Mysuru: While the Supreme Court has directed the state to release 4 TMC of water to Tamil Nadu, its Cauvery reservoirs have enough water only to meet the drinking water needs of Bengaluru, Mysuru, and 43 towns and 625 villages.
While the water level at the KRS reservoir dropped below its dead storage to stand at 72.46 feet on Thursday, Hemavathi, had 2863.37 feet of water as against its capacity to store 2922 feet. The water level at Kabini on Thursday was 2255.27 feet as against its capacity to store 2284 feet and at Harangi, the water level was 2808.98 feet as against its capacity to hold 2806.59 feet.
Except for Kabini and Harangi, all other reservoirs of the Cauvery basin, including KRS and Hemavathi, haven't reached their optimum level in water storage this year.
“While we do have over10 TMC of water, we need three TMC a month for drinking. One TMC usually evaporates, and the rest needs remain in the reservoirs, as we can’t empty them,” said an officer associated with the dams, adding, “ We had advised farmers not to grow paddy and opt for semi -dry crops, to save some water for drinking."
