Bengaluru: The State will not be able to discharge water to Tamil Nadu as stipulated by the Cauvery tribunal, as a decision to preserve the available water to meet the drinking water needs of Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mandya and other towns was taken in a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday, August 12.
The State government will also be not releasing water for water-intensive crops like paddy and sugarcane due to poor water levels in its reservoirs in Cauvery basin.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah held a meeting with top officials of water resources and agriculture departments on Friday to discuss the consequences of deficient rainfall in the Cauvery basin which had resulted in low storage levels in the four major reservoirs in the region — KRS,?Kabini, Harangi and Hemavathy.
The total capacity of reservoirs in the Cauvery basin is 115 tmcft, but at present, the availability is only 62 tmcft. It was 82 tmcft in the corresponding period last year. The state requires 103 tmcft for irrigation and another 50 tmcft to meet drinking water needs of Bengaluru alone, according to Water Resources Minister M?B Patil.
Patil said Karnataka will convey its position to the Centre. Karnataka wants both the riparian states to go by the “distress formula” as mentioned in the final award by the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal.
Karnataka is expected to release a minimum of 125 tmcft to Tamil Nadu by December, which is highly impossible under the present circumstances.
