Tamil Nadu and Karnataka fight over Cauvery River Water Rights

Bengaluru bandh today (26-9-2023) Cauvery River Water dispute straining Karnataka. Tamil Nadu ties explained - various organisations in Bengaluru have called for a bandh in protest against the release Cauvery River Water to Tamil Nadu. The directive from the Cauvery River Water Management Authority (CWMA). instructed Karnataka to extend the release of 5000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu for an additional 15 days.

About Cauvery River Water.

The Cauvery River Water is one of the major Indian rivers flowing through the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The Cauvery River Water rises at TalaKaveri in the Brahmagiri range in Western Ghats, Kodagu district of the state of Karnataka at an elevation of 1341 m above the mean sea level and flows for about 800 km before the Bay of Bengal. It is the third largest river, after Godavari & Krishna in Southern India and the largest in the state into north and south. In ancient Tamil Literature the Cauvery River Water was also called Ponni. The catchmen area of the Cauvery River Water basin is estimated to be 81,155 sq.kms with many tributaries including Harangi, Hemavati, Kabini, Bhavani, Lakshmana Thirtha, Noyyal River, and Arkavati.

What's happening? &&& Why in recent news?

 The Cauvery River Water sharing issue between Karnataka & Tamil Nadu has flared up again despite the Supreme Court, Supreme Court giving its verdict on the 200 year old dispute in 2018. The trigger this time is the poor rainfall in the river's catchment area in Karnataka. Several pro-kannada organisations, farmer groups and labour unions have called for a bandh in Bengaluru (26-9-2023) with the support of the opposition BJP and the Janata Dal Secular Party. This is in protest against the Congress Government following a 21-9-2023 order to release water at the rate of 5000 cusecs per day. The protesters argue that water is being released to Tamil Nadu even at the South West monsoon draws to a close and storage levels are very low in the Cauvery River Water basin reservoirs in Karnataka. The Cauvery River Water is the main source of drinking water for the city of Bengaluru and for the irrigation of farmland in Mandya region of the State.

The Cauvery River Water Management Authority (CWMA) A largely apolitical authority created under the Aegis of the Union Water Resources Ministry to oversee the implementation of the 2018 Supreme Court orders. Is the Central Agency that now regulates the disputes between the 2 States.

Despite 2018 Supreme Court Verdict, why this dispute?

The contention of political parties in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu is that the Supreme Court order of 2018 has spelt out the water sharing norms only a normal monsoon year and not a distress year, like the current one is turning out would be with rainfall over 30% below normal DMK in Tamil Nadu and the Congress and the JDS in Karnataka are calling for the PM's intervention to create a mechanism for the redressal of the dispute in distress years. The rainfall in August and September out of the 4 months of monsoon that began in June has been lowest in the last 123 years of Karnataka.

What was the Supreme Court Verdict of 2018?

The Supreme Court in its Feb-2018 order granted an additional share of 1475 TMC - Thousand Million Cubic feet of water to Karnataka and reduce the Tamil Nadu share by the same amount. The additional share given to Karnataka was for drinking water in South Karnataka out of the 740 TMC - Thousand Million Cubic feet of Cauvery River Water to be shared every year, the Supreme Court awarded 404.25 Cauvery River Water Management Authority (CWMA) to Tamil Nadu, 284.75 TMC - Thousand Million Cubic feet, 30 TMC - Thousand Million Cubic feet 7 TMC - Thousand Million Cubic feet to Kerala, 7 TMC - Thousand Million Cubic feet to Puducherry and 14 TMC - Thousand Million Cubic feet for environment protection and wastage into the sea. The Supreme Court also ordered the creation of Cauvery River Water Management Authority (CWMA) and the Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee (CWRC) to adjudicate disputes between the states within the framework of the final court orders. So why Karnataka is not releasing after?

The 4 reservoirs in the Cauvery Basin - Krishna Raja Sagar, Kabini, Hemavathy and Harangi were at halt their storage levels as of Sep-2023. there was a total of 51.1 TMC of water in these reservoirs, as against a total storage capacity of 104.5 TMC - Thousand Million Cubic feet. According to the Karnataka Government, the state will need a total of 112 TMC - Thousand Million Cubic feet of water, 7.9 TMC - Thousand Million Cubic feet for irrigating standing crops and 33 TMC - Thousand Million Cubic feet to supply drinmking water to Bengaluru tell Jun-2024 with the South West Monsoon winding up in Karnataka, the remaining water in the Cauvery basin reservoirs must be conserved for drinking water and irrigation purposes, the Congress Government has argued Karnataka has also argued that Tami Nadu will receive a large chunk of its rainfall in the retreating North East Monsoon between October & November whereas Karnataka receive rainfall in the South West Monsoon months from June - September.