The Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) on Friday upheld a regulatory panel’s directions to Karnataka to release 3000 cusecs water per second to Tamil Nadu between September 28 and October 15 at a key meeting in the national capital, deepening a major discord between the two southern states, a person familiar with the matter said.The Cauvery interstate basin originates in Karnataka and threads its way through Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry before flowing into the Bay of Bengal.
Being a lower-riparian state in the basin, Tamil Nadu depends on releases by Karnataka, particularly during the monsoon, to meet its water needs. During summers, Tamil Nadu comes under a rain-shadow region.On September 26, the Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee (CWRC) had asked the Karnataka government to release 3000 cusecs water per second to its neighbour from September 26, the day on which its earlier mandate to Karnataka to release 5,000 cusecs per second for 15 days was to an end.
At the meeting, representatives of the Karnataka government argued that the state was battling a water crisis due to drought following a deficient monsoon. “Karnataka said it was not in any position to comply with the directions because of water scarcity,” the person cited above said.On September 14, after a Cabinet meeting, the Karnataka government had declared a major drought in 195 taluks in the state, including nine taluks around Bangalore, Karnataka’s representatives argued. A taluk is a unit of revenue administration.