Cauvery Water Regulation Committee decides to wait till July 28 to review situation
The Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC), which met on Wednesday in New Delhi amid a dry situation marked by weak monsoon in Karnataka’s Cauvery catchment
The Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC), which met on Wednesday in New Delhi amid a dry situation marked by weak monsoon in Karnataka’s Cauvery catchment area, desisted from issuing any direction to both the riparian States of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The CWRC that heard the arguments of both the States decided to wait till July 28 to review the situation, hoping that the catchment areas may receive rains by then, it is learnt. According to sources, Karnataka’s representatives argued that the State was not in a position to release the required quantum of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu on the grounds that the Cauvery basin was facing water shortage.
While there was absolutely no inflow into reservoirs in the Cauvery basin during June, a small quantum of water has now been stored in these reservoirs owing to minor rainfall in July, the Karnataka representatives told the CWRC. Both arguments They reportedly expressed concern over the forecast that there was no indication of the southwest monsoon gaining momentum and pointed out that the storage in these reservoirs will have to be used solely for drinking water purposes. However, Tamil Nadu representatives insisted that Karnataka should immediately release the quantum of water as stipulated by the Supreme Court and the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal for the current period to help its farmers.
Karnataka representatives countered this demand by pointing out that the State is gripped by one of the worst water shortages and wondered how it could release water to Tamil Nadu when its own reservoirs are yet to see any healthy inflows. The CWRC reportedly desisted from issuing any directions on water release. Hoping that the Cauvery catchment areas could witness rainfall in the coming days, the CWRC decided to meet on July 28 to take stock of the situation with respect to storage and release of water. Bleak situation Statistics related to storage level in the four reservoirs in Karnataka’s Cauvery basin, including the Krishnaraja Sagar, show that the State has only 56.77 tmcft as on July 14, as against the full level of 114.57 tmcft.
The State had a storage level of 107.18 tmcft in these reservoirs during the corresponding period last year. Already, Karnataka has told its farmers in the Cauvery basin that water will not be released for agricultural purposes and that whatever storage is there in these reservoirs would be used only to take care of drinking water requirements.
The BriefWire