Tamil Nadu has termed “insufficient” the release of 3,500 cubic feet per second (cusecs) of water for the next 15 days, as decided by the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC).

The State, according to its calculation based on deficient rainfall in the Cauvery’s catchment, should have realised about 13 thousand million cubic feet (tmc ft) till now since June 1. But, it received only around 3.5 tmc ft. “As far as our workings are concerned, the shortfall is approximately 9.5 tmc ft, which could easily have been made good, given the combined storage of Karnataka’s four reservoirs,” a water expert in the State government says. As on Tuesday, the storage was about 63 tmc ft against the total capacity of 114.57 tmc ft.

If the quantity of 3,500 cusecs is available throughout the day for 15 days, the quantum of water that the State would get is about 4.5 tmc ft. “In view of the storage in the neighbouring State, it would not be unreasonable to expect around 9 tmc ft from Karnataka,” the expert points out, adding in that case, the release has to be of the order of 7,000 cusecs.

A farmer of the Tiruvarur district, Thanga Jayaraman, says Thiruvaiyaru’s agriculturists have been requesting the State government to release a small quantity of water in the Cauvery river at least for cattle.

Published - July 28, 2026 07:33 pm IST