Amid Cauvery row, Karnataka faces another major setback

CWC returns State’s DPR on Mekedatu reservoir project

Chennai: Even as the war of words between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over building a reservoir across river Cauvery at Mekedatu in Bengaluru South district (formerly Ramanagar) has escalated, the Central Water Commission (CWC) has returned the Detailed Project Report (DPR) submitted by Karnataka Government, citing observations that the DPR does not conform to the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) award and the Supreme Court’s 2018 judgement.

The CWC had returned the DPR to Karnataka on June 29 for making suitable alterations as the latter had proposed to expand the volume of water that could be stored for consumptive use by 2.2 tmcft. More than that, Karnataka in the revised project report, had also introduced a completely new component, the Shivanasamudra Run-of-River Power Project, which envisages construction of a diversion weir across Cauvery.

The CWC’s observations came after it examined a compliance report submitted by Karnataka on Apr. 21, 2026, in response to queries raised on the original DPR submitted in 2019.

When Mekedatu project was proposed in 2018, it was presented as a balancing reservoir to divert about 23.75 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) of water to provide an additional consumptive use of 4.75 tmcft for drinking water supply to Bengaluru and surrounding areas. Following this, CWC had given an “in-principle” approval for preparing the DPR in November 2018.

However, in the revised proposal submitted this April, Karnataka had introduced the Shivanasamudra Run-of-River Power Project and increased the proposed consumptive use from 4.75 tmcft to 6.95 tmcft.

The CWC noted that these were major changes that were never part of the original DPR submitted in 2019. The Commission also questioned Karnataka’s justification for constructing a reservoir with a live storage capacity of 59.46 tmcft.