The month of August saw Tamil Nadu realising much more than its annual quota of 177.25 tmc ft (thousand million cubic feet) of Cauvery water.
Not only that. The realisation created a new record, with the quantity for the month crossing the 200 tmcft-mark for the first time in almost 50 years.
According to the data available with the Central Water Commission (CWC), which is responsible for measuring the quantity realised at Billigundulu on the border of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, around 200 tmc ft was received till August 29, as against the State’s share of around 43 tmc ft for the period from August 1 to 29. This exceeded the previous high of 176.5 tmc ft recorded in 2018-19. It was only in seven years since 1974-75 that the realisation in August crossed the 100 tmc ft-mark. After 1981-82, when the figure was around 152 tmc ft, the realisation did not touch the mark nearly for 35 years.
In August this year, the daily realisation hovered between 11 tmc ft and 15 tmc ft for eight days — from August 3 to 11. It dropped to around 7 tmc ft initially for a couple of days and eventually to about one tmc ft from August 17 to 24. Later, it went up gradually. On August 28, it was 10.5 tmc ft, and the next day, around 9.5 tmc ft.
The cumulative realisation between June 1, when the water year began, and August 29 was about 324 tmc ft, which was around 241 tmc ft higher than the State’s due for the period concerned.
As most of the excess water has been draining into the sea, there have been demands from farmers and water experts alike that the State government construct at least a few check-dams across the river. The proposed check-dams may not be able to store all the surplus water but they will impound at least a modest amount.
