Cauvery water dispute | Cauvery Authority to hold emergency meeting in New Delhi on September 18

CWMA to hold emergency meet on Sept 18 to discuss quantum of water release to TN; Karnataka refuses to comply with CWRC's direction; TN Water Resources Minister says refusal to release water under guise of drinking water requirements amounts to deceiving TN farmers.

The Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) is going to hold an emergency meeting on the afternoon of Monday, September 18 2023, in the light of Karnataka’s refusal to comply with the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) ’s latest direction on September 12, to continue releasing 5,000 cubic feet per second (cusecs) of water to Tamil Nadu, for another 15 days.

The agenda of the meeting is to discuss the quantum of water release to Tamil Nadu, according to sources.  Though the meeting will take place in a hybrid mode, representatives of the Tamil Nadu government, led by Sandeep Saxena, Additional Chief Secretary (Water Resources) will take part in the deliberations personally. 

Though Karnataka implemented the CWMA’s decision of releasing 5,000 cusecs for 15 days (August 29 - September 12) and released 7.17 thousand million cubic feet (tmc ft) against the stipulated 6.48 tmc ft for the period, it did not agree with the CWRC’s fiat from the beginning. 

A few days ago,  Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, in a letter to Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, said that the panel’s decision could not be “practically implemented” without endangering the interest of farmers for irrigation and of humans, and livestock. The upper riparian State’s Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, also in charge of  water resources, met Mr Shekhawat  in Jaipur on Thursday, September 14, 2023, to hand over the Chief Minister’s letter. 

The State’s stand has been to await the outcome of the Authority’s meeting, even as the case on the Cauvery matter is due to come up for hearing in the Supreme Court on September 21. Tamil Nadu’s Water Resources Minister, Duraimurugan had earlier contended that the refusal to release water would amount to “deceiving” the farmers of Tamil Nadu, as Karnataka had enough water to spare, and it was expected to receive more flows in the near future.

Sources in Chennai point out that going by the realisation at Biligundulu on the inter-State border, it is evident that Karnataka is not releasing water as per the CWRC’s directions. On September 13 and 14, the realisation varied from about 2,500 cusecs to around 3,100 cusecs.  During June 1 to September 14, the cumulative realisation was 38.37 tmc ft, of which the first half of September accounted for 6.79 tmc ft, according to the data furnished by the Central Water Commission. 

On Saturday morning, the water level of the Mettur dam, the lifeline of the Cauvery delta, stood at 41.76 ft with the storage being 13.014 tmc ft. With the discharge being 6,500 cusecs, the reservoir is fast approaching dead storage, and it is only a matter of days that the dam will be closed for irrigation.