CHENNAI: The Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) on Thursday recommended the Karnataka government release 1 tmc ft (thousand million cubic feet) of Cauvery water daily to Tamil Nadu from July 12 to the end of this month.
According to officials of the Water Resources Department, Tamil Nadu, the officials put forth the present scenario of the water storage in Mettur and highlighted that the Karnataka government has to release 18.62 tmc of water from June 1 to July 19 as per the Supreme Court in February 2016. However, it released only 4.24 tmc of water so far and the shortfall for the period is 14.01 tmc.
The officials insisted the CWRC direct the Karnataka government to meet the shortfall and guarantee the flow of water at Biligundlu as per the SC order.
“We need at least 20,000 cusecs of water daily from Karnataka to tide over the shortfall. We have also informed the Committee that the utilisation storage in Mettur reservoir is only 2 tmc and we are releasing 1,000 cusecs of water daily to meet drinking water and environment needs,” said officials.
They also informed the committee that the four reservoirs in Karnataka have 59.88 tmc of water and the quantity of water released from there is “not appreciable”.
However, the counterparts from Karnataka stuck to their stand that they have a deficit in water flow and urged the Committee to defer its decision till July 25. On hearing both sides, the Committee recommended the upper riparian State release one tmc of water to TN from July 12 to the end of this month.