The Supreme Court in its verdict on the Cauvery river water dispute, reduced the allocation of water from Karnataka to Tamil Nadu.
Court awards 14.75 tmc ft more to Karnataka, part of it for Bengaluru; Karnataka directed to release 177.25 tmc ft at Biligundlu point; Tamil Nadu advised to tap 10 tmc ft of groundwater available with it.
The judgment concluded that the CWDT did not take into account Tamil Nadu's stock of an “empirical” 20 TMC of groundwater. The court held that it would take into account at least 10 tmc of this groundwater and reduce this amount from the 192 TMC supplied to Tamil Nadu.
Bengaluru’s drinking water requirement
The court observed that Bengaluru had attained the “global status” and its drinking water requirement had increased multi-fold. Need for drinking water was at the top of the hierarchy. The Tribunal did not consider ground water availability in Tamilnadu.
Thus, the court allocated 4.75 TMC to Bengaluru, even though the city is located outside the Cauvery basin.
The court said that subject to the formulation of a scheme, the water allocation arrangement should stand unchanged for the next 15 years and there is no change for Puducherry and Kerala.
An inter-State river is a "national asset" and no one State could claim full rights over its waters, it noted.
The total availability of water in the 802-km long Cauvery basin is 740 TMC in a normal year.
The apex court also said this will be final judgement on the issue and there will be no further appeals.