Karnataka has appealed to the Cauvery Water Management Authority to urgently reduce the state’s daily water release to Tamil Nadu from 9,000 cusecs to 2,000 cusecs, citing a sharp decline in inflows into its four Cauvery basin reservoirs and the risk of drinking-water shortages.
The appeal was submitted on Friday by Gaurav Gupta, Additional Chief Secretary of Karnataka’s Water Resources Department. The state asked the authority to revise its August 25 order directing Karnataka to release 9,000 cusecs daily to Tamil Nadu. Under that order, Karnataka is required to release a total of 11.66 thousand million cubic feet of water by September 8.
In its submission, Karnataka said the combined storage in its four reservoirs was currently 66.62 TMC feet. Gupta said inflows were expected to remain limited in the coming days and would not cross 20 TMC feet, citing the impact of El Niño conditions. He warned that continued compliance with the existing release order could create difficulties for drinking-water supply in Karnataka.
The state’s appeal cited live storage levels of 26.13 TMC feet in the Krishnaraja Sagar reservoir and 10.12 TMC feet in the Kabini reservoir. Karnataka said these conditions had not been adequately considered while issuing the release order. It also stated that Tamil Nadu’s three reservoirs held 61.22 TMC feet of water.
Karnataka further compared this year’s inflows with the previous year. From June to the end of August last year, its four reservoirs received 212 TMC feet of inflow. During the same period this year, inflows amounted to 106.98 TMC feet, according to the figures cited in the appeal.
The state also told the authority that it had already released more water than required during the period from July 29 to September 4. Karnataka said 327,647 cusecs, equivalent to 28.30 TMC feet, had been released to Tamil Nadu during that period. According to the state, the authority’s order required a release of 295,500 cusecs, or 25.53 TMC feet, meaning Karnataka released an additional 32,147 cusecs, equivalent to 2.77 TMC feet.
The appeal comes amid an ongoing dispute over the operation of the Cauvery river system and the allocation of water between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Karnataka’s latest submission asks the Cauvery Water Management Authority to reassess the release requirement in light of reservoir storage, reduced inflows and the state’s drinking-water needs. The authority’s response to the request was not included in the report.
