For the third year in a row, Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) dam across the Cauvery river has achieved full capacity at 124.80 feet. Now with the monsoon still going strong, this is expected to ease farmers’ woes in Karnataka and bring respite to the perennial water sharing dispute with Tamil Nadu.

This monsoon, with copious rains in the catchment areas of Kodagu for Cauvery and in Hassan for Hemavati (a tributary of Cauvery) got record breaking rains when both the districts were battered with heavy rains leading to dams getting filled up in a short time. Also with good rainfall in Wayanad in Kerala, River Kabini too got filled up to full capacity and the dam attained a maximum level of 2,284 feet.

On Friday, the Chief Minister Yediyurappa offered pooja to both the Cauvery and Kabini rivers.

The KRS dam normally gets filled in the first-week of September, but this year it has filled up much earlier in the first-week of August itself.

“The last three years has been good to us. Waters from KRS are released on time for our agricultural needs,” said Priya Darshan, a farmer from Malavalli taluk in Mandya district. This tail-end farmer expects the Cauvery Neeravari Nigama Limited to release adequate water on time and help in their agricultural activities.

At the beginning of this monsoon season it was worrying for Karnataka, for the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) had directed the State to release 40.34 tmcft of water to Tamil Nadu in June and July in line with the water disputes tribunal verdict.

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