Interstate River Water Disputes Act, 1956 (IRWD Act)

The Interstate River Water Disputes Act, 1956 (IRWD Act) is an Actof the Parliament of India enacted under Article 262 of Constitution of India on the eve of re-organisation of Stateson linguistic basis to resolve the water disputes that would arise in the use, control and distribution of an interstate river or river valley.

Article 262 of the Indian Constitution provides a role for the Central Government in adjudicating conflicts surrounding inter-state rivers that arise among the state/regional governments

This Act further has undergone amendments subsequently and its most recent amendment took place in the year 2002. River waters use / harnessing is included in States Jurisdiction(entry 17 of State List, Schedule 7 of Indian Constitution). However, union government can make laws on regulation and development of inter-State rivers and river valleys when expedient in the PublicInterest(entry 56 of Union List, Schedule 7 of Indian Constitution)

When public interest is served, President of India may also establish an interstate council as per  Article 263 to inquire and recommend on the dispute that has arisen between the States of India

IRWD Act (section 2c2) validates the previous agreements (if any) among the basin states to harness water of an interstate river/ river valley.

Water Disputes
RWD Act is applicable only to interstate rivers / river valleys. An action of one state should affect the interests of one or more other states. Then only water dispute is deemed to have arisen under IRWD Act (section 3)It can be divided into two independent parts for clarity purpose in understanding the techno-legal application of IRWD Act

Actions of a downstream state affecting the interest of an upstream state

A downstream state’s action can affect the upstream state interest only in one case. I.e. when a downstream state is building a dam / barrage near its state boundary and submerging the territory of an upstream state on permanent / temporary basis. Other than this action, no other action of a downstream state could affect the upstream states interest which they have been using for economical, ecological and spiritual/ religious aspects. The meaning of the word ‘interest’ in this context is concern / importance / significance / relevance / consequence of losing the prevailing water use or purpose

Actions of an upstream state affecting the interest of a downstream state

Whereas all the actions of an upstream state to use or control or distribute the water of an interstate river can affect the downstream states in one way or other. The following are some examples but not complete:

1. Consuming river water for any beneficial use such as irrigation, drinking water, industrial, recreation, recharging of ground water, ground water use, enhanced evaporation losses, enhancing rain water use efficiency, obstructing non flood flows of the river, transferring water to outside the river basin, etc. (i.e. any man made /aided action of converting water into water vapour & losing to atmosphere by evapotranspiration / evaporation processes and also transferring river water outside the river basin). This is generally done by constructing water storage reservoirs and subsequently using water for above purposes.
2. Quality of water can also be diminished / altered/ controlled in the action of using water. It would take place by accumulating the dissolved salts in the remaining water after its use. The dissolved salts content of water increases due to its consumption and also addition of more salts by anthropogenic activity. Also causing water more silt laden / turbid is a man made water quality alteration which can be caused by mining and deforestation activities. Bringing water from other river basins for upstream states use also effects water quality in downstream states.

Generally river water is transferred to water deficit areas for use after creating the infrastructure for its storage (water reservoirs) and distribution network (canals, pipelines, ground water charging, etc.). All these acts fall under river water distribution and control category under IRWD Act. All the above actions of an upstream state are legal causes of water dispute to the downstream states since their existing interests are affected as given below:

• Decrease in water availability:- When an upstream state contemplates water use, it would block the lean season river flows initially by constructing low cost barrages and tries to store the peak flood waters ultimately by constructing massive water storage reservoirs. In this process the river flow regime is altered drastically converting it ephemeral / dry in most of the time except during floods It also alters the ecology of the river located in downstream states affecting its riverine vegetation and aquatic flora & fauna. Already the delta area of rivers are eroding / shrinking when adequate river water is not reaching sea. This process of river water harnessing affects the downstream states interests as they are deprived of constantly available river water which they had been using for their interests. Alternatively, downstream state needs to store more flood water in reservoirs to cater to the existing water use.
• Deterioration in water quality:- If the water use is 75% of the total available water in the river, the dissolved salts concentration in the river water increases by four folds.Alteration in river water quality / alkalinity / salinity effects growth of traditionally cultivated crops as they are not best suitable with the enhanced soil alkalinity and or soil salinity They either give lesser yield or consume more saline water for the same yield.Also the aquatic flora & fauna would face survival threat / diminished growth with the enhanced water salinity and or alkalinity. If the river is blocked to reach the Sea (i.e. basin closure) in most of the years, the ecology / fisheries of the surrounding Sea / river mouth area is also affected. Also there is threat of Sea water ingress into estuaries / delta of the river contaminating ground water.

The use or control or distribution of river water in an upstream state is invariably denial of prevailing use / purpose in the downstream state as it is altering natural flow regime of river water with respect to quantity, quality and time of availability in downstream states. Also Dam failures in upstream states can create flash floods or further dam failures in downstream states causing unprecedented property damage and loss of human lives.IRWD Act (section 3) clearly stipulates that mere anticipation of a riparian state actions which can affect other riparian state interests is enough to raise interstate water dispute

Constitution of Tribunal
Whenever the riparian states are not able to reach amicable agreements on their own in sharing of an interstate river waters, section 4 of IRWD Act provides dispute resolution process in the form of Tribunal

When the tribunal final verdict issued based on the deliberations on the draft verdict is accepted by the central government and notified in the official gazette, the verdict becomes law and binding on the states for implementation.

When pronounced in the ambit of IRWD Act, the tribunal’s verdict after its publication in the official gazette is equivalent to Supreme Court verdict as per section 6 of IRWD Act.