Tamil Nadu gets current year’s highest monthly realisation

In October, it was 24 tmc ft higher than prescribed

With October witnessing the highest monthly realisation of Cauvery water during the current water year (June 2021-May 2022), Tamil Nadu’s shortfall in realisation of its share of the river water has gone down to about seven thousand million cubic feet (tmc ft).

On September 30, the deficit was around 32 tmc ft. But with rainfall in the withdrawal phase of southwest monsoon being heavy over several parts of the southern States, including the catchment of the Cauvery this month, the difference between realisation and the stipulated quantity has got drastically narrowed. The realisation during October alone, as on October 27, was around 24 tmc ft higher than the prescribed quantity for the month.

The cumulative realisation of Cauvery water since June 1 was about 133.4 tmc ft. Considering the average rate of realisation during November-May between 2013 and 2020, the State is expected to get about 40 tmc ft more in the next seven months. But if the average rate from 1991, when the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal gave its interim order, to 2020 is taken into account, around 69 tmc ft of water is likely to be realised during the rest of the water year. Going by the pattern of flows in the two sets of years, the overall realisation of water for the entire year will not, in any way, exceed the 200-tmc ft mark.