Cauvery: Karnataka Chief Minister says next move will be made only after consulting experts and Opposition

Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar convening a high-level meeting to discuss the Cauvery Water Management Authority's order on water sharing, at Vidhana Soudha on Friday (July 31). | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement Amid intensified protests across Karnataka’s Cauvery basin against the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee’s (CWRC) order to the State to release water to Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister D.K Shivakumar on Friday (July 31) made it clear that the government will decide its next move only after getting advice from legal experts and consulting Opposition leaders.The Chief Minister, who attended a meeting with officials and legal experts, said he would seek the suggestions of the Opposition leaders at the all-party meeting convened in Bengaluru on Sunday (August 2).Mr. Shivakumar said the inflows to reservoirs in the Karnataka’s Cauvery basin had improved in the last two to three days, calling it a “reassuring sign”.“The storage in Harangi reservoir is 95% of full capacity, Kabini is 83%, KRS is 36%, and Hemavati is 67%. No one can hide these figures. All stakeholders including Cauvery authorities, Tamil Nadu, and the media have access to reservoir inflow data. Our dams are seeing an inflow of about 25,000 cusecs (a day) while we have been asked to release 3,500 cusecs (a day),” he noted.Smallest in 100 years“Until the end of July, we have released only 0.6 tmcft to Tamil Nadu. This is the smallest quantum of water released to Tamil Nadu in the last 100 years. The water that did flow was mostly the rains around Bengaluru that drained away, not the releases from our reservoirs,” he clarified.He defended the legal team and officials of the State government by saying that they had effectively presented Karnataka’s case before the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) and had also sought a fortnight’s time to assess the situation before taking the call on water releases. However, the CWMA had observed that there were inflows into Karnataka’s reservoirs and the quantum of water that the State had been asked to release was low, he said. In fact, Tamil Nadu had sought the release of 9.94 tmcft of water, but the CWRC recommended roughly half that amount, he said.Earlier ordersIndicating that such orders had been issued in the earlier distress years too, he pointed out that Karnataka had been ordered to release water to Tamil Nadu in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2023 as well.He pointed out that Karnataka had released more quantum of water than stipulated to Tamil Nadu whenever it had good storage. “Over the last three years, we have had good rainfall. Last year, the rains were good and we released more than 400 tmcft to Tamil Nadu instead of the stipulated 177 tmcft. A large amount of water has already flown into the sea from Tamil Nadu’s reservoirs,” he said. Published - July 31, 2026 09:03 pm IST