Karnataka has appealed to the Cauvery Water Management Authority to immediately reduce the state’s daily Cauvery water release to Tamil Nadu from 6,000 cusecs to 3,000 cusecs, according to a report by Prajavani published on Wednesday.
The appeal follows a direction by the Cauvery Water Management Authority requiring Karnataka to release 6,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu every day. Karnataka has asked the authority to revise that direction and lower the prescribed flow by half.
The authority’s direction was based on a recommendation from the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee. The committee had recommended that Karnataka release 6,000 cusecs daily for 15 days. It stated that the total quantity to be released would be 7.8 thousand million cubic feet, equivalent to half a TMC foot per day over the specified period.
The report said the Cauvery Water Management Authority upheld the regulation committee’s recommendation before directing Karnataka to maintain the 6,000-cusec daily release to Tamil Nadu. Karnataka has now returned to the authority with a request for an immediate order lowering the flow to 3,000 cusecs.
The dispute places the operational role of the Cauvery water management institutions at the centre of the latest development. The regulation committee makes recommendations on the release schedule, while the management authority issues directions to the states. Karnataka’s appeal seeks a revision of the authority’s current direction rather than a change to the institutional framework governing the allocation.
The figures in the latest appeal also show the scale of the requested change. A release of 3,000 cusecs would be half the daily flow currently directed by the authority. The committee’s recommendation and the authority’s subsequent direction, however, were for 6,000 cusecs per day over a 15-day period, with the total release calculated at 7.8 TMC feet.
The report does not provide details of the authority’s response to Karnataka’s latest appeal, nor does it state whether the requested reduction has been accepted or when a decision will be issued. The immediate next step is therefore the Cauvery Water Management Authority’s consideration of Karnataka’s request to revise the existing release direction.
