 836 1220 457

313 (101%)
(Good year) (103%) (112%) (146%) (170%) (130%)

In Table 2, utilizable water of a given reservoir is the sum of water used for drinking,
industrial, irrigation, and evaporated from the reservoir during the Khaif (monsoon)
season besides the balance live storage but excluding the carryover. It could thus be
more than the designed live storage. The figures in the parenthesis are the
percentage of the actual live storage with that of design live storage for all the
reservoirs in each of the complex.

In strategy I to V, 20% less water is allocated for drinking, industrial and irrigation;
while water supply for the Rabi (winter) season irrigation has been curtailed from 68%
in strategy II to 20% in strategy V compared to the project design. If any reservoir on
the upstream side is short of water to meet its own minimum needs (drinking and two
irrigation rotations) governed by the respective strategy to be adopted for reservoir
operation, no release of water from that reservoir will be allowed. Also, in case the
natural storage position of the Jayakwadi reservoir in the first fortnight of October is
above or equal to 65% of the live storage (Strategy-III) then water from the upstream
reservoirs is not required to be released. It means, if the Jayakwadi reservoir is filled

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equal to or above 65% of its designed live storage, the situation is not considered as
"water scarcity". Based on these guiding principles, MWRRA directed WRD to release
202 MCM in 2014 and 294 MCM in 2015 water from the upstream dams to Jayakwadi
reservoir. The volume of water actually reached in Jayakwadi reservoir in 2014 and
2015 was 140 MCM and 188 MCM, respectively. It shows that about 30 - 35% water
quantity is lost during the conveyance through the network of rivers. The additional
water made available in the Jayakwadi reservoir has helped alleviating the drinking,
industrial and irrigation water shortage of the downstream stakeholders.

Despite the MWRRA’s endeavour to resolve the disputes of equitable distribution of

water within a sub-basin, its order has been challenged both by upstream and
downstream Petitioners in the Mumbai High Court and the final Order is pending (as
of 20 August 2016).

4. CONCLUSIONS AND WAY FORWARD

As the demand for water is continually increasing due to rapid population growth,
rising urbanization and industrialization in the state of Maharashtra, many sub-basins
are getting closed leading to conflicts between upstream and downstream users and
competition among different categories of uses. Water allocations planned in most
dams constructed in the past has significantly altered due to change in the sub-basin
hydrology and unforeseen and increased water demand for irrigation and non-
irrigation uses. Climate change is likely to exacerbate the water availabilty in the river
basins further.

The case study of Upper Godavari sub-basin presented here is a classic example of
the conflicts regarding sharing of water resources within a sub-basin. Water
regulatory institutions like MWRRA can play a crucial role in addressing and resolving
such conflicts in the best possible manner. It is hoped that the case study presented
here will be useful as an example for resolving disputes related to equitable
distribution of water resources under similar situation elsewhere. Nevertheless, key to
sustainable management of water resources lies in how best communities, voluntary
and professional organisations, policy makers and politicians come together to
resolve the conflicts amicably.

REFERENCES

Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority, 2014 Order of Case No. 1 of 2014 In the matter of the
Release of Water into the Jayakwadi Reservoir from Upstream Reservoirs for the Equitable
Distribution of Water in the Godavari sub-basin, MWRRA,
Mumbai,http://www.mwrra.org/Case%201%20of%202014(Godavari%20-%20Release% 20of% 20
water).pdf
Government of Maharashtra, 2013 Godavari Study Group Report on Formulation of Guiding Principles on
Integrated Operation of Reservoirs for Conservation Uses in Upper Godavari (up to Paithan) Sub
basin, Water Resources Department, Govt. of Maharashtra
Government of Maharashtra, 2003 Maharashtra State Water Policy, Water Resources Department,
Maharashtra, http://www.mwrra.org/Document%209.pdf
Government of Maharashtra, 2005 Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority Act, 2005,
http://www.mwrra.org/Document%207.pdf