Interstate River Basins, Water Transfers, and Dams

This chapter focuses on three related issues. The first section addresses the regulation of interstate river basins (an issue that is rapidly gaining importance) and interstate water dispute resolution. It reproduces select instruments seeking to foster basin-level regulation and protection of water and reproduces the Inter-State Water Disputes Act, 1956, which remains one of the most visible water legislation because of the lengthy disputes brought under its purview. The second section moves on to inter-basin water transfers, often referred to as interlinking of rivers. It reproduces parts of the latest Supreme Court decision in this regard, administrative instruments seeking to take this forward and a state act on inter-basin water transfers. The last section focuses on dams that are often the infrastructure around which conflicts surface in interstate or intra-state river basin regulation or interlinking of rivers.