Mekedatu Project : Karnataka Govt
Karnataka Chief Minister(CM) has highlighted the Mekedatu balancing reservoir project as a key solution to address water-sharing issues with Tamil Nadu during monsoon distress years, asserting that the project would benefit both states, particularly in times of water scarcity.
- The Mekedatu multi-purpose project aims to build a balancing reservoir near Kanakapura to provide drinking water to Bengaluru and generate 400 MW of power.
- Mekedatu is a deep gorge at the confluence of the Cauvery and Arkavathi rivers.
- The Supreme Court, has settled the sharing of Cauvery water, with Karnataka required to release 177.25 thousand million cubic (tmc) feet, but only during a normal year, not in a year of deficit rainfall. Tamil Nadu has a right to 177.25 tmc ft, but only during a normal monsoon.
- Karnataka Chief Minister(CM) emphasises that the Mekedatu reservoir will help meet Bengaluru’s drinking water needs and enable Karnataka to release water to Tamil Nadu during a distress year, as 65 tmc ft of water can be impounded, which would otherwise end up in the sea.
- However, Tamil Nadu, the lower riparian state, opposes the project as it argues that the Mekadatu dam would significantly reduce the water flow downstream, negatively impacting the state’s agricultural activities and water supply, and the Cauvery tribunal and Supreme Court order require the lower riparian state’s no-objection for any project on the Cauvery river.
