Amid depleted water level in reservoirs in the Cauvery basin and the poor rainfall situation in Karnataka, the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) on Tuesday (June 23, 2026) directed all basin States to make judicious use of water available in reservoirs, particularly for drinking water needs. It decided to review the water situation at its next meeting in view of expectations of improved rainfall in the coming weeks.

The direction came at the 52nd meeting of the authority, held amid renewed political debate over the Mekedatu balancing reservoir project. It may be noted that on June 19, the Tamil Nadu Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution moved by Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay opposing the Karnataka government’s proposal to construct a balancing reservoir across the Cauvery at Mekedatu.

Representatives of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, and Puducherry participated in Tuesday’s (June 23, 2026) meeting and reviewed reservoir storage, inflows, outflows and rainfall across the basin.

Lower reservoir levels

Taking note of lower reservoir levels and reduced inflows in parts of the basin, the authority refrained from issuing any fresh directions on water releases and opted to re-assess the situation after monitoring the progress of the southwest monsoon.

Tamil Nadu’s demand

During the meeting, Tamil Nadu pressed for the release of 9 tmcft of Cauvery water from Karnataka and sought directions to Karnataka to furnish details of minor irrigation tank-filling schemes and lift irrigation projects drawing water directly from rivers and canals.

Tamil Nadu also reiterated its demand that water drawn from the Cauvery basin for Bengaluru’s drinking water requirements outside the basin be treated as Karnataka’s utilisation and duly accounted for while calculating the basin yield. The State further sought the evolution of a distress-sharing formula to govern water releases during years of poor rainfall.

Karnataka’s submission

Karnataka, in its submissions, said delayed monsoon and poor inflows had resulted in lower storage levels in reservoirs and consequently reduced releases. The State also pointed to similar conditions in northern Karnataka and neighbouring Maharashtra, attributing the situation largely to the effects of El Niño.

The CWMA reviewed the status of reservoirs as well as rainfall, inflow and outflow data presented by the basin States before concluding that the available water resources should be managed carefully until inflows improve.

With expectations of good rainfall in the coming days, the authority decided to review the situation again at its next meeting before taking any further call on water releases.

The meeting assumes significance as both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have begun staking claims over water availability early in the monsoon season, with Tamil Nadu seeking adherence to the monthly release schedule and Karnataka citing poor inflows and lower reservoir storage.