SYSTEMS ANALYSIS OF UPPER KRISHNA SUB-BASIN

Abstract

Water is the elixir of life without which no flora or fauna is possible. With galloping population, elevation of the socio-economic status and emergence of contemporary trends the water resources have been sandwiched between the seams of reduced quality and ever increasing requirement of quantity, giving a clarion call for decision makers, planners and water resources experts for an integrated and comprehensive approach for sustainable development of water resources primarily with resource management mechanism using the technological device, albeit the overall approach is multi- directional. The present study pertains to the application of the `Systems Analysis Technique' to Upper Krishna sub-basin. The Upper Krishna sub-basin, lying in the states of Maharashtra and Karnataka, happens to be one of the twelve sub-basins of the Krishna . basin. It has 7 major, 21 medium and 225 minor irrigation schemes including the two projects proposed to use the imported water from other sub-basins. Due to its peculiar meteorologic and topographic features the sub-basin, which is other wise surplus in water, is cobwebbed with crisis of water leading to imbroglio between its riparian states, which has been settled by the Krishna Water Dispute Tribunal (KWDT). Also the demand of water in different sectors specially in the and districts and new industrial establishments of Maharashtra is high forcing its government to adopt a ..policy, of extensive irrigation and cultivation of food crops only in order to curb the crisis. Under such conditions the study area has been selected for analysis pertaining to optimal utilization of land and water resources (both ground and surface water) within the KWDT award/stipulations using the linear programming technique besides water balance studies in a real temporal and spatial domain. So the approach to the study was in the sequence of (i) water balance study on monthly basis at individual sites, (ii) comprehension of the LP model for the system, (iii) use of the software `LINDO' for the solution and (iv) water balance at different sites on the basis of the model allocations with such objectives as (i) to maximize the crop area, (ii) to examine the infra-basin transfer of water and (iii) to study the preceding objectives within the KWDT award/stipulation.