Karnataka government has been asked by the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee to release 5,000 cusecs of water from their reservoirs to Tamil Nadu till September 12.
The CWRC met on Monday to hear the arguments of the two states before making the recommendations. On Tuesday, the panel will be meeting again to take a call on the recommendation.
According to TOI, Chief Minister Siddaramiah said that legal experts and water resources officials will be consulted by him regarding the directive. The CM also mentioned that the availability of the resources at 4 dams in the Cauvery basin determines how much water is released to a lower river state.
The water resources portfolio is held by Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar who said that the state will file a petition in the Supreme Court, reportedly.
Shivakumar told the media on Tuesday, "Let the hearing finish in the afternoon. We'll put forth our argument and we'll safeguard the interest of the state."
Tamil Nadu is reported to have insisted at the CWRC meeting on the finalisation of the distress formula, taking into account the rainfall deficit, while karnataka emphasised that inflow should be a function of distress.
Furthermore, the CWRC chairman noted that it is not possible to link rainfall with subsequent flooding.
The CWRC requested the release of 7,200 cusecs per day from Karnataka for the next 10 days, while Tamil Nadu insisted that 24,000 cusecs should be released every day during this period.
In response to both requests, Karnataka reportedly argued that, by not releasing water for irrigation, it had increased storage in its reservoirs, whereas Tamil Nadu had depleted its storage through the use of water for irrigation.
The state of Karnataka proposed that water be released up to 3,000 cusecs at the August 28 meeting, but the CWRC dismissed this proposal.
Last week, the government of Karnataka argued before the Supreme Court that its demand for water in Tamil Nadu was based on an erroneous assumption as to a normal rainy season.
