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Karnataka on Friday presented a grim picture of the Cauvery basin districts on its side of the border due to failure of South-West monsoon for the second consecutive year.
Karnataka State Water Resources minister MB Patil made a detailed presentation before the Centre’s technical team, which has been despatched on a Supreme Court-manadated probe of ground realities in the Cauvery basin. Patil also submitted a 30-page memorandum which highlighted the poor rainfall, crop damage and drinking water needs of towns, cities and villages in the Cauvery basin districts.
State officials said Patil explained the difficult situation faced by Karnataka due to poor rainfall, and the inability of farmers to sow in an area of 6.15 lakh acres and also the damage suffered by standing crops in about 1.88 lakh acres.
The minister told the team that the State required around 67.18 Tmcft of water till May 2017. Current storage is about 32.05 Tmcft and expected inflow is another 15.17 Tmcft. “We may fall short by about 20 Tmcft this year,” he was quoted as saying. He also highlighted the fact that the Cauvery basin region had a drinking water requirement of 23.05 Tmcft till May 2017. Patil pleaded with the team to take into account the rainfall Tamil Nadu receives during the North-East monsoons, before working out a water-sharing formula.
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