CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu received 292.58 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) of Cauvery water from Karnataka from June 2024 to April 10 this year, far exceeding the 173.08 tmcft directed by the Supreme Court for a water year (June to May). This means the state got an excess of 119.49 tmcft in 10 months of the current water year against 78.39 tmcft realised during the last water year (2023-24).

Good inflow and increased water levels have brought the much-needed relief to farmers in the Cauvery delta region. As of Monday, water level in the Stanley reservoir (Mettur) stood at 74.945 tmcft, which is around 80.18% of its full capacity of 93.470 tmcft.

With comfortable storage, the state government is planning to release water from Mettur dam in June, as per the regular schedule, for irrigation.

Farmers, however, have urged the authorities to create better storage facilities in and around the Stanley reservoir to store water when inflow is higher than usual. G Ajeethan, technical secretary of the Consortium of Indian Farmers Associations, told TNIE, “We cannot call this a good or bad year. Karnataka received good rain during the monsoon.

Since they lacked storage facility, they released the surplus water. Karnataka is releasing water on a monthly basis as per the Supreme Court’s order. But Tamil Nadu farmers have been demanding daily release. Karnataka has no right to store Cauvery water, but TN government has not taken any action on this.”

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