With the shortfall in realisation of the Cauvery water going up, Tamil Nadu is expected to impress upon Karnataka at the meeting of the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) in New Delhi on August 11 to make good the deficit and adhere to the schedule of monthly release drawn up by the Authority.
As on July 31, the cumulative deficit is about 28.85 thousand million cubic feet (tmc ft). Around 11.6 tmc ft was realised against the State’s share of 40.43 tmc ft for June and July. The authorities had been continuing with the discharge of around 11,000 cubic feet per second (cusecs) from the Mettur dam, which recorded an inflow of a mere 154 cusecs on Thursday.
The Authority last met on June 16 when Tamil Nadu, according to Water Resources Minister Durai Murugan, urged the CWMA to issue a direction to Karnataka regarding the water release. Subsequently, the Authority had “requested” the upper riparian State to “take suitable necessary action.” At its meeting on July 14, the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) noted that the cumulative observed flow at Billigundulu between June 1 and July 12 was only 3.379 tmc ft. A request was again made to Karnataka to wipe out the shortfall “in the forthcoming months.”
