Chennai: The Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) which met on Wednesday directed Karnataka to release 2.5 tmc of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu for the month of May, aligning with the Supreme Court’s final award in the inter-state river dispute. TN also objected to Karnataka’s contention that excess water was released in 2025 -26, stating discharge of surplus water cannot be considered as part of the prescribed quantum. Officials from Karnataka stated that they released 326.945 tmc during the 2025-2026 water year, against the stipulated quantity of 174.500 tmc. They urged that this excess water should be taken into account. However, the TN officials rejected the argument, noting that discharge of surplus water from Karnataka’s reservoirs should not be considered as part of the monthly quantum entitled to TN. They made it clear that the upper riparian state should comply with the Supreme Court’s order and release 2.5 tmc to meet the lower riparian state’s water needs for May. Following this, the Authority directed the Karnataka govt to release the prescribed quantity of water for the period.Secretary of the water resources department of TN, J Jayakandan and chairman of the Cauvery Technical Cell R Subramanian attended the meeting chaired by S K Haldar via video conference. They represented the state’s plea to direct the Karnataka govt to release water for TN as per the stipulated quantity prescribed in the Supreme Court’s 2018 verdict. They informed the CWMA that the water level at the Mettur reservoir stood at 42.37 tmc on May 28, and that 1,503 cusecs of water were being discharged downstream for environmental and drinking water purposes.
