Goa needs 94 thousand million cubic feet water for consumption, not 33 thousand million cubic feet

KERI: While the Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Centre to notify the award given by the Mhadei Water Disputes Tribunal on August 14, 2018, Goa continues to fight a tricky battle.
The state’s contention is very clear and it has already filed a special leave petition on July 18, 2019, in the hope that things might go its way.
Goa has taken objection to the tribunal’s 2018 decision allotting Karnataka 13.4tmc ft, including 3.9tmc ft for drinking purposes through diversions, against its demand for 7.5tmc ft. It has maintained that the detailed project report for diversion of water to Malaprabha, submitted by Karnataka government, has many factual inconsistencies.
The state has established that the demand for its human consumption is 94.02tmc ft and for maintaining environment flow, the estimated requirement is 50.11tmc ft. The total demand pleaded and established by Goa is 145.16tmc ft. The tribunal has allowed Goa a mere 33.395tmc ft for human use.
In 1993, the Central Water Commission conducted a study of water availability in all rivers, estimating the average water availability in the Mandovi basin at 146.17tmc ft. Goa has found the yield estimated by the tribunal on the higher side.