BANGALORE: The water levels in Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) in Mandya district and Almatti in Bijapur, the lifelines for drinking water and irrigation in the Cauvery and Krishna basins, have almost touched
Though water levels at the Krishnaraja Sagar Reservoir have dropped alarmingly, official sources in Mysore have re-assured that water supply to Bangalore and Mysore will not be hit at least for the next two months, which is about the time when monsoon showers are expected. As on Saturday, water levels at KRS reservoir was 72.71 ft (maximum capacity - 124.80 ft), while it was 48.50 ft (maximum capacity - 84 ft) at Kabini. During the corresponding period last year, KRS had 98.63 ft water, with an inflow of 661 cusecs and outflow 4,925 cusecs. At Kabini, the water level stood at around 67 ft.
A CRA meeting held on September 19 had failed to produce a solution as both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu had rejected the Prime Minister’s award of 9,000 cusecs of water to save the standing crops in the delta region. The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Cauvery Monitoring Committee (CMC) to examine and make recommendations on all issues likely to be raised by Tamil Nadu and Karnataka over the sharing of water of river Cauvery at the panel’s scheduled meeting tomorrow.
Further releases to be based on inflows into Kabini and Krishnarajasagar The goodwill gesture extended by Karnataka to release 10,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu till September 20 has come to an end and further releases are expected to be purely based on the inflows into the Kabini and the Krishnarajasagar reservoirs, given the differences that have cropped up after a meeting of the Cauvery River Authority.
Karnataka is expected to convey to the Supreme Court that it is keen on adhering to the water release formula prescribed by the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) and that the vagaries of monsoon has prevented it from sticking to the formula so far this year. Tamil Nadu had approached the apex court seeking a direction for the release of nearly 25 tmcft of water, claiming it as the shortfall based on the distress water-sharing formula. The petition of the lower riparian State is coming up for hearing on Monday.
The Supreme Court on Monday again refused to hear a plea of the Tamil Nadu government seeking a direction to the Karnataka Government restraining it from drawing extra water from Cauvery basin reservoirs. A bench of Justices D K Jain and A R Dave told C S Vaidyanathan, counsel for the Tamil Nadu government, to mention the matter again on Friday for hearing the application.
Is Tamil Nadu heading for a major standoff with Karnataka on the Cauvery river water issue this summer? Perhaps, yes should be the answer if one were to go by the water level in reservoirs in the Cauvery basin of both states. Add to that the statements of Karnataka leaders who do not want a single drop of water to be given to Tamil Nadu this summer.
CHENNAI: Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Thursday declined to comment on the stand of Karnataka government on the release of Cauvery water even as demands for convening an all-party meeting to discuss the issue and asking the CM to meet the Prime Minister to ensure the release of water started coming in.
CHENNAI: Water from the Stanley reservoir in Mettur will be released for samba cultivation in delta districts from August 7, as the inflow into the reservoir has increased due to heavy rain in the Cauvery catchments in Karnataka and Kerala, Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi told the Assembly on Tuesday.
Staff Correspondent
