By Avilash Roul
While India’s credibility in cooperative transboundary river management with its neighbours is at its nadir, Odisha has stepped up its engagement with neighbouring states to manage shared rivers.
Also Read
As of this writing, the fifth and supposedly final expanded technical meeting between Odisha and Chhattisgarh on sharing the waters of the Mahanadi River has concluded in Delhi.
Rivers are the lifeline of Odisha. Of the 11 major river basins that sustain 4.7 crore people and other living beings, all river systems, except the Rushikulya and Bahuda, are shared with neighbouring states such as Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
While approximately 1.5 lakh sq. km of the total river-basin catchment area lies within Odisha, 1.4 lakh sq. km falls outside the state. According to a 2001 assessment, the average annual availability of surface water within the state’s own drainage boundary is estimated at 82.841 billion cubic metres (BCM). Additionally, interstate rivers bring in an annual inflow of 37.556 BCM from neighbouring states.
Hence, it is no exaggeration to say that Odisha has the potential to become a model state for cooperative interstate river-water management in India and beyond.
Has Odisha been steadfast in pursuing collaborative water governance? Of the nine interstate water dispute tribunals (IWDTs) constituted so far, the state has been a party to three, dealing with the Godavari, Vansadhara and Mahanadi disputes. The state has yet to demonstrate a commitment to shared stewardship. Does it lack the institutional capacity and ability to engage amicably with neighbouring states to address water-sharing concerns?
Under a law mandated by Parliament, the Centre has so far constituted nine IWDTs to adjudicate interstate water disputes.
It is no coincidence that the word ‘rival’, derived from the Latin word ‘rivalis’, originally referred to people living on opposite banks of the same river or stream. In fact, low-intensity conflicts over freshwater in India are no longer hypothetical. More skirmishes over shared rivers are likely as we move forward.
Growing competition among sectoral users within Odisha, increasing climate vulnerability, the dichotomy between accessibility and availability, and the whims and politics of neighbouring states will continue to adversely affect the management of Odisha’s shared rivers. Besides, are we maintaining the ecological flow of rivers during lean periods?
Despite a national trend of increasing river pollution, the State Pollution Control Board reports that the number of polluted river stretches in Odisha fell from 19 in 2018 to six in 2023, with the Mahanadi and Brahmani among the most polluted.
Arguably, the state’s capacity and efficiency depend on how it perceives rivers as a whole. One must certainly skim through the pages of the ‘River Atlas of Odisha’, published by the Department of Water Resources (DoWR) on the eve of World Water Day earlier this year, to understand the state’s perspective on its rivers.
From describing them as the ‘lifeline of Odisha’ and ‘central to the growth of Odisha’ to calling them the ‘backbone of the water resource system’, the atlas presents rivers through a politico-bureaucratic-technocratic prism, emphasising their utilisation and development.
As a lower-riparian state, Odisha’s government and people must embrace the principle of equitable sharing of river waters rather than remain preoccupied with anxieties about downstream harm. A shared river is a shared responsibility of communities and governments.
Historically, Odisha addressed interstate water disputes through the personal charisma of leaders who reached out to resolve them. However, the state has also engaged bilaterally and trilaterally with riparian states on water-sharing agreements and discussions at regular intervals.
Despite having limited representation in its negotiating teams, Odisha has effectively protected its lower-riparian rights. In early 1946, the then Madras government (now Andhra Pradesh) and the Odisha government entered into an agreement to develop a hydropower project at Duduma Falls on the Machakund River.
With Andhra Pradesh, Odisha has engaged, from heads of government to senior technical and bureaucratic officials, on a range of issues concerning hydropower projects, river barrages, embankments and irrigation projects on the Indravati, Machakund, Sileru, Bahuda, Nagabali, Jhanjavati and Vansadhara rivers.
Of late, the sharing of Mahanadi waters has emerged as a major point of contention between Odisha and Chhattisgarh. Although the Mahanadi IWDT is expected to deliver its verdict anytime soon, political intervention at the highest level has accelerated dialogue through expanded technical committee meetings aimed at finding a lasting solution to the sharing of Mahanadi waters.
Institutional efforts to address interstate water disputes gained momentum as disagreements over shared waters with Odisha intensified. It was only in 2021 that the DoWR established a special technical wing under the Engineer-in-Chief to lead technical discussions with neighbouring states on interstate water issues.
With friction over shared waters, both present and projected, driven by external and internal factors, Odisha must prepare to handle such skirmishes by strengthening the DoWR’s capacity and resources.
Drawing on best practices in water-sharing agreements, Odisha may consider establishing joint river commissions with neighbouring states as confidence-building measures. Water users, communities and governments across riparian states share the responsibility of protecting rivers rather than positioning themselves as rivals competing for disproportionate rights to unrestricted utilisation.
Above all, maintaining a minimum environmental flow in every negotiated water-sharing arrangement must be a non-negotiable clause.
The writer is international adviser on climate change risks and transboundary rivers.
