CHENNAI: Water year 2005-06, which ended on Wednesday, set a record in terms of realisation of the Cauvery water for Tamil Nadu.

Highest in 15 years

Between June 2005 and May 2006, the State received 399.22 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) water against 205 tmcft prescribed by the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal in the 1991 interim order. It was the highest in 15 years.

The previous best was in 1994-95, when the State received 373.16 tmcft. On three other occasions, the annual realisation of Cauvery water crossed the 300-tmcft-mark. It was 334.96 tmcft in 1991-92; 351.69 tmcft in 1992-93 and 306.2 tmcft in 2000-01.

Noteworthy factors

Apart from the quantity factor, the year that went by was noteworthy for the State on many counts. After the water level of Mettur crossed the 100 feet mark on August 4, it has never gone below that level since then.

The reservoir remained full for about a month during three different periods (August-September, October-November and November-December).

On Wednesday morning, the water level of the Mettur reservoir stood at 113.2 feet (full level: 120 feet). The storage was 83 tmcft against the capacity of 93.4 tmcft.

More good news

In addition to this, what has gladdened water managers is that the catchment areas of the Kabini river, a tributary of the Cauvery, is experiencing rain.

The Kabini dam's present storage is 11.6 tmcft. It is recording an inflow of around 19,000 cubic feet per second. The dam's capacity is 19.5 tmcft. The Karnataka authorities may start releasing excess water once the dam reaches the storage level of 16 tmcft.

The water managers here expect that given the present inflow, their Karnataka counterparts may have to release surplus water by the middle of June.

Madikere, another catchment of the Cauvery, recorded 30 cm rain in the last three days.

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