The State of Tamil Nadu, in the Supreme Court on Friday, expressed its frustration at Karnataka’s “scant respect” for the orders of the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) in the face of a mounting water deficit even as the Southwest monsoon wanes, leaving in its wake an agricultural crisis.
Tamil Nadu, represented by senior advocate G. Umapathy and advocate B. Karunakaran, said the inaction of Karnataka and the failure of CWMA to ensure compliance of its decisions has seriously affected the interests of the farmers in its Cauvery Basin, who are totally dependent on the river’s waters.
The State, in an affidavit, said the storage in Mettur reservoir was only 29.60 TMC (Thousand Million Cubic Feet) as on October 9.
It said that after reserving water for drinking and environmental requirements and allowing for evaporation, the remaining water would be grossly insufficient to sustain irrigation for a prolonged period.
Tamil Nadu said it had urged the CWMA to direct Karnataka to clear an accumulated deficit of 14.981 TMC. The State said Karnataka needed to supply 22.519 TMC by early October, requiring a daily flow of approximately 1.50 TMC (17,360 cusecs) at the Biligundlu measuring station.
Instead, the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) reduced the recommended target flows from 6,000 cusecs to 4,000 cusecs per day over a 15-day period starting from September 24. This recommendation was ratified by the CWMA.
Tamil Nadu said the allocation was drastically inadequate while noting that delta irrigation alone requires nearly 12,000 cusecs daily from the Mettur reservoir.
Further, to make matters worse, Tamil Nadu said Karnataka has not complied with even supplying the daily allocation of 4000 cusecs.
“The releases made by Karnataka did not adhere to the directions of CWMA and failed to ensure 4,000 cusecs every day. Flows realised are less by .987 TMC or 11,416 cusecs than directed by CWMA. Moreover, the backlog continues to mount and the failure of CWMA to take remedial action by directing Karnataka has caused serious prejudice to the State of Tamil Nadu,” the affidavit said.
Resource hoarding
The State accused Karnataka of resource hoarding, saying the latter State maintained a combined reservoir storage of roughly 49 TMC, which was more than enough to meet its allocation commitments to the lower riparian State.
Tamil Nadu claimed that out of the water released from Karnataka’s Krishna Raja Sagara (KRS) dam between June 1 and September 22, 2026, Karnataka consumed nearly 19 TMC for its own drinking water and local anicut irrigation.
It said that effectively zero water from KRS reached Tamil Nadu, leaving border inflows at Biligundlu almost entirely dependent on the Kabini River and intermediate catchments.
Tamil Nadu further accused Karnataka of improperly diverting basin water through 14 Lift Irrigation Schemes and pumping flows directly into roughly 390 local storage tanks scattered across the intermediate catchment.
Published – October 10, 2026 12:36 am IST
