NEW DELHI: The Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) on Thursday rejected Tamil Nadu’s demand to direct Karnataka to release 3.6tmcft deficit Cauvery water to the lower riparian state.
The authority endorsed the direction of the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) not to release water to Tamil Nadu as there is a severe water crisis in Karnataka.
At the 29th meeting, members of CWMA and officials of the Ministry of Jalshakti heard the submissions of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu against the order of the 94th meeting of CWRC, on March 21.
In its direction, the CWRC rejected the demand of Tamil Nadu to release more water from Karnataka as the irrigation season in the lower riparian state has ended. The reservoirs in TN have enough water to meet its drinking water needs, whereas Karnataka is facing a severe water crisis in its cities, it stated.
CWMA rejects TN demand to release 3.6 tmcft water
The CWRC directed Karnataka to maintain the environmental flow in the Cauvery as per the order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) modified by the Supreme Court. Officials from Tamil Nadu demanded that Karnataka release the backlog of Cauvery water.
As per the CWDT order, Karnataka has to maintain the environmental flow of 2.5tmcft per month from February. For this, Karnataka released 5tmcft in February and March. However, the flow realised at the Biligundlu gauging station was only around 1.4tmcft in the past two months.
Tamil Nadu demanded that Karnataka ensure release of the deficit 3.6tmcft of environment flow as per the CWDT order. “We view the current water crisis in Karnataka’s cities is at its peak which has to be addressed first,” said TD Sharma, Secretary, CWMA. “The authority endorsed the decision of CWRC and rejected the demand of Tamil Nadu,” he added.
The CWRC was of the view that available storages in the designated reservoirs in the Cauvery basin of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala are sufficient to meet the drinking water requirement and environmental flow for the remaining period of the current water year (2023-24) and the initial months of the next water year (2024-25).
Karnataka, in its submission, said the water available in four designated storages is around 29.903tmcft which is sufficient for drinking and industrial purposes, and to irrigate the standing crops. “The ‘Irrigation Season’ ended on January 31, 2024. The ‘Irrigation Season’ runs from June to January and there is adequate water in the reservoirs of Tamil Nadu to meet its industrial and drinking needs,” Vineet Gupta, Chairman of CWRC, said.