What is the strategy for sharing water from the Cauvery?
No formula for sharing water could be found between 1991 and 2007. Several violent incidents involving the distribution of water occurred in tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The Cauvery Water Management Authority finally released a water sharing formula in 2007. According to this, tamil Nadu will receive 404.25 tmcft of the 740 tmcft of Cauvery water in a typical year, followed by karnataka with 284.75 mcft, kerala with 30 tmcft, and puducherry with 7 tmcft. A proportionate reduction will be made from all the states if there is a greater water shortage in any given year, the board further stated. karnataka, however, refused to accept this formula at the time and petitioned the supreme Court.
The Cauvery dispute was the subject of a historic ruling from the supreme court in 2018. The supreme court decided to implement the authority by modifying its formula in part. In addition, the court ordered the creation of the CWMA and Cauvery Regulatory Committee, which would be in charge of carrying out the court's order in the four states. Since then, the authority has been in charge of water distribution following the monsoon. In the Cauvery controversy, it has also been stated that any institution using water will only count towards the state's quota.
The four states will also be required to pay the authority for distribution's expenses concurrently. kerala is expected to cover 15% of the costs, Karnataka-Tamil Nadu will cover 40% and puducherry will cover 5%. Its oversight body is the centre. The Cauvery Water Authority's formula also states that a state may take its share of water in any other month of the same year by speaking with the Appellate Authority if it chooses not to take water in a particular month. The water year is defined in the formula as lasting from june 1 to May 31. According to experts, this is why the kaveri dispute doesn't begin until after June.
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