Cauvery: Karnataka's inability to release water due to low inflows, says Minister Reddy

Bengaluru, Jul 9 (PTI) Clarifying that he has not made any statement regarding Karnataka releasing water to Tamil Nadu, Water Resources Minister Ramalinga Reddy on Thursday said the state's inability to release water is dictated by negligible inflows into the four reservoirs in the river basin and insufficient storage in these reservoirs. He was reacting to a reported statement by Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Udhayanidhi Stalin on the Cauvery water sharing issue between two states. "Mr @Udhaystalin, I have not made any kind of statement that Karnataka would not release water to Tamil Nadu," he said in a post on 'X'. According to him, Karnataka's inability to release water is dictated by negligible flows into four Karnataka reservoirs namely KRS, Kabini, Harangi and Hemavathy and insufficient storages in these reservoirs. He said that Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) is the competent authority for taking decisions on the release of water from Karnataka reservoirs based on the recommendations of Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee (CWRC) and the Karnataka government has no role in this issue. He highlighted that the Cumulative Live Storage (MDDL) in four reservoirs of Karnataka as on 30 June 2026 was 15.761 TMC, which is insufficient for drinking water needs of the state for the next three months. The cumulative inflows into the four reservoirs, till the CWRC meeting on 30.06.2026, was 4.05 TMC (Biligundlu 2.915 TMC), the minister said. He also pointed out that Karnataka submitted in the meetings of CWRC on June 16, 2026 and June 30, 2026, CWMA meeting on June 23, 2026 the storage in the four reservoirs will have to be conserved for meeting the drinking water needs to Bengaluru Metropolitan region, Mysuru, Mandya, Chamarajanagar, Ramanagar and other cities. The submissions of Karnataka in the meetings were considered by the CWMA and CWRC, which decided that, "In view of the grim situation in the Cauvery basin, as of now, and the basin being a deficit basin, the respective party states need to conserve the water to the extent possible in their designated reservoirs by making the most judicious use of the available scarce water resources. It further decided that priority may be given to meet the requirements for drinking water and environmental flows. He further said that since mid of May, the IMD has been publicising in various news dailies that El-Nino Phenomenon has set in resulting in delayed monsoon and deficit rainfall. "I hope that the South-West monsoon will pick up in the coming days and sufficient flows will be available in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu reservoirs," Reddy added. PTI AMP KH