New Delhi: Without recommending the quantum of water to be released by Karnataka to Tamil Nadu, the technical team has informed the Supreme Court that there has been 50 per cent deficit in rainfall and farmers in the States of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu suffer due to insufficient water in the Cauvery basin required for the crops.
Ahead of the hearing by a three-judge Bench headed by Justice Dipak Verma on Tuesday, the team in its ground realities report said that the plight of farmers in both the states have been witnessed. The only source of irrigation in such areas is surface water from Mettur reservoir. The efforts made by Government of Tamil Nadu by way of providing subsidised agricultural inputs can bear fruits only when sufficient water is made available for the full crop period.
Indicating the present water position in both the States, the team headed by G.S. Jha, Chairman of Central Water Commission said “the flows in the four reservoirs of Karnataka as on 13.10.2016 are 49.70 % of the 29-year average flows. The live storages in Karnataka reservoirs as on 13.10.2016 is 22.90 TMC and the storages in Mettur at the end of the same period is 31.66 TMC.
The total water requirements of Karnataka up to the end of May 2017 including irrigation water up to December 2016, drinking water up to May, 2017 and evaporation loss of the order of 6.0 TMC are 65.48 TMC. The expected availability upto the end of May, 2017 is 89.16 TMC.”
It said “the total projected requirements of Tamil Nadu from Mettur with the crop area of 12 lakh acres inclusive of already sown area (4.46 lakh acres), transplanting from paddy nurseries (2.04 lakh acres) as on October 10, 2016 and in the process of sowing in the prepared land is of the order of 133.0 (143-10) TMC and 160.0 TMC including evaporation loss of the order of 5.0 TMC and drinking water requirements.
