NEW DELHI: Unprecedented rains in the Cauvery basin in the past two weeks have led to a record increase in the outflow from Karnataka’s reservoirs to the interstate point Biligundlu. The record supply of water from Karnataka not only increased the water levels but also fulfilled the August month’s quota for Tamil Nadu in advance. TN’s Mettur reservoir reached full capacity on Tuesday.The 100th meeting of the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) expressed delight over the good rainfall in the basin and said this has eased the stressful situation that prevailed between June 1 and July 17.In June, Karnataka supplied TN only 2.22 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) against the requirement of 9.19 tmcft. On July 11, the CWRC directed Karnataka to release 1 tmcft per day to meet 32 tmcft for the monthly requirement of July. Meanwhile, the strong monsoon system since July 17 has resulted in heavy rainfall and negated the rainfall deficit in the basin.The CWRC assessed that between June 1 and July 29, a total of 84 tmcft of water flowed against the requirement of 41 tmcft. “Even TN’s quota for August, which comes to around 45 tmcft, has been fulfilled in advance,” Vineet Gupta, CWRC Chairman, told TNIE after the meeting.“In the past two weeks, around 81.7 tmcft water flowed at interstate point Biligundlu as against the required around 32 tmcft in July. The rainfall was so intense that in the last two days, more than 10 tmcft of water flowed to Biligundlu,” said Gupta.Nonetheless, TN officials urged the committee to direct Karnataka to continue supplying the stipulated volume of water (1.5 tmcft per day) in August. The CWRC’s next meeting is scheduled for August 13.
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