CWRC asks Karnataka to release 1 tmcft water to Tamil Nadu daily

New Delhi: The Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) on Thursday asked Karnataka to release 1 tmcft of Cauvery river water to Tamil Nadu till the end of this month.

The CWRC, in its meeting chaired by its chairperson Vineet Gupta, passed the order that “Karnataka needs to ensure releases from its reservoirs so that the cumulative realisation at Biligundlu is 1 tmcft per day (on an average flow of about 11,500 cusecs) during the period from 12.07.2024 to 31.07.2024.”

In the meeting, Karnataka said that the cumulative inflows to Karnataka’s four reservoirs from 01.06.2024 to 09.07.2024 were 41.651 tmcft. The shortfall in cumulative inflows to Karnataka’s four reservoirs was 28.71 per cent, the state said.

The state also said that the storage in Karnataka’s four reservoirs was 58.668 tmcft while in three reservoirs in Tamil Nadu storage was 24.705 tmcft apart from the release of 5.542 tmcft to the river from Mettur and Bhavani reservoirs.

Karnataka also suggested in the meeting that the committee should wait till July 25, before taking any decision for the release of water. However, Tamil Nadu has said that in the previous water year, environmental flows had not been released by Karnataka for the period from February 2024 to May 2024.

“The situation during the current water year was normal and Karnataka has received normal inflows. Hence, Karnataka has to ensure stipulated flows at Biligundlu as per the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal award as modified by the Supreme Court,” Tamil Nadu said in the meeting.