Cauvery reservoirs filling up fast

The substantial inflows into the three major reservoirs in the Cauvery basin in the Mysore region have ensured that the Kabini reservoir and Harangi are only nine feet short of its maximum capacity, while the Krishnarajasagar (KRS) reservoir needs another 20 feet more to fill up to its maximum depth.

KRS is receiving an inflow of 40,458 cusecs as on today. The outflow is 1,875 cusecs. The level stood at 105.90 against the maximum of 124.80 feet today.

Kabini is also recording a good inflow. As it is almost full, almost the entire inflow is being discharged. The inflow was 34,166 and the outflow 31,539 feet. The water level was 2,281.63 against 2,284.00 feet, the maximum.

Harangi was receiving 7,375 cusecs and its level was 2,850.90 feet. There was no discharge from the reservoir. Its maximum level is 2,859 feet. The surprise release of 14,199 cusecs of water from KRS three days ago, even before the water level touched a tonne, had led to farmers' protests in both Mysore and Mandya districts.

Alleging that water had been released to Tamil Nadu at their cost, farmers in the KRS basin blocked the Bangalore-Mysore highway, near Mandya, and gheraoed deputy chief minister BS Yediyurappa. Another group of protesters led by local MLA MK Somashekar had mobbed the Command Area Development Authority office in Mysore.

While the deputy CM has maintained that he had no knowledge of the water release, Mandya in-charge minister N Cheluvarayaswamy and irrigation department officials denied releasing water to Tamil Nadu.

They maintained that the water discharge was for the canals. However, soon after the protests, the outflow was brought down to 7,000 cusecs and it stood at 1,875 cusecs today. One reason that could be attributed to this cut in discharge from KRS is the release from Kabini of over 30,000 cusecs for the last two days as Kabini is almost full.