A notorious dispute between Tamil Nadu and Kerala on the Mullaperiyar Dam has finally made the Supreme Court of India agree to a proper safety audit on it. The court did that as fears started coming forth all around the state over its age, which hails from years ago.This background is based on the possible vulnerabilities in the surroundings of it. The Mullaperiyar Dam was built in 1895 across the Periyar River in Kerala but is owned and operated by Tamil Nadu on lease. It is a vital part of irrigation and drinking water supply in Tamil Nadu, but the antiquity and seismic sensitivity of the dam have raised the specter of catastrophic failure. It did not stop raising alarms on the safety of the dam and asked for a new one in place, threatening loss of millions of lives and properties downstream. Tamil Nadu still argues that the dam is safe and thus should not be meddled with its operations. Observations of Supreme Court A bench of the Supreme Court, dealing with the pleas pertaining to the safety of the dam, suggested a thorough safety audit, which would be done by an independent expert committee. Underlining that the interest of both states be balanced while minimizing risks to the environment for the sake of people, the court said,. The court advised that the audit be structural analysis, hydrological studies, and testing of the capability of the dam in relation to natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods. The court asked the concerned states to cooperate fully with the proposed measures and furnish necessary data to the committee. Earlier Interventions The Supreme Court has been intimately associated with the Mullaperiyar Dam issue for the last few years. It had permitted Tamil Nadu to raise the water level to 142 feet subject to regular safety review in the year 2014. Repeated pleas from Kerala on the de-commissioning of the dam and replacement have led to multiple reviews by expert committees, but no solution has been arrived at yet. Safety Audit Aftermath It would, therefore, give a scientific basis for an audit of the current state of affairs in the dam and indicate measures needed to mitigate the risk. This might even act as a confidence-building measure between Kerala and Tamil Nadu and result in more cooperation in handling the affairs of the dam. The proactive nature that the Supreme Court has portrayed in this case highlights that long-standing inter-state water disputes can and have been dealt with through a balance as well as safety-oriented framework. Still, the most crucial resolution of the Mullaperiyar Dam issue has to still depend on dialogue and consensus building between the states.