Inadequate dam storage: State must work it out with TN

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Bengaluru: With no sign of rain in the catchment areas of the Cauvery basin and with no dams filled to the brim (except Kabini) in the basin, the Government of Karnataka may have to go for a compromise formula with neighboring Tamil Nadu over the release of Cauvery water to that state.

The rain that was delayed initially, had picked up for a few days ten days ago, but it has vanished again without filling up all dams in the Cauvery Basin which is necessary to release 177.5 tmc ft of water to Tamil Nadu as per the orders of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal.

As of today, all put together, the total storage in all four major dams, is around 110 tmc. The tribunal has fixed a monthly quota for Karnataka to release water to the downstream Mettur Dam in Tamil Nadu.

The total capacity of all four dams is as follows; Krishna Raja Sagar- 49.452 tmc, Kabini-19.52 tmc, Hemavathi-29.634 tmc, and Harangi-8.53 tmc. Nugu and Taraka reservoirs have two tmc capacity each. In the current season this year, around 15 to 25 tmc of water might have flowed into Tamil Nadu, and still, Karnataka has to release 155 tmc of water.

Already, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M.K.Stalin has written to Union Water Resources Minister Gajendrasingh Shekhawat seeking direction to the Government of Karnataka to honour the verdict of the Supreme Court.

Given the current storage of water in Cauvery Basin dams, there would be no problem for Karnataka in case the TN Government agrees to a compromise formula in the Cauvery Water Monitoring Authority meeting and share whatever water is available in the dams.

The Cauvery Tribunal had ordered Karnataka to release 202 tmc of water to Tamil Nadu every year but after Karnataka filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court, the latter asked the State to release 177.5 tmc of water.

Luckily, the apex court allowed the state of Karnataka to use 4.75 tmc ft of water in Bengaluru City on humanitarian grounds. In all, out of the total 483 tmc of water which is collected in the Cauvery basin in both Kerala and Karnataka, the SC issued directions to release 177.5 tmc of water to Tamil Nadu and allowed Karnataka and Kerala to utilise 284.75 and 21 tmc ft of water respectively.

The release of water is measured at the measuring unit at Biligundlu on the border of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Given the grim situation this time, Karnataka has to apply to the Authority informing its inability to honour the quota fixed by the Supreme Court.