Take only 20% of water for drinking: T to KRMB

The government has urged the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) to take only 20% of water drawn for the purpose of drinking water into account while considering water utilisation of the state.

The government said it was seeking allocation of 15 tmcft (with drawals of 75 tmcft) utilisation towards domestic water requirements for projected Population up to 2051. As per the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal (KWDT-1) clause VII of final order, only 20% of drawals made towards drinking water should be counted as consumptive use. The Central Water Commission, in its latest reassessment of water availability study in India, has considered the consumptive use of domestic water utilisation as 15%, engineer-in-chief (Irrigation) C Muralidhar said in a letter addressed to chairman of KRMB.