Mekedatu issue

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Last Updated10/01/2022

Tamil Nadu takes advantage of every occasion to state its views on the Mekedatu project.
The state government has been fighting the project along its border with Karnataka, even going so far as to petition the Supreme Court to protect its rights over the Cauvery waters.
Karnataka, on the other hand, is adamant that the project would help them tackle Bengaluru's water problems.
The Opposition Congress party in Karnataka is also gaining traction by starting on a 90-kilometer padayatra to drum up support for the development of the Mekedatu reservoir in Ramanagara district.

Tamil Nadu has criticized Karnataka's plan to create a reservoir at Mekedatu on the Cauvery River.
Karnataka's plan to use 4.75 tmc as drinking water from a reservoir with a storage capacity of 67tmc feet is ""unacceptable"" to the state.
The Karnataka government, on the other hand, has stated that there is no ""compromise"" on the Mekedatu project and that the state intends to proceed with it.

The water flowing downstream of the Kabini River, the catchment regions of the Krishnarajasagar reservoir, the sub-basins of the Shimshal, Arkavathi, and Suvarnavathi rivers, and the water from lesser rivers are just a few examples.
Second, water from the Kabini dam is discharged.
Water discharged from the Krishnarajasagar dam is the third source.
Water is provided to TN from the second and third sources, which are under Karnataka's authority, only after adequate water has been stored for their usage.
Since there is no dam at the initial point of entry, water from these locations has been freely flowing into Tennessee.
However, the state government of Tamil Nadu now believes that Karnataka is ""conspiring"" to block this source as well, via the Mekedatu dam.
The Mekedatu zone was the last uncontrolled place where Cauvery water from upstream Karnataka flowed into the downstream state of TN.

The initiative, according to the Centre, needed the consent of the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA).
Karnataka's Detail Project Report (DPR) was brought before the CWMA multiple times for approval, but owing to a lack of unanimity among party states Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, no debate on the topic could take place.
Acceptance of the CWMA would also be a need for the Jal Shakti Ministry to examine the DPR, according to the final judgment of the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal, which was amended by the Supreme Court.
Since the project would cross an interstate river, consent from the lower riparian state(s) was necessary under the interstate water dispute act.

Mekedatu is a project with several purposes (drinking and electricity generation).
It entails the construction of a balancing reservoir at Kanakapura in Karnataka's Ramanagara district.
Once finished, the project would provide drinking water to Bengaluru and surrounding regions (4.75 TMC) as well as produce 400 MW of electricity.
The project is expected to cost Rs 9,000 crore.

The CWDT and the SC decided that current storage facilities in the Cauvery basin were adequate for storing and distributing water. hence Karnataka's plan is ex-facie (on the surface) unworkable and should be rejected outright, according to the report.
It has also been determined that the reservoir is being built not merely for drinking water, but also to expand agriculture, which is clearly in contravention of the Cauvery Water Disputes Award.

The tribunal was established in 1990 and issued its final decision in 2007, awarding 419 million cubic feet of water to Tamil Nadu, 270 million cubic feet to Karnataka, 30 million cubic feet to Kerala, and 7 million cubic feet to Puducherry. In rain-scarce years, the tribunal ruled that the allotment for everyone be lowered.
However, both Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have voiced dissatisfaction with the allotment, and both states have seen protests and violence over water-sharing. After thereafter, the Supreme Court took up the case, and in a 2018 ruling, it divided 14.75 tmcft from Tamil Nadu's previous share between the two states.
The revised allotment for Tamil Nadu was 404.25 tmcft, but Karnataka's portion was increased to 284.75 tmcft. Kerala's and Puducherry's shares remained unchanged.