The Cauvery Water Regulation Committee on Wednesday directed Karnataka to continue releasing 3,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu daily from October 16 to 31, ANI reported.

In September, the committee directed Karnataka to release 3,000 cusecs of water till October 15. While Tamil Nadu had sought 12,000 cusecs of water, its request was denied.

On Wednesday, the committee said in an official statement that Karnataka highlighted a shortfall of 50.89% in the cumulative inflows to its reservoirs till October 10. It said that while Tamil Nadu recognised the severity of the situation, it urged Karnataka to release 16,000 cusecs of water for the next 15 days.

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Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said that the state will appeal against the committee’s order and will protect the interests of farmers, according to ANI.

In September, Karnataka had told the panel that 161 talukas in the state were severely drought-affected and 34 talukas were moderately drought-affected. The state later filed a review petition in the Supreme Court and the Cauvery Water Management Authority.

The dispute

The distribution of Cauvery water has been a long-standing dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. It dates back to two agreements in 1892 and 1924 between the erstwhile Madras Presidency and the Princely State of Mysore.

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The Union government set up the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal in 1990, which delivered its verdict in 2007. The tribunal allocated 419 thousand million cubic feet of water per year to Tamil Nadu and 270 thousand million cubic feet of water to Karnataka.

However, this did not settle the dispute as both Tamil Nadu and Karnataka filed petitions to review the decision.

The Supreme Court in February 2018 asked the Centre to set up the Cauvery Water Management Authority within a month to implement the tribunal’s verdict.