There was an ongoing dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka regarding the opening of Cauvery water. The Cauvery Management Commission was set up to resolve this. However, Karnataka was adamant that not even a drop of water could be released. Last year, due to non-release of water, the water level of Mettur dam dropped to 30 feet and water release was stopped. This affected the samba and kuruvai crops. Karnataka was conflicted saying that water cannot be released this year too.
Even last July 11th Cauvery Management Committee meeting recommended release of 1 TMC water to Tamil Nadu every day. But Karnataka refused to release the water. At the same time, nature has opened water for us. Heavy rains in the Cauvery catchment areas of Karnataka filled all the dams. Karnataka has opened up all the surplus water to Tamil Nadu despite its unwillingness to do so.
Due to this, the water level of Mettur Dam, which was 40 feet on July 10th, rose to 100 feet on July 29th. Yesterday it reached its full capacity of 120ft. Thus the entire surplus water is released for irrigation of the Cauvery Delta and the Western and Eastern Canals.
While the water level of Mettur dam remains at 120 feet, the dam is receiving 1,25,500 cubic feet of water per second. More than that, 1,50,000 cubic feet of water is released into Cauvery river.
Similarly, 1,70,000 cubic feet of water from Karnataka’s Krishnaraja Sagar Dam and 50,000 cubic feet of water from Kabini Dam have been released to Tamil Nadu. With 2.20 lakh cubic feet of water inflow, the inflow of water to Mettur Dam is expected to increase further.
