The Cauvery Water Management Authority has directed Karnataka to release 3,000 cusecs of water daily to Tamil Nadu for 15 days, even as Karnataka officials cite drought conditions and limited reservoir storage needed to protect drinking-water supplies for Bengaluru and other cities.
The direction was issued on Friday after the authority upheld a recommendation of the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee. The release is to take effect from 8 am on Saturday and will require Karnataka to transfer 3.88 thousand million cubic feet (TMC ft) of water during the 15-day period.
The decision follows a dispute over the volume of water already released by Karnataka. Under an earlier direction, the state was required to release 45.23 TMC ft between July 29 and October 22. Karnataka officials told the authority that the state had released 47.09 TMC ft during that period, or 1.86 TMC ft more than the prescribed quantity, and opposed Tamil Nadu’s demand for additional releases.
Karnataka’s representatives also pointed to the condition of the state’s reservoirs and the drinking-water needs of its urban population. The four reservoirs currently hold 46.51 TMC ft, while 43 TMC ft is required to supply drinking water to Bengaluru and other cities until June, according to the figures cited in the meeting. Officials said most districts in Karnataka were facing severe drought and argued that the state could not release more water under those conditions.
Tamil Nadu’s position was based on a larger outstanding-water claim. Its officials sought the immediate release of 13.82 TMC ft of past arrears and demanded that Karnataka ensure a total inflow of 18.40 TMC ft by November 7. They also sought a daily release of 14,236 cusecs. In support of its position, Tamil Nadu referred to storage of 29.37 TMC ft in the Mettur, Bhavani and Amaravathi reservoirs.
Tamil Nadu officials further told the authority that 13 districts in its Cauvery basin had received 112 per cent more rainfall than normal between October 1 and 21. The submission placed the dispute within a broader disagreement over how rainfall, reservoir storage and downstream requirements should be assessed while determining releases.
The competing claims highlight the operational pressure created when a river basin must serve multiple uses across state boundaries. For Karnataka, reservoir water is linked to drinking-water planning for Bengaluru and other urban centres, while Tamil Nadu’s demand concerns downstream storage and its own basin requirements. The authority’s order now establishes the immediate release schedule, but the wider disagreement over arrears, rainfall and available storage remains contested.
The 3,000-cusec direction will apply for 15 days from Saturday morning. The next developments will depend on implementation of the order, reservoir conditions and further decisions by the Cauvery water-management institutions.
