On Monday, as the Cauvery Supervisory Committee (CSC) comprising officials from Union water ministry and those from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu sat down to discuss implementation of the Supreme Court's latest order to release 12,000 cusecs of water from Karnataka, the committee did not have enough data to arrive at a decision. It adjourned the meeting for September 19 and asked both states to come back with comprehensive data.

The developments of Monday illustrate well one side of the lingering nature of inter-state water disputes and the water wars it triggers in the country.

Following the final award of water shares through the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT), a monitoring committee was mandated to supervise its implementation while later in 2013, Supreme Court directed formation of the CSC for implementation of SC's orders on the issue. The CSC also comprises of the Central Water Commission (CWC). Despite the mandate given to the monitoring committee and CSC, none have the requisite data to arrive at appropriate implementation.

According to independent experts, while the absence of comprehensive data on water flows and rainfall is one part of the problem, the tendency to take political mileage and poor water management have aggravated the sorry state. "The CWC's job is to collect and disseminate live data so that in times of distress, authorities, including courts, can give fair decisions. The monitoring committee was supposed to look at solutions in times of distress, but that is not in place. Also, what is the water resources ministry doing, if they don't have the data?," asks Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator, South Asian Network for Dams, Rivers and People.

Thakkar also added, "Look at the cropping patterns too. In Mandya, they are growing sugarcane and even maize, both take a lot of water. On the other side in Tamil Nadu, farmers are growing paddy even as the southwest monsoon is just about 400mm. We have to address these issues."

Surprisingly, Thakkar's views are echoed by top officials from the ministry. "Transparent data has to be made available to help resolve these disputes. We need to have a National Water Commission at this hour to attend these problems," said Shashi Shekhar, secretary, Union ministry of water resources. An expert body headed by former Planning Commission member Mihir Shah has recommended that a National Water Commission should subsume Central Groundwater Board and Central Water Commission.

The groundwater situation is also compounding the water stress, officials and activists added. According to water ministry data, a total of 5 lakh square kms area of the country has been termed dark blocks for groundwater.

These are blocks, mandals, talukas and districts that are staring at a groundwater crisis.

Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan have recorded high levels of groundwater extraction for irrigation. In Punjab, irrigation accounts for 97.9% groundwater withdrawal while in Haryana and Rajasthan, the figures stand at 94.5% and 88.4% respectively.

In contrast, the water availability is nothing short of worrying, or even an impending crisis, as officials put it. Even as the country receives average annual rainfall of 1170 mm, the average annual surface runoff generated by rainfall and snowfall is about 1869 billion cubic meter (BCM). Whereas, an estimated 690 BCM or only 37 per cent of the surface water resources can be utilized as per the Water Resources Information System of India. "In the next 10 years, we will have a far more severe crisis and as we move ahead, increasingly, water available will be contaminated," said Shashi Shekhar.

Tushaar Shah, senior fellow, International Water Management Institute, said, "The root cause of most of these disputes is politics. Water scarcity is a worldwide phenomenon but we don't ever see such violence. In Western Europe, the Rhine is used by six major countries. In fact, even the Indus water treaty has weathered problems. Since we are looking at water through the lens of infrastructure development, these disputes have lingered."