The Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) has directed Karnataka to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu at 3,000 cusecs daily from October 15 to 31, retaining the flow rate mandated from October 1 to 15.
At a meeting on Wednesday, the committee considered factors such as the existing water levels at the reservoirs, the forecast by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) as well as the constraints and requirements of the States, CWRC Chairman Vineet Kumar Gupta told The Hindu. “This is what we have directed. The next meeting will be on October 30.”
A flow of 3,000 cusecs (cubic feet per second) works out to a volume of about 5 tmc ft (thousand million cubic feet). There were no directions given to Karnataka to make up for the 12 tmc ft shortfall to Tamil Nadu, calculated by the CWRC, on September 25. “The north-east monsoon (expected to set in by October 20) is expected to benefit Tamil Nadu and the forecasts so far say that it will be ‘normal’. However the deficit that occurred in August (36% shortfall and the lowest in a century) will be very difficult to make up,” he added.
As on September 30 (at the end of southwest monsoon), Tamil Nadu realised around 45.2 tmc ft, of which September accounted for 13.6 tmc ft.
As of October 5, storage in the reservoirs in Karnataka is 30% less than normal whereas the deficit is 62% in those in Tamil Nadu.
