CWMA asks basin States to use reservoir water judiciously, defers decision on Cauvery releases

Amid depleted water level in reservoirs in the Cauvery basin and poor rainfall situation in Karnataka, the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) on Tuesday, June 23, 2026, directed all basin States to judiciously utilize available water in reservoirs, especially for drinking water needs. He decided to review the water situation at his next meeting in line with expectations that rainfall will increase in the coming weeks.

The directive came at the 52nd meeting of the authority held amid renewed political debate over the Mekedatu balancing reservoir project. It may be noted that on June 19, the Tamil Nadu Assembly unanimously passed a resolution tabled by Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay opposing the Karnataka government’s proposal to build an equalizing reservoir along the Cauvery at Mekedatu.

Representatives of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry attended the meeting on Tuesday, June 23, 2026 and reviewed reservoir storage, inflow, outflow and rainfall across the basin.

Lower reservoir levels

Considering declining reservoir levels and declining water inflows in some parts of the basin, the authority refrained from issuing fresh instructions on water release and preferred to reassess the situation after monitoring the progress of the southwest monsoon.

Tamil Nadu’s request

During the meeting, Tamil Nadu pressed for the release of 9 tmcft of Cauvery water from Karnataka and sought direction to Karnataka to give details of small irrigation tank filling plans and remove irrigation projects drawing water directly from rivers and canals.

Tamil Nadu also reiterated Bengaluru’s demand that water drawn from the Cauvery basin for drinking water needs outside the basin should be treated as the use of Karnataka and should be duly taken into account while calculating the basin yield. The state also requested the development of a hardship sharing formula to manage water release in years of low rainfall.

presentation of karnataka

In its presentation, Karnataka said delayed monsoon and weak flows led to reduced storage levels in reservoirs and hence reduced emissions. The state also noted similar conditions in north Karnataka and neighboring Maharashtra, largely attributing the situation to the effects of the earthquake. El Niño.

The CWMA examined the condition of the reservoirs, as well as rainfall, inflow and outflow data submitted by basin States, before concluding that existing water resources should be carefully managed until inflows improve.

With the expectation of good rainfall in the coming days, officials decided to review the situation again at the next meeting before making another call on water release.

The meeting holds significance as both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have started making claims regarding water availability early in the monsoon season, with Tamil Nadu seeking to comply with the monthly release schedule and Karnataka citing poor water inflow and low reservoir storage.